Russian Revolution VS French Revolution Essay Research

Paper

The Russian Revolution (1917-1939) and the French Revolution (1789-1815) were very similar and dissimilar in long-term causes, immediate causes, stages of the revolution, and the world?s reaction to the revolution.

The Russian Revolution had many long-term causes, the leading long-term cause was World War I, it was causing a large strain on the country?s people and economy, and the discontent of the lower class. Huge amounts of food shortages, military defeats, and incompetent rulers contributed to the rising revolution. This was, in a way, similar to the French Revolution in that the growing discontent of the lower class (Third Estate) and the incompetent leadership of the French government. The difference between the French and the Russian Revolutions is that France was not fighting a war at the time of the revolution. Some of the other long-term causes of the French Revolution were the American Revolution and Enlightenment ideas that were being spread throughout the country.

The two revolutions also had some immediate causes that sparked the fire of the lower class into revolt. The immediate causes of the Russian Revolution were increasing war tribulations, which worsened as time went on. Russia was exporting most of its food to the soldiers on the battlefront and to other countries to support the war effort. This angered many of the peasantry and increased the unrest among them drastically. The country?s government was in shambles and several temporary governments were set up. These immediate causes were similar to the French Revolution. The immediate causes of the French Revolution were poor harvests and the failure of Louis XVI to accept financial reforms. France was also finding themselves in a mounting debt.

The Russian Revolution also went through several stages. There were two main stages of the revolution, which were, in its self, two separate revolutions; the March Revolution and the November Revolution. The March Revolution was aimed at overthrowing the czar, a written constitution, and an end to the war. The November Revolution was aimed at putting the Bolsheviks into power, and to apply Marxism to Russia. The French Revolution went through several stages, the Estates General being called. The second was the forming of the National Assembly. The third stage, which was the ?gory? part of the revolution, which was a product of the other two stages, was the storming of Bastille.

These two revolutions generated world opinion, some in favor of the actions taken on by the peasants and some against them. The Russian Revolution brought upon dislike of the ?new? Russia. Secret police tactics were used for the new government and all people, except those that ran the country, were moderately poor and relations with other countries were not respectable. The French Revolution gave a warning to other nations that were ruled by a monarchy, that the peasants will revolt unless treated right. Many tactics of other countries changed because of this. France continued to have fine relations with other countries.

Revolutions change a country completely, either for the best or worse. What social class structure one belongs to is what determines whether the revolution helps one or not. In these two revolutions, the lowest of the classes, started the revolution and for the most part they got what they wanted. The upper class only had a brief period of decline in power during these revolutions, but as seen on Russia, they quickly regained power when Communism was introduced.