The revolutions in Russia during the 1917 were characterized by the abdication of the Romanov dynasty. The Russian Revolution is a pair of two revolutions in the same year during the months of February and October. In the first revolution, the country was put under a provisional government composed of the Duma after Romanov had abdicated. After the abdication of the Romanov Empire, the country was ruled by the parliament until in the second revolution when Romanov was eventually killed (Bushkovitch, p. 48). Following the fall of the dynasty, the Bolshevik assumed control of the government and introduced socialism in Russia. Although the Bolshevik was initially a militia group unpopular among the citizens, rumors of hoarded bread by the government led to the popularity of the group thus leading to high support among the citizens. The Russian Revolution was orchestrated in an environment where there existed many revolutionary predecessors and antagonists of the Bolshevik group. While the predecessors were supporters of Bolshevik views, the antagonists were nationalists and anarchists that opposed the group’s ideals.

The first revolution was pushed by liberals who believed in the rights of every member of the country. Essentially, the revolution pushed for the civil rights of the people and the ability of the people to associate with each other freely. These, among other rights, had been denied by the Romanov dynasty as it suppressed the rights of the people. The Duma which was the country’s parliament body fought for the decentralization of the power to reflect the wishes of the people and this led to the fall of the Romanov dynasty (Dmytryshyn, p. 52). The ideals of the people pushing for the first revolution were based on the Enlightenment as proposed by Catherine the Great who ruled during an unprecedented growth of empire. The ideals of Catherine, who ruled Russia from 1762 to 1796, encouraged trade through removal of restrictions thus fostering economic development. In addition, her rule saw the overhaul of administrative structures and the expansion of Russian dominions.

`           The story of Catherine the Great is somewhat similar to that of the orchestrators of the first revolution. Born in Germany and transferred to Russia at the age of fifteen years, Catherine had climbed the ranks to become an empress. Peter, the then emperor of the country had grown apart with his military and government who had plotted a coup to remove him from power. This plot was similar to the situation during Romanov’s rule when his military personnel had orchestrated a mutiny and refused to listen to his orders (Dmytryshyn, p. 29). Eventually, he was overpowered and forced to abdicate. Catherine the great had done the same to Peter, the emperor by exploiting the bad blood between him and the military. Eventually, she had rallied support from the military and forced Peter to abdicate after his arrest. By arresting and abdicating Romanov, the liberals had read from Catherine’s script.

The predecessors of the revolution were socialists whose liberal ideas were greatly influenced by Alexander Herzen and the Decembrist Officers. The predecessors of the revolution were ardent supporters of socialism who believed in social change. In the Russian Revolution, military personnel had gone against their leaders and organized a mutiny in which their generals were executed. The military personnel had joined the people in protests demanding for the removal of the Romanov dynasty. The same vents had happened in 1825 when the Decembrists, Russian soldiers who had organized a mutiny, rebelled against their leader Nicholas I. Although the Decembrist uprising was suppressed by the leader, it had a lot of influence on the mutiny by the military during Romanov’s rule. In addition, the predecessors were largely influenced by Alexander Herzen, who was a great socialist during his time. In fact, the writer cum thinker is considered the father of Russian socialism for his influence in defining the fate of the country. During his time, he led to the freedom of the serfs in the years preceding 1861. In fighting for the rights of the oppressed people during Romanov’s rule, the socialists borrowed a leaf from Alexander’s teaching.

The Bolshevik led revolution in Russia faced harsh antagonists mainly sourced from the Romanov dynasty. These antagonists were anarchists and nationalists who were against Bolshevik rule for obvious reasons that it threatened their stay in power (Bushkovitch, p. 28). Indeed, the Bolshevik rule brought an end to the suppression of the ordinary citizens thus leading to the collapse of the Romanov dynasty and the family assassination. Most of the people that supported the rule of the Romanov either had self interests in the continuation of the rule or were part of the oppressors. In fact, most of these people had tried to prevent the capture of Romanov’s family and had followed this up with an attempt to release the dictator.

The revolution in Russia was a result of a combination of many factors all of which worked. The revolution is credited with the entry of socialism in Russia and the end of the Romanov dynasty. The orchestrators of the revolution borrowed their trade from past and ancient history shapers in the country. In contrast, the antagonists were nationalists that considered the country to be best ruled under a dictatorial setting.

Works cited

Bushkovitch, Paul. A Concise History of Russia. New York: Cambridge UP, 2012. Print.

Dmytryshyn, Basil. Imperial Russia: A Source Book, 1700-1917. Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International Press, 1999. Print.

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