The First World War

and the Russian Revolution

The causes of the War

We Can’t talk about only one cause of the first World War (1914-1918). There were several causes that led to the
onset of this conflict. Let’s see them.
1. For a start, all European countries wanted to create their own colonial empires, especially in Europe. However,
Germany didn’t come in time to control all the territories they wanted in Africa. This angered them and made
them to be wary of other European countries.
2. At the same time, from 1870 Germany started to become the new leader of the Second Industrial Revolution,
which made them want more colonial territories and their neighbour countries started to fear Germany. In
particular, Great Britain felt threatened by the naval navy created by the Germans.
3. In addition, after the unification of Germany in 1870, France had lost the territory of Alsace-Lorraine, which
added to the enmity between this country and Germany.
4. As a result, in Europe, between 1870 and 1914, there was a period known as the Armed Peace (paz armada),
when, although there was peace, tensions between the European nations were growing. In fact, during that
period the industrialised European countries started to dedicate a large part of their production to manufacturing
arms, just in case a conflict broke out. This arms race (carrera armamentística) was accompanied by the creation
of a series of military alliances so that countries were ready in case a conflict broke out. These unions were:
The Triple Alliance. Formed by Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary. Italy later abandoned this bloc, while the
Ottoman Empire joined it once the war started.
The Triple Entente. Formed by Russia, France and Great Britain. The United States, Italy and Japan would enter this
side of the war in 1917.
5. In addition, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Russian Empire competed for control of the Balkans.
6. Finally, governments started to influence the public opinion in favour of a possible future war through the press. It
was important to get people mentally prepared in case a war broke out.

The First World War

On 28 June, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was assassinated in Sarajevo
(Bosnia-Herzegovina) by Gavrilo Princip, a young Serb nationalist, who belonged to the group of the Black Hand and
who supported the creation of a Great Serbia free from Austrian rule. The Austrian government blamed Serbia for
the assassination and threatened them to occupy it, whilst Russia stood up in defence of Serbia. As a result, on 28
July 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. This triggered the action of the formerly formed
alliances.
The war was basically held in trenches made by the soldiers themselves with sacks and other warfare materials, with
which they made defensive ditches in the ground. That’s why it is known as the ‘trench warfare’ (guerra de
trincheras). This system lengthened the war and brought it to a standstill (punto muerto) at some moments because
neither side could advance nor move back. During the course of the war, there were several especially bloody and
hard battles, like the ones of Verdun, Gallipoli or the Somme. There were evn battles in the countries’ colonies
(Africa, the Middle East…).
Finally, the last phase of the war began in 1917, when the triumph of the Revolution in Russia meant that the country
was out of the war through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. However, the powers of the Triple Entente overcame this
setback thanks to the intervention of the US.
In the end, after the allied victory at the battle of Amiens, exhaustion and an ever-increasing lack of resources drove
Germany to surrender and seek peace. In 1918, an Armistice (armisticio) was signed and the war ended.
This peace treaty was known as the Treaty of Versailles (Tratado de
Versalles) and was actually signed one year after the end of the 1WW, at a
Peace Conference held in France to decide the peace conditions. In this
reunion the famous Fourteen Points of the American president Woodrow
Wilson were discussed. Among other things, he proposed to create a League
of Nations (also known as ‘Sociedad de Naciones’) to foster peace, the
establishment of democratic states, freedom of trade and respect for a
nation’s right to self-determination.

Economy and society during the war

During the war, all economic activity was directed towards the war effort (esuferzo de Guerra).
Production of military equipment and supplies (weapons, uniforms).
Agricultural and consumer goods production decreased as there weren’t enough labourers, so prices increased.
Rationing was introduced and the black market developed.
As a consequence, women were allowed to do jobs in industry, transports and office, which had been previously
done by men as they were fighting at the front at that moment and a bigger workforce was needed.

Consequences of the First World War

Decrease in population. There were ten million soldiers killed and 7 million civilian deaths, in addition to the great
number of people wounded or maimed.
Destruction of the cities: transports, factories and agricultural land were obviously damaged.
Incorporation of women in the workpace.
Loss of Europe’s economic power. Instead, the US became the world’s leading economic power.
Redistribution of the colonies belonging to the defeated countries between the victorious ones.
In addition, Germany had to pay high war reparations, which gradually led to a feeling of RESENTMENT among the
German population.
The territory of Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France.
The German colonies in Africa were divided between Belgium and Great Britain.
Germany was forced to create a demilitarised territory in the border with France.
The Ottoman Empire disappeared and in part of its territory Turkey and Saudi Arabia were created.
The Russian Revolution
In 1917, during the First World War, the Russian Empire went through a revolutionary process which put an end to
the autocratic (‘dictadorial’) government of Tsar Nicholas II.
Before this revolution broke out, there had already been some factors that had led to general discontent among the
Russian population. For example:
1. The tsar had unlimited power and authority, which meant that civil rights were not recognised and political parties
were forbidden. In other words, there was a clear lack of freedom.
2. The economy was semi-feudal, as most of the land was owned by a wealthy minority and worked by a peasant
majority. Part of these peasants started to become workers (or ‘proletariat’) from 1890 onwards, when the
Industrial Revolution started in this country. Most of them were dissatisfied with their working conditions.
3. In addition, most of the peasants and workers lived in poverty and had to pay high taxes.
4. To make matters worse, between 1904 and 1905 the Russo-Japanese war took place. During this conflict, Russia
and Japan fought for control of Manchuria. However, this war was quite unpopular because new taxes were
imposed in order to pay for the war costs. In addition, soldiers were continually recruited. In the end, the Russian
defeat highlighted a badly organised and outdated army and the lack of Russian transport. All this added to the
public hostility towards the tsar.
As a result of al these factors, there was a revolution in January 1905, when a group of industrial workers in St
Petersburg demonstrated (se manifestaron) peacefully towards the Winter Palace (the tsar’s residence), to ask for
improvements in working conditions and a political reform. However, the protesters were brutaly repressed and, in
fact, the protest became known as ‘Bloody Sunday’.
People responded with numerous strikes and protests. The secret Social Democratic Workers’ Party met and formed
soviets to organise all these protests in Moscow and St Petersburg. In order to avoid a violent revolution, tsar
Nicholas II agreed to make some political reforms and authorised the formation of a Duma (parliament), elected by
all the classes (landowners, workers and peasants). However, this was soon dissolved by the same tsar, showing that
his intentions and promises were not entirely reliable.
In addition, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the Russian participation in the First World War, as it was
allied with Great Britain and France through the ‘Triple Entente’. As a result, about 15 million soldiers were mobilised,
even though most of them were unwilling to take part in the war and the country wasn’t ready to participate. This
angered the Russian population the most.
Consequently, in 1917 the Russian Revolution started. It unfolded in two phases:

1st phase
The February Revolution. In February 1917, there was a successful revolution of workers in Petrograd (previously
called St Petersburg). They demanded an improvement in the workers’ conditions and Russias’s withdrawal from the
war.
Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate and, in March 1917, a provisional government (gobierno provisional) was
formed, made up of Menshevik (moderate) socialists led by Alexander Kerensky.
This new government proclaimed Russia a republic and began to set up a democratic regime. They legalised political
parties and called elections with universal male suffrage (sufragio universal masculino) to write a Constitution.
Nonetheless, the provisional government failed because they did not keep their promise to redistribute land among
the peasants and, above all, they did NOT withdraw from the war.

2nd phase
As a result, in October 1917, there was another Revolution, led by the Bolshevik (radical) socialists under the
command of Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. They attacked the Winter Palace in Petrograd, the seat of the
Provisional Government at the moment, and replaced them. Lenin’s first measures consisted of:
The signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany, by which Russia withdrew from the War.
 The expropriation and redistribution of lands among workers.
Changing the name of the Bolshevik party to the Communist Party and make it the only legal party in the country.
Founding the Third International (or Comintern) to coordinate all the communist parties around the world.
However, these measures were not accepted by the Mensheviks and, in January 1918, a civil war broke out in Russia
(1918-1921) between the White Army of the Mensheviks and the Red Army of the Bolsheviks. These were the
ultimate winners of the war, during which the tsar’s family was assassinated by the Bolsheviks.
Finally, in 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was created. It was called like this because it formed a
federal state made up of Russia and other satellite republics like Belorrussia and Ucraine, which accepted to depend
on Russia as long as they could still hold a certain degree of autonomy. This new country also passed a Constitution in
1924. The main principles of it were:
The country’s political power was at the hands of the soviets (controlled by the proletariat). In other words, they
established a proletariat dictatorship (dictadura del proletariado).
The Communist Party was to be the only political party.
Nevertheless, Lenin couldn’t implement his socialist ideas completely right away because of the shortage of food
caused by the civil war. That’s why he had to establish a New Economic Policy (NEP), which allowed some capitalist
systems to exist, such as smal companies, to increase production. However, the Government still controlled foreign
trade, large industries and banks.
Finally, when Lenin died in 1924, he was succeeded by Joseph Stalin, who was known for his cruel and authoritarian
methods.