Avrasya Uluslararası Araştırmalar Dergisi

Abstract

The situation of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century can be examined under the headings of economic, national, and religious issues. The Russian economy had no access to the open seas, so it was still mainly based on agriculture. In addition, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/1905 brought Russia to the brink of collapse both militarily and economically. The current situation reflected the dissatisfaction of the entire Russian population. The non-Russian and non-Orthodox population had additional reasons for rebellion arising from the Czarist regime’s nationality, and religious and even sectarian policies, which were combined with nationalist movements. This led to the emergence of anti-czarist, economically oriented, constitutionalist, egalitarian, libertarian, anti-imperialist, and nationalist social movements. Although all these social movements had the same causes as the traditional uprisings, they quickly took on national and religious characteristics in the age of nationalism and nations. On the other hand, the egalitarian and anti-imperialist rhetoric used by Russian intellectuals and politicians to address economic issues quickly transformed the social movements into socialist currents. Under these conditions, Russia entered the Great War, and when the expected early victory failed to materialize, the country quickly fell into political, economic, social, and cultural collapse. Until 1917, Russia experienced a period of bloody revolutions, political and social unrest, and power struggles. The observations of German and Austurian officers the Russians took prisoner during this time vividly describe how the three problems mentioned above, and their derivatives brought Russia to collapse in 1917.