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Reasons for the success of the Bolshevik 1917 Revolution - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Lenin was one of the main reasons for the success of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, because of his leadership skills. Lenin did several things which were major factors in helping the Bolshevik Revolution to be a success. Firstly, he was the one who convinced the Bolsheviks to have a revolution in the first place. The Petrograd Soviet and Bolsheviks felt that the February Revolution had already achieved the goals of their parties and were content with letting the Provisional Government rule Russia, while they kept the real power. Lenin was the one who convinced the Bolsheviks that another revolution needed to happen, as the February revolution was still a bourgeois revolution, and the power had not been handed back to the people. Using this logic, only then did the Bolsheviks agree to another revolution in Russia.
      - Lenin was also the one who came up key campaign slogans for the Bolsheviks, which promised the people what they wanted in simple terms, and also efficiently summarised the goals of the Bolshevik party: "Peace, bread and land" and "All power to the soviets". These slogans made the Bolsheviks more popular, which made sure that there was little opposition to the Bolsheviks from the people once they disposed of the Provisional Government.
      - Lenin also came up with the strategy to disagree with the Provisional Government in all of their decisions, in order to reduce the credibility of the Provisional Government, and make the Bolsheviks more popular. Lenin was also the person who insisted on taking over the Petrograd Soviet by inserting Bolsheviks into the Petrograd Soviet, until the Bolsheviks obtained a majority on the Petrograd Soviet
    - - Trotsky's organisational skills were key in helping make the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 a success. Trotsky was head of the military revolutionary committee, and was the leader and planner for the revolution to take place. He was the one who organised the Red Guards into an efficient fighting force who could fight a revolution, and protect Petrograd. He was also the person who led the Red Guards in defending against Kerensky and his loyal troops, protecting the revolution and enabling it to be a success.
- - - - Continuing the war with Germany
        
        One mistake that the Provisional Government made was to continue the war against Germany. The war against Germany caused a famine in Russia, as resources like food had to directed to the frontlines. This caused a lack of resources both at home and at the frontline. The soldiers did not have enough food and thus the PG lost the support of the army as army morale collapsed. The PG also lost the support of the people, as they were getting fed up with losing battles against Germany, and having to suffer for it. Despite the people's discontent, the PG continously fought in the war to honour their commitments to the allied powers. This is because Russia's economy relied kn foreign investment from France and the UK, and if Russia pulled out from the war, the allies would stop supporting Russia and cause her economy to collapse.
      - Not giving the peasants land, which the Provisional Government had promised to give to the peasants
        
        Before the Provisional Government took power from the Tsar, the Provisional Government had promised to give the land back to the peasants, instead of having all land being owned by the bourgeois. However, despite these promises, once the PG took power, they kept making excuses to delay the claiming of land by peasants, and ended up saying that the peasants could not take back their land until a new Constituent Assembly was formed. This angered the peasants, who had grown impatient of waiting for permission to take their land and ignored what the PG said and took their land back for themselves. This led to the PG losing the support of the peasants, which ultimately helped make the Bolshevik revolution in 1917 a success, as the peasants did not want the PG in power, and thus did not oppose a Bolshevik Revolution.
      - Not being able to solve economic issues in Russia
        
        The fact that the PG was unable to solve economic issues in Russia once they took power made the PG lose the support from the workers. Food shortages meant that people working in factories were always hungry, and were unable to feed their family. despite rising wages. This lack of food and supplies also made their quality of life worse, even though the working conditions in factories was improving under the PG. The workers felt that the PG did not care for them, much like their Bourgeois bosses, and thus did not like the PG and wanted them out of power.
    - - Structure
        
        Dual Power
        
        Dual power was one of the reasons why the Provisional government was weak. After the February Revolution in 1917, the Petrograd Soviet allowed the Provisional Government to take power, under certain conditions imposed by the Petrograd Soviet. This meant that the Provisional Government had no real power, as the real power laid with the Petrograd Soviet. The PG was allowed to make decisions for Russia, but ultimately the Petrograd Soviet was sharing power with the PG. This is because the PG was not elected by the people, unlike the Petrograd Soviet, and thus the PG did not hold any real respect nor power from the people as they were not a legitimate government body. Therefore, it can be seen that because of dual power, the PG did not hold any real power on the people and was only tasked to make decisions for Russia
        
        "Provisional"
        
        The fact that the Provisional Government had "Provisional" in its name gave it a disadvantage, as it meant that the PG was meant to be a temporary government. This meant that the PG did not hold any real power, as it was not able to make any long term decisions for Russia, and was not elected by the people either, thus the Provisional government was inherently weak.
    - - July Days
        
        The July Days incident was caused by the June offensive. The June offensive was an attack on Austria led by the PG to win the war on Germany decisively. However, this offensive failed, resulting in great shame for Russia, and also the loss of many men and resources. This made the people finally decide that fighting in the war was no longer a good idea, as people were fed up with losing battle after battle against Germany. To protest against the war, the people in Petrograd began protesting and demonstrating against the war. It was supposed to be a peaceful assembly, until the PG decided to open fire on the protestors. This made the people unhappy with both the war and the PG, and gave the Bolsheviks the opportunity to make use of the situation and fed out propaganda that the Bolshevik party was always right to oppose the war. Thus, people began supporting the Bolsheviks as they were the ones who opposed war the entire time.
      - Kornilov Affair
        
        The Kornilov Affair was caused by a Tsarist general, Kornilov, who took charge of the army under the Provisional Government. However, Kornilov soon got displeased at the way the PG was running Russia, and wanted the Tsar back in power, as he was a supporter of the Tsarist regime. Thus, Kornilov marched hi loyal troops on Petrograd and threatened to overthrow the PG. This made Kerensky fear for his life, and did not want to let Petrograd to fall into Kornilov's hands. Since Kerensky now had no army to call on, he had no choice but to ask the Petrograd Soviet to defend Petrograd. This meant that Kerensky had to arm the Red Guards, the unofficial militia that protected the Bolsheviks and Petrograd Soviet. By arming his own enemies, Kerensky puts himself at a major disadvantage, as the Bolsheviks can use protecting Petrograd as propaganda to convince the people that the Bolsheviks are better than the PG. The Red Guards, under Trotsky's leadership, defended key points in Petrograd, and managed to convince Kornilov's troops to not fight their own countrymen and stand down. Kornilov was arrested, and the revolution was saved. This gave the Bolsheviks a prime position to make use of their victory to produce propaganda. The Bolsheviks portrayed themselves as saviours of the revolution and Petrograd, and also portrayed Kerensky as incompetent and unable to rule Russia well, as Kerensky was the one who appointed Kornilov as the commander-in-chief of the army. Therefore, the Kornilov Affair was a factor in the success of the Bolshevik revolution in 1917.