Consequences of the First World War and Revolutions in Russia

A few words before beginning...

Please know that this post's purpose is to show you how much i have learned for these 3 topics.

I'm used to studying like this and I also wanted to convert this into a content for my blog on Spacehey.

Also please don't flame me if you see any false history facts I have written here because you can also correct me in a polite way, that way I can much pleasantly learn from my mistakes.

And another thing I wanted to say is that I've translated all this (from my native language on english) on Google Translator app because it's much easier, and because of that if you find any grammar mistakes, correct me.

See the continuation of the post here

And now let us start...

Consequences of the First World War

Four states disappeared: the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, and later new states were created at the great peace conference in Versailles, France, namely: the Soviet Union, Hungary, Austria, the Republic of Germany (Weimar Republic), Czech Republic, Kingdom of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs and others.

An economic crisis arose that enabled the emergence of revolutionary forces.

The Paris Conference and the Peace of Versailles were created.

Paris Conference

After the armistice that ended the First World War, the Paris Conference was convened in 1919. All representatives of European countries except Russia, Germany and other defeated countries (Bulgaria, Turkey, Austria and Hungary) were invited to the conference. At the peace conference, a peace order was established in the world, the Versailles peace order. The conference had 2 goals: to make it impossible for Germany to start a new war and to get information to restore the French economy (to return the money to France). Woodrow Wilson, Lloyd George, Georges Clemenceau and Vittorio Orlando were the "Big Four" who made the most important decisions on the organization of post-war Europe.

Peace of Versailles

On June 28, 1919, in Versailles, the Treaty of Versailles was signed, in which peace was concluded between the victorious powers and Germany. Germany was declared responsible for the outbreak of the First World War and for all the resulting damage, Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France and some other parts of Germany belonged to Poland, Denmark and Czechoslovakia, all colonies were taken from it and it was forbidden to unite with Austria, war resources were Germany's income was limited and Germany had to pay back all the debt to cover all the war reparations it made during the First World War. And one of the main consequences of the Versailles system is the creation of a society of nations.

The politics of American President Woodrow Wilson

American President Woodrow Wilson in his "Fourteen Point Program" announced an important change in international relations after the World War, such as the principle of equality between large and small nations and the principle of public diplomacy.

 "International contracts will be concluded publicly, there will be no secret agreements... diplomacy will be conducted honestly and in front of the public."

 New borders in Europe should be based on the principle of national self-determination.

Society of Nations and its role in the interwar period

As Woodrow Wilson in his "Fourteen Point Program" proposed the idea of ​​founding the League of Nations, it was founded, but the USA did not become a member of the League because of the political leaders of the Republicans, who did not recognize democracy.

The new principles of the League of Nations referred to respect for international law as the basis for relations between sovereign states, regardless of their size, and then to the principle of abolishing so-called "secret diplomacy" in contacts between states. The League of Nations adopted the so-called Bryan-Kellogg Pact on the Prohibition of War, but despite great efforts, the League of Nations failed to prevent a new world war.

Although the League of Nations made it possible for people who do not belong to a certain state to determine where they will live, and therefore decided to govern cities whose population from another state was the majority, that alliance did not have an army of states in which they governed certain cities, so they there were various empty threats (by the League of Nations) that did not make any changes. An example would be Danzig (or Gdansk) in Poland, where the majority of the population was made up of Germans, who chose to live in Germany.

Revolutions in Russia and Europe

Social and political situation before the revolution

Within the social democratic movements, 2 different opposing movements emerged: the social democrats and the communists. Communists were in favor of radical, revolutionary actions in political struggle, including military uprisings and violence, in order to establish a state of "dictatorship of the proletariat". The social democrats sought to come to power through democratic elections and to implement peaceful reforms within civil society.

The February Revolution

As the First World War progressed, the weaknesses of Imperial Russia became more and more apparent. Among the opponents of the tsarist regime, the most determined were the people of Bolishev. The February Revolution began in 1917. when a large number of strikes broke out across the country. The soldiers of the garrison in the capital, Petrograd, sided with the rebels, who broke into the Duma (Parliament). That is why the revolutionary movement could not be suppressed. Tsar Nicholas II signed the abdication, ending the Romanov dynasty and abolishing the monarchy, and then the country was declared a republic. The imperial family was placed under house arrest. Power was taken over by a provisional government under the leadership of moderate socialist Alexander Kerensky.

The October Revolution

The cause of the October Revolution was an unstable provisional government and a divided population. The Provisional Government decided to prolong Russia's participation in the war, which was opposed by the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks formed parallel authorities — soviets (workers' councils). With them were the lower classes of the population and ordinary soldiers. That's how dual power developed. The Provisional Government failed to solve the problems of supplying the cities, so the population was starving. Unrest and peasant rebellions continued. A large number of soldiers deserted, and supplies were poor and irregular. April 1917 Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Party, returned to Russia with the help of Germany. The Bolsheviks fought to win power under the slogans "peace, bread, land" and "all power to the Soviets", which meant that they were advocating for an exit from the war, to ensure the population's food supply and to distribute the land to the peasants, under the administration of the Soviets. The Bolsheviks also formed armed detachments — the Red Army.

The October Revolution began on October 25, 1917. The Red Army led by Lenin organized an assault on the Winter Palace (in Petrograd) and imprisoned members of the Provisional Government. Sailors from the cruiser Aurora joined the revolutionaries and thus became a symbol of the revolution.

Consequences of the October Revolution

After the invasion of the Winter Castle by the Red Army, a bloody civil war ensued between the "reds" (revolutionaries) and the "whites" (counter-revolutionaries), which lasted until 1922. when the Red Army won the final victory. In December 1917. the Bolshevik government concluded an armistice with Germany and then concluded a separate peace in Brest-Litovsk. The dictatorship of the proletariat begins with the establishment of the "Union of Soviet Socialist Republics", as a union of the Russian, Ukrainian, Belorussian and Transcaucasian Soviet Republics, headed by Bolshevik parties.

Revolutions in Germany and Hungary

Since the October Revolution was one of the most significant events in the history of the 20th century, it had a huge impact on other unstable countries in Europe, such as Hungary and Germany. These two countries were quite unstable after the defeat in the First World War, Germany had to pay debts, and Hungary separated from Austria and lost a lot of territory and wealth. In short: they lost their previous arrangement. The revolutionary wing in Germany that advocated the revolutionary conquest of power and the introduction of the dictatorship of the proletariat was called "Spartakists". At the beginning of 1919, they founded the Communist Party of Germany under the leadership of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg. As for Hungary, the third communist revolution in Europe broke out in March 1919, after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The leader of the revolution in Hungary was Bela Kun.

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