Both the French and Russian revolutions occurred because of two
main reasons. Both of these revolutions were the direct results of
bad leadership and a bad economy. These two reasons along with other
factors caused both of these revolutions. Although they were both
similar, they also had differences. A difference between the two is
that the Russians had an unsuccessful “pre-revolution” in 1905.
Another difference between these two revolutions is the fact that the
French turned towards a democracy while the Russian government became
communist.
In 1905 , Russia had a prerevolution that was put down of the
Czar. Instead of learning from this prerevolution, Czar Nicholas II,
made a very big mistake by in not introducing some reforms to correct
the problems. So because of his actions, the situation grew worse.
In 1917, the Russians were fighting in World War I. A good majority
of the Russian people were weary and uncontent with the way the war
was going and with the Czar’s rule. This uncontent along with
economic hardships caused riots and demonstrations to break out. The
Czar called for the army to put down the revolution as they did in
1905. But the army joined the revolt and the Czar was kicked out of
power soon afterwards. A temporary government was set up to decide on
what kind of government Russia was gonna set up. Two political
parties were set up. The Bolsheviks were one of the two. The leader
of the Bolshevik party was a man named Lenin. Lenin was a firm
believer of the theories and ideas of Karl Marx. So with his slogan
of “Bread, Peace and Land”, Lenin gained the support of the peasants
and gained control of Russia and setup a communist state.
The French revolution was also caused by a bad ruler and a bad
economy. During the early 1780’s a big percent of annual budget went
towards king Louis XVI’s lavish estate at Versailles. France also had
no central bank, no paper currency, no ways of getting more money, and
an out-dated tax system which only taxed the poor who had no money to
begin with. Signs of revolution first appeared when the peasants
stormed the fortress known as the Bastille looking for gun powder.
The Bastille incident set off revolts all over France and Louis
was soon deposed afterwards.A democratic goverment was setup in place
of the old monarcy. A doctrine called the Declaration of the Rights
of Man and citizen served as a basis for the revolutionary french
leaders. The French set up a government in which an elected
legislative group met annually. It also consisted of an elected
judiciary and an executive headed by the king (The king had no real
power and only served as a figure head).
Both the French and Russian revolutions had similar causes but
ended up with different results. Both of these countries had
different internal factors which cause the results. The Russians had
Lenin and the French had the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
Citizen. I would also like to point out 1 more similarity between
these two revolutions and that is the fact that both Czar Nicholas II
and King Louis XVI were executed soon after the revolutionaries took
power [1].It’s just strange to see how two similar countries with so
many similar reasons for revolting would end up with so very different
governments.
