Could Someone please explain the Russian Revolution to me?

Question

I just saw the movie Doctor Zhivago, and it really confused me. Who were the Bolsheviks? Were they the same thing as the Red Russians? And who were the Red Russians? Who was overthrowing who?

Answer 1

A bit of clarification here.
In 1917 there were actually two revolutions: one in February which ended the empire and made a Republic. It had huge support all over the country. The second was in October (by the old calendar) when Bolsheviks brought the loyal to them arm forces and overthrew the current at that time government (more like a coup than revolution). The government was weak at that time starting from the February revolution. The country was in ruins due to the WWI and people were unhappy with any government. Bolsheviks just ceased the moment.
Red Russians were people whom Bolsheviks become later (sort of). Red is the theme color of the Communists.

Keep in mind that when Pasternak wrote "Doctor Zhivago" he couldn't say all the truth (or at least something close to truth) because the government would never allow this novel to exist.

This is very very short description. I can write books about what was going on there at that time, including several versions of that events that we had to study during my lifetime.

Answer 2

The country was ran very poorly during the years from 1914 to 1917 while Russia fought in WW1. There were almost 10 million Russian casualties, at home there was hunger and famine.

The first revolt in 1917 is known as the February Revolution and took place mainly in Petrograd. Czar Nicholas was forced to abdicate his thrown and a Provincial government was stet up.

The next revolt was the October/November or Bolshevik revolution. this was led by Lenin and overthrew the Provincial government but only in Petrograd the capital).

This brought about the Russian civil war which was waged between 1918 and 1922. At the end of which the Soviet Union was established. It is interesting that the Communist took over with only a small area controlled. During this time there were some elections and the communists were always a minority. Russia did not want communism, they were forced into servitude. Another interesting question is who funded these Revolutionaries. Answer, rich socialist Americans and British.

Answer 3

Big Question there. Russia was a country ruled by Tsars. The last Tsar being Nicholas. There was a lot of poverty in the country and the teachings of Karl Marx had become popular. Perfect setting for revolution. The Red russians were the Bolsheviks or the communist Russians. The White russians were the Russians loyal both to their country and tsarist regime.

A lot of things came into play--the Tsarina began to depend on a mad "monk" Rasputin, who certainly weakened the royal regime through his manipulations of her. The povery of the country crushed the people and made many of them ready for revolution.

The simple answer is the Communists overthrew the government in power and brought in, if anything, an even more tyrannical reign than existed under the tsars.

Answer 4

on the surface, the peasants were overthrowing the czar. underneath, as is the case with all large armed conflicts, the "hidden players" are always the same: the psychopaths who run the planet. their agenda: make huge profits from arming both sides, and kill alot of people to help ease "overpopulation". then, later, ww2 was "needed" to, in part, help overthrow the "communist menace"; part of hitler's platform. more profiteering (google: bush crime family, for example) and 60+ million dead. and on and on it goes... ;-)