POLITICAL, SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC GRIEVANCES IN EARLY 20th CENTURY RUSSIA
People living in early 20th century Russia faced great hardship across political, social and economic paradigms, leading to great discontent and eventually revolt from the Russian society which significantly impacted the decline and fall of the Romanov dynasty. Politically, Russia was rapidly becoming a declining world power due to the unwillingness of the Russian government to keep up with other nations in terms of development. The people also felt unhappy and supressed beneath the autocratic system, and Russia’s self imposed isolation from Europe resulted in complicated foreign relations. This also led to economic hardships; Russia had almost no trade with Europe, while ironically being financially dependant on France for loans at the same time. Furthermore, due to the changing nature of life in the country and industrialisation, poverty was widespread and thus was the basis for many of the social grievances in Russia. Some consequences of the poverty included an increase in theft and crime, terrible hygiene and malnourishment among the people. In the city, the living conditions were poor and overcrowded, and the working conditions were as bad and people in the country felt similar repercussions. In addition to this, outside the cities the rural peasants felt neglected and ignored as they’d missed out on much of the new technology, and began to protest. Thus, the severity of the people’s grievances themselves and the reactions to these issues were a major contributing factor in the decline and fall of the Romanov dynasty.
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