How did World War I impact the Russian Revolution? Why did patriotic enthusiasm quickly give way to disillusionment? Or did the enthusiasm ever exist? Historian Konstantin Tarasov explains how the attitude towards war changed in Russian society as events unfolded.
The Liberators of Russia
How the All-Zemstvos Union was Formed.
THE success of the revolution in Russia can be traced to one source, the work of the All-Zemstvos Union. By taking over the feeding of the army and the care of the wounded, the Union gradually gained control of the army and. when the crisis came, controlled the forces of the Empire, thus forcing the Czar to abdicate. A. X. Sakhnovsky tells of the growth of the Union in World Work.
By an Imperial rescript of February 19. IMfil, the peasants were liberated from serfdom, but the peasants did not receive the ownership of the land. The nobility which owned large estates lost only a small portion of their landv which Vas bought by the Government for distribution among the peasants. This land was not given to the peasants free of charge; they were compelled to buy it on long-term payments. The liberation of the peasants produced a large class of small tenant-farmers. Thus, while a certain degree of political liberty was ach