A Comparison between the Russian and the French Revolution - Essay Example

The Russian Revolution and the French Revolution were unique in their ways, the two Revolutions were fought by the people of each country to liberate themselves of the tyrannical regime that oppressed them and the results of the French and the Russian revolution were the ousting of the government of the two countries of that time. Another comparison that can be drawn from the Russian and the French revolution is in the cause of the revolutions. The oppression of the Russian and the French people by their leaders was the root cause of the French and Russian revolutions.

Another thing that is worthy of note, is in the fact the financial system of France and Russia were on the brink of collapse before the revolution. Tsar Nicholas of the Soviet Union was in huge debt after World War I (Pipes), while the French Monarch had mismanaged the finances of France (Feher).         The contrast that can be drawn from the French and the Russian revolutions is the duration at which the revolution took place. The French Revolution was a single phased revolution that started as an internal resentment amongst the common citizens of France as they felt they have been oppressed by the authoritarian monarch, King Louis XVI, who was the King of France during that period (Feher 84).

  The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a double phase war that took place in February and October of that year (date according to the Julian calendar) (Pipes). The Russian Revolution that took place in February was the revolution against the emperor, Tsar Nicholas who like the French leader had also oppressed his people and the February Revolution ushered in a provisional government. The October Revolution was a revolution against the provisional government by the Bolsheviks who made the country the first communist state (Pipes 42-49).

  The Russian revolution of 1917 was a dual revolution that happened in a single year, while the French revolution was a single revolution that lasted for about ten years.