Baird, Jr. Professor of History at Harvard University and is the author of a variety of books, and this particular essay titled “Did the Russian Revolution Have to Happen?” is the concluding chapter of the forthcoming book, Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime. Pipes describes the revolution as a revolt that derived from the public’s disgust with the crown’s familiarity with Rasputin as well as the Tsar’s mismanagement of the war effort, stating that it was not an event or a process, but a series of disruptive and violent acts. He states that the assault on the monarchy was not undertaken from fatigue from the war, but from the desire for the monarchy to make better efforts. Pipes believes that initially, neither social discontent nor the agitation of radical intelligentsia played any significant role in the abdication of the Tsar . The events of Feburary 1917 demonstrated that the Russian Empire was ultimately an artificial and fragile structure, held together by the policy, army and bureaucracy. Pipes goes on to explain that centuries of autocratic rule in a country possessing a relatively natural economy had prevention the formation of lateral ties that were strong . He blames the revolution on several factors, but describes that the most heavy factor was the steady decline of the prestige of Tsarism,
Baird, Jr. Professor of History at Harvard University and is the author of a variety of books, and this particular essay titled “Did the Russian Revolution Have to Happen?” is the concluding chapter of the forthcoming book, Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime. Pipes describes the revolution as a revolt that derived from the public’s disgust with the crown’s familiarity with Rasputin as well as the Tsar’s mismanagement of the war effort, stating that it was not an event or a process, but a series of disruptive and violent acts. He states that the assault on the monarchy was not undertaken from fatigue from the war, but from the desire for the monarchy to make better efforts. Pipes believes that initially, neither social discontent nor the agitation of radical intelligentsia played any significant role in the abdication of the Tsar . The events of Feburary 1917 demonstrated that the Russian Empire was ultimately an artificial and fragile structure, held together by the policy, army and bureaucracy. Pipes goes on to explain that centuries of autocratic rule in a country possessing a relatively natural economy had prevention the formation of lateral ties that were strong . He blames the revolution on several factors, but describes that the most heavy factor was the steady decline of the prestige of Tsarism,