Question

write an essay of 3-4 pages Comparing and contrasting the French Revolution with the Russian Revolution. Note both similarities and differences. Try to focus on two or three areas when comparing and contrasting.

Answer 1

One ultimately marked the rise of democracy, the other ultimately communism. Interestingly, both were sparked by injustice and inequality imposed on the populous (hence a revolution) and both resulting governmental systems were attractive enough to spread to other countries. At a high level, the two stark differences of these events are somewhere between several hundred million deaths imposed by the state (Russia, China, Cambodia, etc), in favor of communism (not counting wars). The other difference is that Democracy continues to thrive and communism has contracted, except in China.

The problem is that neither free democracy or socialism are practical. Socialism in practical form turned into communism, which handed control right back to a few people, or in Stalin’s case, essentially one person. Democracies, on the other hand, morphed into republics or representative democracies. Like socialism, democracy, in its pure form is near impossible to install and maintain.

With that context, what were the big differences that spawned two very different outcomes. Here are 3 guesses (I’m no historian)

1. The French had a declaration or rights….a document declaring their rights, while the Russians had a person….Lenin. Lenin had a powerful idea, but was a person and central to the Russian revolution, while the French had a set of principles. Principle are less curroptable than a single person and they tend to survive nd maintain their shape longer.
2. When French soldiers were order to fire on the people, they turned on their leaders, shot them, and joined the people. This created a benchmark, in my opinion. Soldiers realized that an unlawful order did not have to be tolerated and it created a powerful symbol. From what I know, the Russians didn’t have these events, which may have resulted into a military class very capable of turning on its people and against each other in the coming years.
3. The weather. Just a wild guess here. Winter conditions are simply a whole lot more miserable in Russia than in France and this probably had a big impact on how many things played out. There’s probably a book or paper on it somewhere.