The Fundamental Causes of the Russian RevolutionThe fundamental causes of the Russian Revolution were the direct consequence of a terribly long period of repression of the Russian people combined with prolonged instability of the Russian government. For centuries, tsarist regimes imposed harsh demands on the population by exercising their unilateral power, without any moral consideration for human life or freedom. At the same time, to maintain his status as a great power, the tsar promoted higher education. The result was a perpetual tension between government and society, particularly its educated element, known as the “intelligentsia.” The United States emerged as a leader in automated technology in the late 1800s, and human rights quickly became a concern in the workplace. This gave stimulus to industrial development in Russia. The 1890s marked the beginning of the great leap forward in Russian industrialization. Huge factories were built, implementing the most modern technologies available, imported from England, Germany and the United States. Along with the most up-to-date technology brought from the West came the most current and advanced ideas of socialism. As a result, large industrial cities quickly arose. Now the peasants had to be moved from their workplace in the fields to be employed in these gigantic factories, thus the proletarian class emerged and became an important social class in Russian society. By 1914 their number reached about 225 million, and by 1917 Russia had over 3 million workers. There was an elite group of educated Russians attempting to adopt Western ideals of human rights and apply them to the Russian workforce. This spark... middle of paper... triggered by the "insights" of their leader Joseph Stalin. In 1942, the Soviets established a group of interacting agencies and collection and analysis methods that are still in use today. By the end of the war, the Soviets had refined their procedures into a series of regulations, directives, and instructions. Even though the Soviet empire has disappeared, the lessons enumerated in this book are still applicable. Read, Anthony and David Fisher. Deadly Embrace: Hitler, Stalin and the Nazi-Soviet Pact. New York: WW Norton, 1988. An in-depth look at the strategies used by Stalin and Hitler with an emphasis on the psychological implications of Stalin's behavior. Shukman, Harold. Stalin: triumph and tragedy. New York: Grove Widenfeld, 1988. The climate in Russia was the most important aspect of Stalin's plan. This book provides a weather-related chronological account of the war.