Was the Russian Revolution Inevitable? Historiography, Myth, and the Collapse of States

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Explaining History, Nick explores one of the most debated questions in modern history: Was the Russian Revolution inevitable?

Moving beyond the simple narrative of "peace, land, and bread," we delve into the competing schools of historiography that have shaped our understanding of 1917. From the Soviet orthodoxy of historical determinism to the Western liberal view of a Bolshevik coup d'état, and finally to the revisionist and post-revisionist syntheses of scholars like Sheila Fitzpatrick and Orlando Figes.

We also examine the structural argument: that revolutions only happen when st...