What sparked the Russian Revolution, and what changes followed?

• A. WWI pressures and economic strife; Bolshevik takeover, civil war, and Soviet state formation
• B. Russian democracy growth, industrial success, and return to czarist rule
• C. Foreign invasion leading to constitutional monarchy
• D. Global economic prosperity and imperial expansion

Answer: (A)

The main idea here is that relentless war strain and economic collapse set the stage for a dramatic political shift. World War I drained Russia’s resources, caused enormous casualties, food shortages, and runaway inflation, and left many people disillusioned with the ruling regime. In this crisis, the Bolsheviks rose to power in 1917, promising peace, land, and bread, and they quickly moved to establish a new government. That takeover was followed by a brutal civil war between competing factions, and, once the Red Army prevailed, the country reorganized as a Soviet state with nationalized industry and centralized socialist governance. Other descriptions—like a surge of democracy that returns to czar rule, foreign invasion bringing a constitutional monarchy, or a period of global prosperity and imperial expansion—don’t fit the actual sequence of events.