To what extent do you consider that the October Revolution of 1917 was a key turning point in the development of modern Russia in the years 1856-1964?

The October Revolution was a key turning point to some extent in the development of modern Russia. However, over the course of the years 1856-1964 there were many other turning points that took place, which can be considered to be more key to the development of modern Russia than the October Revolution was. Some of these key issues include Russia under the rule of Alexander II and the State farms introduced under the early years of Stalin.

Firstly, I believe that Russia under the rule of Alexander II created some of the key turning points in terms of developing ‘modern Russia’. One of these key turning points was the reform for the emancipation of the serfs on the 19th February 1861. This was a key turning point for the development of modern Russia because it was the first sign of freedom that Russia had seen in along time and was the first step in a long process of defining modern Russia. Arthur states in Harmsworth history of the world that 23 million therefore received liberty after these reforms took place, which in my opinion was a huge step in becoming modernised. This term modernisation I think is defined by Russia trying to catch up to the economic capabilities of the west, which they were currently, know where near the standard. In terms of this the emancipation of the serfs was clearly vital in developing Russia. Furthermore, Andrew D. White also infers that this was a crucial reform by saying that “serfs became slaves, even worse than that” because this implies that before this reform Russia were living in bad times and so this was the stepping stone towards a modernised future. Because of this I disagree with the statement that the October revolution was a key turning point, as it does not provide