Russian Revolution: Causes and Key Events

Study Notes

Russia's involvement in WWI led to economic hardship, food shortages, and war casualties, causing unrest among the Russian people.
The Russian Revolution was a response to the country's poor economic and social conditions.

Vladimir Lenin: Led the Bolsheviks, a Marxist party, and played a key role in the November Revolution.
Leon Trotsky: A leading figure in the Russian Revolution, Trotsky was a key organizer of the Bolsheviks and played a crucial role in the November Revolution.
Alexander Kerensky: A Russian politician who became Minister-Chairman in the provisional government after the February Revolution, but his government was later overthrown by the Bolsheviks.
Joseph Stalin: A Russian revolutionary who became the leader of the Soviet Union after Lenin's death, Stalin played a key role in the Soviet government.

March 1917: A combination of food shortages, war casualties, and economic hardship led to widespread protests and strikes in Petrograd (St. Petersburg).
The protests eventually forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate, ending the Romanov dynasty.

November 1917: The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Trotsky, overthrew the provisional government, marking the start of the Soviet era.

China's weak and fragmented government, along with foreign exploitation, led to widespread discontent among the Chinese people.
The Chinese Revolution was a response to the country's political and economic instability.

Sun Yat-sen: A Chinese revolutionary and the first provisional president of the Republic of China, Sun played a key role in the Xinhai Revolution.
Chiang Kai-shek: A Chinese politician and military leader, Chiang was a key figure in the Chinese Civil War and later became the leader of the Nationalist Party.

Xinhai Revolution (1911-1912): A revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty, marking the end of imperial China and the establishment of the Republic of China.
Chinese Civil War (1927-1950): A conflict between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party, which ultimately led to the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

Chinese characters, also known as Hanzi, are logograms used in the Chinese writing system to represent words or concepts rather than sounds.

There are thousands of Chinese characters, with estimates suggesting over 50,000, but a significant number are rare or obsolete, and only a few thousand are commonly used.

Characters can be classified into different categories, including:
- Pictograms: resembling the object they represent
- Ideograms: representing an abstract concept
- Compound characters: composed of multiple components
- Phonetic characters: representing a sound

Chinese characters are composed of:
- Radicals: providing a hint about the character's meaning
- Phonetics: providing a hint about the character's pronunciation
- Strokes: the order and direction of lines used to write the character

Simplified characters: used in mainland China, Singapore, and Malaysia
Traditional characters: used in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau, and some overseas Chinese communities
Variant characters: characters with different forms or meanings in different regions or dialects

Chinese characters are essential to the Chinese language and are used in various aspects of Chinese culture, including literature, calligraphy, and art
Learning Chinese characters is a challenging but important part of studying the Chinese language
Characters can be learned through various methods, including:
- Rote memorization
- Character decomposition
- Context-based learning