Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-10975360-20131129121937/@comment-4656717-20131201101110

I read somewhere that before WWI, foreign observers saw Russia as an emerging superpower (both economically and militarily), really making extraordinary leaps in technology and industrialisation. The problem with the view of Russia being "destined" to violent communist revolution is that we look at it from the perspective of such a revolution actually having happened. Basically all of the hardship which caused the revolution came from the war. It should also be noted that Russia wasn't the only absolute monarchy in Europe at that point and without the war, there's no reason why those countries would experience violent revolutions. They would just gradually continue their steady path towards constitutional change.