Congratulations, Russia.

[Beet]

Today is the 100th anniversary of the overthrow of the evil Romanov dynasty, and the beginning post-Imperial Russia. The road towards Western-style liberal democracy is by no means a straight one, but I hope Russia is able to get there one day.

[Beet]

In 1917 the Russian Empire was a great power, with the potential to be a superpower rivaling or even surpassing the USA. In 2017, Russia now has a GDP roughly the same as Australia and it's population drinking itself to death with a first world birth rate and 3rd world death rate.

It's been a rough 100 years.

In 1917 it was the weakest of several European powers, have being most recently beaten by Japan. It was a backwards agrarian economy where most people's lives had hardly advanced from the Middle Ages. Today it's the world's second most powerful country, with a growing population and the 6th highest GDP in the world. To be sure, it could have done better had it switched immediately to liberal, Western democracy, but it was going down the drain under the Czars.

[Beet]

In 1917 the Russian Empire was a great power, with the potential to be a superpower rivaling or even surpassing the USA. In 2017, Russia now has a GDP roughly the same as Australia and it's population drinking itself to death with a first world birth rate and 3rd world death rate.

It's been a rough 100 years.

In 1917 it was the weakest of several European powers, have being most recently beaten by Japan. It was a backwards agrarian economy where most people's lives had hardly advanced from the Middle Ages. Today it's the world's second most powerful country, with a growing population and the 6th highest GDP in the world. To be sure, it could have done better had it switched immediately to liberal, Western democracy, but it was going down the drain under the Czars.

Um...You are acting like they didn't lose 23% of their territory, over half of their population, and over half of their GDP 25 years ago and are struggling to try to crawl their way back to where they were 30 years ago while the rest of the world has moved on.

That has nothing to do with the February revolution. We are talking about the February revolution, not the October revolution. And even after all those losses, Russia is still more powerful today than it was in 1917, relatively or absolutely.

Edit: Everyone is acting like this thread is talking about the October revolution. That is false. I've said many times Western style liberal democracy would be the best form of government.

[Beet]

Not really. If the Kerensky government had negotiated peace with Germany, it could have survived. The Russians were sick of WW1, that is why it happened. Let's not forget it was the Czar who started and bungled the war in the first place. Without the Czar, we would have been spared both WWI and WWII and communism!