The Sad but True Happy Ending

WWI was the reason for the Soviet Revolution. Many Russians lost their lives to the war. The revolution took place because the Russians wanted to overthrow the government who supported the war. There was a lot of poverty in Russia, the government was inefficient, and the war was already going on for three years; the people started to wonder why they were fighting in the war.

As I write this today I am inspired by the bravery of people who were sent to forced labor camps. What does this have to do with me? I was born in 2003, and the Russian Revolution ended in 1918. I am planning to answer that question with this paper.

Many small actions determine who I will be or if I will be. For example, if my great grandpa made a different decision and did not put a hat on a statue I would not be here today, I would have not existed. Everything you do affects the world in some way. That is the same as the Soviet Revolution. Such a huge event it can not be described in a one page essay. Though I will do my best with my family.

The effects on Russia after the revolution were very notable. Russia stretched out and became “the Soviet Union”. The focus on education in the Soviet Union led to a bigger population. The Soviet Union withdrew from WWI, because they saw no reason to keep fighting and dying. The Soviet Union became a socialist state.

Let’s get to my family. My great grandma (Basya) lived in Poland, part of the Russian empire in the early 1900s. Peasants, farmers, and middle class demanded change, they were sick of the poverty, people dying in the war, and the government. The answer was the Soviet Revolution in 1917. The Russian Empire broke in 1917 and Poland becomes a independent country. Russia was advertised as being a safe place for Jews and other religions and a place where everyone worked together. Basya wanted to be a Jewish actress, so she moved to the Soviet Union and applied to an acting school. In 1937 she was put into a forced labor camp, because she was accused of being against the revolution. She was sentenced to 10 years in the forced labor camp. There she met her future husband, Ivan. He was a jokester and put a hat on a statue of Stalin, but the Soviets thought is was a offensive so they put him into a forced labor camp for 5 years. He was given an additional 5 years, because while Ivan and others in the camp worked on a dam, Ivan knew it would not work, and told the officials. After the dam did not work the officials gave Ivan another 5 years in the forced labor camp. After Ivan and Basya got out, they married and had my grandma from my dad’ side.

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So really I am directly affected by the Soviet Revolution. Without it I would never be in this world. Millions of lives were affected. If you want to know more about the Soviet Revolution be sure to research it. There's a lot material on the internet so try to sift through it.

By Sean Uan-Zo-li