Twists and turns of events a century ago

All of history tends to deeply impact people’s lives, but some years stand apart as they have a more lasting effect on the course of history.

The year 1917 is one such year. 

It was the year Mahatma Gandhi visited Champaran in Bihar for his famous ‘Satyagrah’ against the draconian British rule for the betterment of the indigo farmers suffering under the trade and taxation policy of the British Government. The tenant farmers were forced to grow indigo (blue dye) on large portions of their land as a condition of their tenancy, leaving them in abject poverty.

Gandhi came as a messiah. He protested against the British administration, rallied against local landlords, and as a result India saw its first ‘civil disobedience’ of the freedom movement. The episode of Champaran changed the course of the freedom struggle in India, making the people fearless against the British.

The year 1917 was not just crucial to India. Tsarist Russia was in deep turmoil, and its collapse due to the abdication of its emperor Nicholas II led to the February Revolution. Russia’s disastrous involvement in World War I was a primary reasons for people’s anger against the ruling administration.

Before the revolution, Russia was no match to its highly industrialised European counterparts — Germany, France and Britain. As a lot of money was diverted to fighting the war, unemployment rose among the youth and labour strikes became frequent. This gave the right impetus to the rise of Bolshevism and Leninism in Russia, ultimately leading to the birth of the USSR.

After World War II, the Soviet Union became one of the two superpowers, (the other being the US) and as a result defined the order of international politics for almost half a century until its dissolution in 1991. This was also the golden age of communism and Marxist ideals, which impacted Russian as well as world history.

The year 1917 was also crucial in shaping the history of the Middle East. The 67-word Balfour Declaration, made on November 2, 1917, was one such event called for the establishment of a Jewish National Home in the land of Palestine, subsequently leading to the formation of Israel and the birth of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The formation of Israel irked the Muslim-dominated region, leading to the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948. Since then, the region has been in chaos. 

The year 1917 can also be remembered for the ongoing World War I(1914-1918). It was also the year the US entered into the war.

To sum up, 1917 was one of the breakpoints in modern history, involving developments in almost all major regions of the world; a year that needs to be regularly revisited to assess the impact of these events now, and in years to come.

The author is a junior research fellow at School of International Studies, JNU