The Russian Revolution In Animal Farm By George Orwell

Intro: One of Orwell's goals in writing Animal Farm was to portray the Russian Revolution of 1917 as one that resulted in a government more oppressive, totalitarian, and deadly than the one it overthrew. Many of the characters and events of Orwell's novel parallel those of the Russian Revolution: In short, Manor Farm is a model of Russia, and old Major, Snowball, and Napoleon represent the dominant figures of the Russian Revolution.

Tsar Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor, is modeled upon Mr. Jones. His reign was distinguished by his belief that he was the nation's uncontestable ruler. The Russian citizens suffered terrible hardships and upheaval during his rule marked by the 1905 Bloody Sunday massacre when unarmed protesters demanding social changes were shot down by the army near the palace of Nicholas. The lives of millions of Russians worry as the animals under Jones lead lives of hunger and want, During Nicholas' reign, the lives of millions of Russians declined. The angered and desperate people started a series of strikes and protests when Russia entered World War I and ultimately lost more men than any nation in any previous war, marking the end of Tsarist rule. Nicholas abdicated his throne in hopes of preventing an all-out civil war when his generals withheld their support from him, however, the civil war came in the form of the Bolshevik Revolution.

V. I. Lenin, the leader of the Bolshevik Party who took charge of the 1917 Revolution, is the animal equivalent of the Old Major. Lenin was influenced by Karl Marx's philosophy of communism, which urges the "workers of the world" to unite against their economic oppressors, as Old Major outlines the ideals of animalism, a theory that all animals are equal and must rebel against their oppressors. As Lenin was uncompromising in his beliefs the old Major is utter in his hatred of man: he is generally believed to have been responsible for giving the order to destroy Nicholas and his family after taking control of the Bolsheviks. Lenin was responsible for turning Russia into the U.S.S.R., as the old Major was responsible for turning the Manor Farm into an Animal Farm. The flag of the U.S.S.R. showed a hammer and sickle, the rebel workers' instruments, so the Animal Farm flag features a whistle.

The Battle of the Windmill represents the participation of the U.S.S.R. in World War II, specifically, the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, when the forces of Stalin defeated Hitler's Finally, the card game resembles the Tehran Conference at the end of the novel, where Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin D. Roosevelt met to negotiate ways of forging permanent peace after the war.