he wrote "gloomy days have come for the country of tolstoy, dostoevsky, mendeleev, pavlov, mussorgsky, glinka, and other world-prized men. there is a splendid opportunity to demonstrate the vitality of humanitarianism. i ask all honest european and american people for prompt aid to the russian people. give bread and medicine." in 1921, one of the worst famines in world history descended on russia. 30 million people, almost a quarter of the population across the vast territory, were facing starvation and death. there were several causes for the famine. in the short-term, it was precipitated by two horrible droughts in 1920 and 1921 that decimated the harvest. but there were longer, in a sense more important, factors that led to the famine. there had been seven years in russia of unending war and revolution, beginning with 1914 and the start of world war i, when millions of peasants left the land to go off and fight, to 1917, where we had two revolutions in the span of one year. the collapse of the 300 year romanov dynasty in february followed by the bolshevik coup in november of 1917.