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Period: to
THE TSAR- NICHOLAS 2
- 'Little father of Russia'
- Sergei Witte appointed as minister- oil and coal production trebled, Witte was disowned.
- Same happened with Stolypin
- Autocracy
- aristocracy made up 1.5% of society but owned 25% of the land
- Support grew temporarily when he decided to become commander for WW1
- Dissolved 3 Dumas.
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The Socialist Revolutionaries
- Radical Movement
- Aim: to hand over huge estates of nobility to peasants.
- Believed in a violent struggle
- Assassinated two government officials
- Wide support in towns and countryside
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The Social Democratic Party
- Smaller More disciplined Party
- Followed ideas of Karl Marx
- Party split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks, both of which were illegal.
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1905 Revolution and October Manifesto
- 200,000 peaceful protesters led by Father Gapon
- at least a hundred killed, over a hundred injured- event known as Bloody Sunday
- Wave of strikes and protests in many cities
- Potemkin Mutiny in June 1905
- Tsar survived by issuing October Manifesto, which gave concessions to middle class (Duma, freedom of speech, right to form political parties)
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The (multiple dissolved) Dumas
- Duma gathered for the first time in 1906.
- Tsar continued to rule without taking them seriously
- 1st and 2nd were critical of the Tsar so he dissolved them quickly.
- 1907, Tsar changes rules so his opponents can't be elected into Duma
- The third Duma lasted until 1912 (this was only because they were less critical of Stalin and they could not make any changes to his regime)
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Period: to
Pyotr (Peter) Stolypin
- Carrot and stick approach
- Stick: Over 20,000 strikers, protesters and revolutionaries exiles, over 1,000 hanged- Brutal suppression
- Carrot: He allowed wealthier peasants to opt out of Mir communes and buy land. These wealthier peasants were called Kulaks. Production increased significantly.
- impressive economic growth between 1908 and 1911
- Assassinated in 1911
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The First World War
- Russia enters First World War.
- Tensions within Country seem to ease.
- Display of patriotism and Tsar is Popular.
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Impacts of First World War- Military
- Early on in the war, they suffered defeats at Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes
- They were badly led and treated appallingly by aristocrat officers.
- Poorly supported by industries at home- short of rifles, ammunition, artillery and shells. Many didn't even have boots!
- Tsar takes control of army in 1915
- Defeats throughout 1916, Tsar held personally responsible.
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Impacts of the First World War- Socio-economic
- The war has killed 13% of the population by August 1916
- This left many widows and Orphans needing war pensions
- War contracts created an extra 3.5 million jobs between 1914 and 1916
- Food and Fuel shortages- couldn't be transported into cities
- Inflation.
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PG + war
- main decisions to make: Continue war or make peace (continued), distribute land or wait until elections, how to get food to workers
- Bolshevik Opposition:
- Led by Lenin - 'peace, land and bread'
- led to revolution
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Cheka
- Lenin set up secret police to root out potential enemies of the country, eg, army deserters
- Brutal, dictatorship
- 200,000 members by 1921
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Kornilov revolt
- Lavr Kornilov made an attempt to seize power
- Army led by Kerensky
- Response: Bolsheviks ready in case of combat
- Trotsky elected president of Petrograd Soviet
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Rasputin
- 'cured' Alexei Romanov of his haemophilia
- Won support of Tsarina- influenced her decisions greatly
- Rumours of an affair between Tsarina and Rasputing
- Government/ people in cabinet disliked him
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The Tsar's Abdication- The February Revolution
- January- Strikes broke out in some cities
- February- Strikes spread
- Supported by Tsar's army
- 7th March- Workers at Putilov steelworks go on strike
- They joined thousands of women (International Women's day)
- 7-10 March: number of strikers rose to 250000
- Duma set up a provisional committee
- 12 March: Tsar orders soldiers to put down revolts with force and they refuse, shooting down their own officers.
- Tsar abdicated on 15th March.
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Period: to
Provisional Government
- members: revolutionaries with no experience of government.
- Kerensky: Justice Minister in PG, member of Petrograd Soviet -Worked with Soviets spring 1917
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July Days
- spontaneous uprising
- Caused by PG's escalation of War effort, collapse of the government's ministry, bolshevik propaganda
- Neither Soviets or Bolsheviks prepared to help
- Lenin - underwhelming and didn't support which caused an uproar
- Lenin forced to flee
- over 100,000 people on streets of Petrograd
- over quickly
- Bolsheviks held responsible
- 700 dead
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October Revolution
- Bolsheviks stormed the winter Palace with little opposition
- Arrested ministers of PG
- Kerensky escaped
- underwhelming
- unpopularity of PG > popularity of Bolsheviks
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Period: to
Civil War
- White army composed of anti-Bolshevik politicians (eg Socialist Revolutionaries) in Russia and foreign countries (eg Czech Legion) against Communist Russia
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Period: to
Vladimir Lenin
- Bolshevik revolutionary leader took over from Provisional Government in 1917 with help of Trotsky
- Marxist, Communist dictator
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The Red Army
- Founded, all men over 18 eligible, combination of old imperial army and of volunteers
- answerable to Bolshevik government, fighting political enemies, civil war
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The Red Terror
- over 200,000 non-Communists and suspected opponents killed
- Trotsky ruthless leader
- both Reds and Whites were brutal, killed many civilians
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War Communism
- Lenin imposed harsh economic measures to put Communist theories into practice in Russian society and to help Civil War efforts by redistributing food, weapons, etc.
- large factories nationalised
- much harsher discipline for workers
- grain requisitioning - causing Civil War Sausage, up to 7 million Russians died in 1921 famine
- free enterprise and private trade illegal - causing Cigarette Lighterism
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Constituent Assembly
- Lenin's initial attempt at reinforcing a democratic system - proportional representation!- failed, as Socialist Revolutionaries rather than Bolshevik party gained majority
- Illegally dissolved this using Red Guards, replaced with Bolshevik majority Congress of Soviets to pass laws, for dictatorship
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Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- Getting Russia out of WWI
- 34% population lost
- 32% agricultural land lost
- 54% industry lost
- 26% railways lost
- 89% coal mines lost
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Death of Tsar
- was being held in Ekaterinburg with family
- Trotsky ordered them to be shot as White forces were approaching, did not want a figurehead for anti-Communists
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Leon Trotsky
- ruthless leader of Red Army, 300,000 men, strict discipline, holding families hostage to maintain troops' loyalty
- destroyed Admiral Kolchak's forces in 1919, large major White army defeated in Crimea 1920
- Trotsky used propaganda through railway network, cinematics and speeches for morale
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New Economic Policy
- Grain requisitioning abolished -> 'tax in kind' (lower taxes) -> could sell their own surplus
- Ban on private trade removed
- Small businesses re-opened
- State control of heavy industry
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Kronstadt Uprising
- Mutiny on Kronstadt naval base
- 60,000 troops
- Killed over 1000 sailors
- Lenin removed war communism policies after this
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Triumvirate
- Stalin, Zinoviev, Kamenev forming triumvirate against right-wing Bukharin
- has idea of 'Socialism in One Country', 1925, Trotsky sacked as War Commissar
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Lenin's funeral + Testament
- Stalin gave Trotsky the wrong date + appeared to mourn a lot
- boosted his own imagine
- Lenin's Testament was never released - would have ended Stalin's career + put Trotsky in power
- Ban on factions - can't divide parties
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Kamenev, Zinoviev, Trotsky expelled from Communist Party
- Stalin introduces idea of 'Socialism in One Country'
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Collectivisation
- Established during First Five Year Plan
- Removed private ownership of land
- Sovkhozes (state farms) proved too expensive and were shut down
- Kolkhozes (collective farms consisting of small plots, all produce to state) were established to try to use machinery for faster production (Motor Tractor Stations)
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First Five Year Plan
- 1928 to 1932
- Focused on materials such as coal, crude oil, iron steel etc.
- Most targets were not met
- New technology flourished, such as dams and hydroelectric power systems as well as settlements in remote locations where natural resources were abundunt
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Period: to
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin
- Started the Five Year Plans
- Began 'Purges'
- Was General Secretary to Lenin before his death
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Dekulakisation
- Stalin hated Kulaks (prosperous peasants/ former NEP men who owned land) due to their making profits, employment of others, independence (resisting central control)
- Led to 10 million people being taken, decreased in grain production (leading to famine between 1932-34)
- Grain requisition (taking of required food regardless of will) and increased propaganda against kulaks encouraged them to burn crops and slaughter animals as to not give them to the Communists
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Cult of Personality
- Stalin shown as wisest/ all powerful man who could do no wrong to stop further conflict against him
- Rewrote history books against old Bolshevik leaders as propaganda
- Controlled culture/ arts/ music: to be understood by everyone to contain the spread of socio-political messages and to spark happiness amongst citizens
- Control on religion: 60,000 places of worship shut down, 'League of Godless' destroyed churches
- Education made compulsory, revolved around propaganda and censorship
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Life
- No unemployment
- Free health service
- 7 day week
- Free sports/ leisure facilities
- Absence from work was criminalised
- Pay rise did not keep up with cost rises
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Nationality
- Stalin wanted everyone to be 'Soviet'
- Sent populations back to to homelands in Siberia etc.
- Sent 172,000 Koreans to Uzbekistan/ Kazakhstan
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The Second Five Year Plan
- 1933 to 1937
- While heavy industry was still a priority, secondary industry such as mineral farming, textiles and entertainment were also developed
- 1 doctor per 40 people
- Transport and communications also boosted (railways and canals in particular, note: Moscow underground railway)
- Farming machinery developed
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The Purges
- 7 million people 'disappeared'
- Leaders, creatives, scientists, army members
- Sent to gulags/ labour camps or killed
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Show Trials
- Removal of old Bolshevik leaders aware of Lenin's testament
- Ridiculous claims
- 35 removed
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The Third Five Year Plan
- 1938 to 1941 (interrupted by Russia's involvement in WW2)
- Industrialisation boomed due to new industrial cities, slave labour (from the purges/ gulags/ labour camps)
- Stalin thought Russia was 100 years behind West
- Women encouraged to work
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WW2 ( The Great Patriotic War)
- Cult of Sacrifice
- Propaganda - 'kill him', national anthem
- military reforms
- Gulag prisoners to fight - exploited - always intended purpose? - labourers produced 15% of ammunition + uniform
- Scorched Earth Policy
- Hitler surrendered 1943
- more soviets died defending Stalingrad than USA lost overall