chronology overview

Alexander II (1855-1881): military, political, social overview

• attempted reforms but unwilling to limit autocracy leading to instability

• came to power during the crimean war ending in a defeat that challenged Russias great power status and began early reforms and later reactionary phases of his rule

• victory in Russo-turkish war

• zemstva regional governments with limited powers led to calls for a National Assembly

• emancipation improved status but not living conditions: cut off land and redemption payments

Alexander II (1855-1881): economic, empire and opposition overview

• emancipation partly to kick start economic development

• some industrial growth led by foreign companies

• reunification and wars to expand empire

• polish uprising led to tougher stance towards national minorities

• uneasy mix of reform and reaction in censorship, education and elsewhere

• emancipation was a major cause of opposition for decades

• eventually assassinated

Alexander III (1881-1894): military, political, social overview

• control through ruthless autocracy alongside force of personality

• brought in limited reforms in an autocratic, paternal way

• known as the peacemaker

• did not involve russia in major wars but did use force to continue to assert control over Russian empire

• manifesto of Unshakeable Autocracy set out reactionary, top down nature of rule

• factory inspectorates and limits to child labour, but not enforced

• not enough to stop ad conditions from rapid industrialisation

Alexander III (1881-1894): economic, empire and opposition overview

• Peasant Land Back limited reform to address land problem from emancipation

• rapid industrialisation encouraged with foreign input

• Russification like his father and son

• formed Okhrana new secret police force as one of his first acts with a crackdown of 10000 arrests in his fist year

• continued with forceful repression but did little to address the causes of opposition

Nicholas II (1894-FEB 1917): military, political, social overview

• a rigid autocrat facing a rising tide of problems but without the charisma of his father to handle it

• humiliating defeat in Russo-Japanese war

• chose to take russia into massively destructive First World War

• forced into concession of creating Duma national parliament in 1905 unrest but did everything he could to limit its powers through Fundamental Laws so that it was only advisory

• during WW1, he weakened autocracy by going to the front line

• little improvement in the countryside

• overcrowding in growing cities led to bad driving conditions made worse by WW1

Nicholas II (1894-FEB 1917): economic, empire and opposition overview

• Stolypins reforms encouraged peasants to break away from Mir to increase production

• Wittes Great Spurt: rapid industrial growth of heavy industry led by government investment including Trans-Siberian railway

• Russification

• 1905 revolution saw temporary loss of control of national minorities but control, reasserted in crackdown, though national minorities represented in the Duma

• rising strikes and protests to 1905 when they exploded forcing more open discussion after 1905

• strikes increased during WW2

Provisional Government (FEB-OCT 1917): military, political, social overview

• attempt to govern as a liberal democracy, but own weaknesses, strength of growing opposition and effects of war caused fall

• decided to keep fighting in WW1 but became even more damaging, contributing to downfall

• unelected liberals trying to rule until elections could be held to form a more permanent power structure

• had little real power, had to share power with the Petrograd soviet that had command of the army

• massive problems of strikes and rural disorders

• WW1 created terrible living conditions

Provisional Government (FEB-OCT 1917): economic, empire and opposition overview

• paralysed on economic reform due to continuation of WW1 and refusal to reform land issues from emancipation

• rising strikes

• refused to grant independence to its empire but lost control through WW2 disruption and weakness of government

• ended Tsarist repression but unable to stop the rise of opposition when trying to rule liberally in time of great hardship

Lenin (OCT 1917-1924): military, political, social overview

• ideologically driven, ruthless leader with forceful personality who established the worlds only socialist state

• established the Bolsheviks as rules of a one party state when many though they would fail within a few months

• withdrew Russia from WW1 through costly Treaty of Brest-Livotsk

• secured power with victory over the Whites in the civil war

• dismissed Constituent Assembly and banned other parties

• Bolshevik power structures overpowered multi-party soviet power structures and debated with other Bolsheviks

• reforms overturned Tsarist social structure: women and the masses benefitted from better rights and conditions

• living conditions very poor under civil war and war communism

Lenin (OCT 1917-1924): economic, empire and opposition overview

• war communism: requisition grain by force from peasants, complete government control of industry

• later replaced by NEP, introducing capitalist elements like paying peasants to sell excess grain

• attempts to modernise particularly through electrification

• initially granted independence but then tried to regain control

• set yp the USSR as form of control through Moscow

• greater cultural tolerance

• civil war increased governments power to deal with opposition including regaining control of army and setting up the Cheka secret police

• elimination of political parties

• repression of loosely defined counter revolutionaries

Stalin (c1924-1953): military, political, social overview

• changed a one party state into a one man state ruling through terror, radical policy change, propaganda and war leadership

• great patriotic war was a massively destructive fight for survival against Nazi invasion

• ussr kept on war footing through tension with West in Cold War

• Totalitarian rule centred on him as leader, less debate within communist party and propaganda cult of personality created personal sense of power over the masses

• rights and conditions of masses not a priority in favour of tough preparation for WW2, WW2 and afterwards as the Cold War began

Stalin (c1924-1953): economic, empire and opposition overview

• collectivisation: massive upheaval in countryside to move peasants onto state owned collective farms

• industry moved into five year plans with production targets

• emphasis on rapid industrialisation, heavy industry and war production

• heavy control through Moscow, initially through the USSR

• used the great patriotic war and Cold War as cover for heavy handed repression and genocide of national minority groups

• ruthless pricing of anything that looked like opposition through show trials at the top and purges of millions among the masses

Krushchev (1953-1964): military, political, social overview

• a man of the people from east stock, trying to balance reform to reduce the excesses of stalinism with maintaining firm party control and modernising the context of Cold War rivalry

• Cold War tension with West

• de-stalinisation reduced leaders cult of personality and transferred some power back to the communist party, away from one leader but there were limits to this

• attempted to improve living conditions: more housing and consumer goods in attempt to rival American living conditions

• some progress but also some problems

Krushchev (1953-1964): economic, empire and opposition overview

• Virgin Lands Campaigns to increase agricultural production - early success but later failure

• attempt to diversify industrial production as well as big national projects such as space and nuclear weapons

• De-stalinisation suggested less control but Hungarian uprising showed that attempts to break away in Cold War would not be tolerated

• De-Stalinisation ended purges and prison camp network

• struggled in trying to allow some criticism of Stalin but not of himself or party