1.2

which year did the tsar take controll of the russian army

1915

what were some of examples of organised opposition groups

• socialist revolutionarys

• social democrats

• liberals

what did the socialist revolutionaries want

a new society based on the peasant commune

what did the socialist democrats want

• Bolsheviks - belived that they could lead the workers in revolution (wanted fast violent revolution)

• menshevicks - they thought communism in russia was a long way off as it was not get industrialised (wanted a slow rev)

whjat did the liberals want

more political freedoms to prevent revolution

what were the immediate reasons for the feb revolution

• food shortages in peterograd

• star being away for peterograd

• international womens day march

• inflation

what impact did WW1 have on discontent in russia

• military - had worlds largest army BUT it was poorly led and badly equipt - germany had managed to defeat them on many occasions

• economic - 300% inflation. russia owed many loans to allies

• political - the duma (russia’s parlament) requested that tsar replaced his ministered with new ones supported by duma. he refused. this increased political opposition

• star as commander in chief - when he left petrograd he left the tsarina and Rasputin in charge. they made many bad decisions and Rasputin had bad influence on tsarina

when did the february revolution begin

14th

14th feb 1917

demonstrations occur in support of the duma

18th feb 1917

strike at the putilov steelworks in peterograd

23rd feb 1917

international womens day - women joined striking workers on streets

25th feb 1917

300,000 demonstrators on streets

26th feb 1917

tsar instructs army to restore order in peterograd - some shots fired on demonstrators - 40 killed

27th feb

star orders duma to disolve

28th feb 1917

a military report to the tsar declaired that peterograd was out of controll

1st march 1917

peterograd soviet issued soviet order number one - all aiuthority is transfered to elected representatives of soldiers

2nd march 1917

tsar returnes to peterograd and he abdicates but doesnt select an individual as the new tsar

3r march 1917

provisional government becomes responcible for running the country

whhat were the 3 top problems faced by the provisonal government

• it was not properly elected - people may not listen as it was temporary

• russia had faced many war defeats - soldiers were deserting and disobeying orders

• russia was in a high amount of debt and owed many loans to allies

what were the reforms of the provisional government

• freedom of religion

• freedom of speech

• abolishment of the secret police

• amnesty for political prisoners

• promise of an elected parliament

• introduction of 8hr days for industrial workers

• recognition of trade unions

what was the peterograd soviet

they were a powerfull council who owrked along side the PG if they kept ot their reforms

why was alexander kerensky

memebr of both PG and PS. he became leader of PG in 1917 but made some crucial mistakes

what were the mistakes that kerensky made in 1917

• continued to support the war

• acted against old ruling classes

• failed to control the bolshevic’s

what wasit called when PG and PS were leading russia

dual control

what were the main weaknesses and faliures of the PG

• lack of decisive leadership

• continuing to fight in the war

• faliure to improve the economy

• more democracy and free speech = more criticism to gov

• lack of legitimacy

• falure to hold general election

• dual control - very weak position

what was the june offensive

this was when the PG decided to attack the german and Australian forces in june 1917. it was a disaster with over 200,000 russian casualties, 60,000 deaths. this is when keresksy took over as leader of PG in july 1917 from prince Lvov.

what were the july days

a series of armed protests in peterograd aimed at the PG.

when was the kornilov revolt

august 1917

what role did kornilov have

head of the army - appointed by Kerensky in july 1917 to improve discipline

events of the kornilov revolt

• korn and keren agreed more soldiers needed in peterograd

• but korn decided russia needed military rule

• kerenksy saw this as threat to PG

• korn sent troops to Petrograd on 24th august with orders to shut down PS

• kerensky armed and released the bolskevicks to defend korns troops - he called the bolsheviks the red gaurd

• the revolt ended

what was the significance of kornilov revolt

• increase popularity and influence of bolsheviks

• weaked PG further

• the establishment of red guard gave bols more power

• on august 31st bolsheviks won most seats in the PS election

who was lenin and where had he been

• the bolshevik leader

• he was exiled to switseland

what was the april thesies and what did they include

a set of ideas of a revolution:

• end the way with germany

• transfer power to working class

• distribute land to peasants

• abolishion of police and army

• overthrow capitalist system

• all power to soviets

what impact did this have on the bolshevik party

it grew rapidly

what was the october revolution

when Lenin decided it was time to bols to seize power

7th october 1917

lenin returned to peterograd in secret

10th october

lenin persuaded bols to agree to support a revolution

23rd october

kerensky attempted to prevent the revolution by closing down bolshevick newspaper

24th october

during the night bolshevick captured key buildings and set up barriers on roads surrounding winter pallace

25th october 1917

bolshevik troops stormed winter palace. PG surrendered

26th october

lwenin established a new gov called council of peoples commissars made up of leadimg bolshevicks

what were the key triggers of the october revolution

• surge in bol party membership

• elections for the consituency assembily

• lenins return

how did the bols consolidate their power

• lenin set up a new government - sovnarkom

• soviets seized control of towns and cities

• BUT they didnt have full control of russia - little control of countryside

what were the 4 early decrees that the bolsheviks passed

1. decree on peace

2. decree on land

3. decree on workers rights

4. decree on nationalities

info about decree on peace

• 8th November 1917

• peace can be achieved without fines or seized land

infop on decrees on land

• 8th november 1917

• land taken form wealthy landowners now belonged to peasants

info on decrees on workers rights

• nov/dec 1917

• 8 hr day

• uinemployment insurance

• workers committees ran their own factories

onfo on decrees on nationalities

• nov 1917

• all different people of the russian empire could have their own gov

• but these govs remained under bolshevick control

why did the constituent assembily close down

• the election was held but the socialist revolutiuonar’s won (53% of votes) with the bolsheviks with only 24%

• lenin couldnt afford to loose

• so they proposed that the power of the assembily should be limited

what was the cheka and when was it set up

set up on 7th december 1917 by lenin, it was the secret police

when was Tsar and the royal family executed

17th july 1918

when was the treaty of brest-litovsk (ToBL)

3rd march 1918

what was the ToBL

a peace treaty removing russia from WW1

why did lenin sign ToBL

• he had opposed the war since 1914

• he had promised to take russia out of the war once in power

• any prolongation in the war could result in the army no longer supporting him

what did russia loose when signing the treaty

• many teritories

• 27% of farmaland

• 26% of population (62 million ppl)

• 50% of indurstry

• 74% coalmines and iron core

who oposed the bolshevicks in the civil war

whites

greens

czech legion

foregn powers

whne was the civil war

1918-1921

who was the red army

bolshevicks

who was the white army

alliance of anti bolshevik groups

who were the greens

national minorities that saw an opportunity to establish independence

who were the czech legion

42,000 soldiers who had faught for russia in WW1

who were the foregn powers

russian ex allies

reasons for civil war

• economic and social harship

• bolshevick reforms

• the constituent assembily

• the ToBL

detail behind economic and social hardship as cause of civil war

• famine - many food shortages (peace bread and land slogan) this was worst in citys beacuse industrial workers left

• people went to the country side where food grew as fears of death

detailes behind Bolshevik reforms as reason for civil war

• nobles, landlords and church opposed the dcree on land

details behind the constituent assembily as reason for civil war

• social revolutionary’s were furious with bolshevicks and so supported the whites in the civil war - more oposition to bolshevick rule

details behind ToBL as reason for civil war

• greatly increase oposition to bolsheviks. 50 million people lost housing

when did the CW begin

1918

which foreign powers sent troops to suppirt the whites - CW

britian, france, america, japan

what key railway was controlled by the czech legion - CW

trans siberian railway

which white generals led forces in the south - CW

denkin and wrangel

who led white forces in the east - CW

admiral kolchak

which white general advanced towards peterograd - CW

general yudenich

what happened to the major white offensives by late 1919 - CW

they were defeated by the reds

what happened to foreign intervention forces after 1919

they began withdrawing

what year had the red army secured victory

1921

4 key topics why the reds won the civil war

• leadership

• organisation

• geography

red strengths in leader ship CW

• lenin was inspirational figure - ruthless

• trotsky was key to red success - inspired men, restored discipline, reintroduced traditional officer structure

• bols benefited from centralised and unified leadership of lenin and trotsky

white weaknessses in leader ship CW

• made up of different political parties - didnt agree/ trust eachother

• they did not have 1 true/main leader

• the officers and leaders were unreliable

red strengths in organisation in CW

• all food and resources were prioritised for the red army - gave people motiv to join army as they wouldnt starve

• factories geared up to produce things for reds wareffore

key weknesses in white army organisation CW

• no clear aim - they lacked cooportaion and unity

• generals didnt cooperate - less loyalty - all fighting for different things

strengths of red army geography CW

• based in moscow - capital = safer. - central railway connections provided easier transport for moving troops quicky

• capital of russia more troops avaliable and they had tsars weapons

weaknesses of white army geograph CW

• geographicaly scattered around russia - less people to recruit

• had the transiberian railway - not big tho

• poor communications

what was the cheka

soviet secret police

what was the role of the cheka during CW

• grew rapidly - by 1919 - 100,000 employees

• had lots of power - after 1918 they could arrest, imprison, execute and torture anyone they suspected - around 12,000 people executed between 1918 and 1920

• they used randomised attacks that would catch people off guard

what was the red terror

a period of executions and arrests between september 1918 and feb 1919

what was war communism

introduced in 1918 as a method of controllling the economy - it ensure economic life foccused on the reds

when was war communism in place

1918 - 1921

when was the NEP in place

1921-1924

what were the 3 main things gs that the NEP and war communism effected

• agriculture

• indursty

• trade

agricultrual features of war communism

• peasants had to give excess food to government - requisition squads took the food if not

• BUT peasants therfore had no instentive to grow extra food

agricultrual features of NEP

• peasants could keep excess food and sell it on in the free market - this was insentive to them to grow as much as possible

industry features of war communism

• factories with more than 10 workers were nationalised - state owned factories and told them what to do

  • autumn 1919 gov controlled 80% of factories

industry features of NEP

• if u had less than 20 workers then you could have your own factory again

  • state still controlled the majority

  • production increased

trade features of war communism

• private trading banned - extra food to gov

• money not worth anything

trade features of NEP

foreign trade encoraged - with new currency

stregths of war communism

• kept army supplied - all had enough food

• won civil war - supplying army was effective

stregths of NEP

• grain harvest doubled

• indurstrial production increased - priced reduced

• ends famine