Modern History: Year 12 ATAR

Russo-Japanese War: date

Feb 1904-1905

The Treaty of Portsmouth (Date and Details)

September 1905. Ended the Russo-Japanese War, and humiliated Russia, being forced to hand over significant land such as Port Arthur.

Bloody Sunday: Date

9th January 1905

How many people marched in Bloody Sunday?

100,000 people

How many people died in Bloody Sunday?

Up to 200 people were killed by Cossack troops

Date and Significance of the Potemkin Mutiny

June 1905; it showed that the Tsar would not always have military support to keep him in power.

The October Manifesto

Declared October 1905. It declared fundamental civil rights for all Russians, and established a Duma elected by the people. All laws had to pass through the Duma before being put into practice.

The Fundamental Laws (Date, Impact)

Issued only 6 months after the October Manifesto in April of 1906. Declared that the Tsar has supreme autocratic power over the people of Russia.

The first Duma was dissolved only __ months after first meeting, because…

2 months; because they were unhappy with the Fundamental Laws, being made up of Mensheviks and SRs.

How the Duma elections were rigged

It would take only 230 votes from a landowner to get someone elected into the Duma, however it would take 60,000 peasant votes and 125,000 proletariat votes.

Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

June of 1914

Russia would declare war on Germany and Austria on ___ because…

1st of August; an obligation to protect their ethnic cousins in Serbia

Reasons for Russian Failure in WW1: Acronym

GRISIT

Reasons for Russian Failure in WW1: GRISIT

Government spending: due to mass government spending, Russia was in debt. They resorted to printing more money, resulting in a mass hyperinflation crisis which impacted their wartime economy.

Reasons for Russian Failure in WW1: GRISIT

Railways: rail trucks were breaking down and becoming unusable due to fuel shortages and a lack of skilled labour available to repair them. This meant supplies could not be effectively transported to different fronts.

Reasons for Russian Failure in WW1: GRISIT

Imports: Turkeys entry to the war closed off the Straits to the Mediterranean Sea, shutting off the majority of Russia’s imports.

Reasons for Russian Failure in WW1: GRISIT

Shortages: due to the poor Russian economy and manufacturing industry many soldiers were left without equipment. Sometimes soldiers were told to run in and take the equipment off of dead soldiers.

Reasons for Russian Failure in WW1: GRISIT

Incompetence: Most military leaders were chosen not for their skills but for their loyalty to the Tsar. Due to the recent threat of revolution, Nicolas couldn’t afford to have disloyal commanders - he paid the price for this, however.

Reasons for Russian Failure in WW1: GRISIT

The Tsar - wartime organisations, the Progressive Bloc, Tsarina and Rasputin, and the Tsar as Supreme Commander

The Tsar’s Involvement in the War: Wartime Organisations

Due to the incompetence of the government, various independent organisations developed over the years, including Zemgor and various WICs. These would supply armies with equipment and medical care, as well as shifting industry production in the direction of war. The government, the Tsarina in particular, did not like these and saw them as undermining the autocracy. This lack of co-operation led to a less effective war effort.

The Tsar’s Involvement in the War: The Progressive Bloc

The progressive bloc was made up of 2/3rds of representatives from the Fourth Duma. They declared a ‘ministry of national confidence’ to increase their role in the war and government. This was an opportunity for the Tsar to be seen working with the people, however he ignored it in fear of losing autocracy.

The Tsar’s Involvement in the War: Commander-In-Chief

In September of 1915, the Tsar would declare himself Commander-In-Chief of the Russian Army and personally move to the front. Whilst he had very little impact on the performance of the war, now all the failures would be blamed directly on him rather than his generals. This would majorly impact his reputation.

The Tsar’s Involvement in the War: Tsarina and Rasputin

With the Tsar in command, Tsarina Alexandra took control over the country. She was in the pocket of Rasputin, giving them both control over the country. Extreme inefficiencies during wartime emergencies resulted due to a game of ‘ministerial leapfrogging’ that occurred, dismissing competent ministers and replacing them with ones that pleased either of them.

The ‘ministerial leapfrogging’ in government: statistics

Internal Affairs: 5
Prime Minister: 4
Agriculture: 4
Foreign Affairs: 3
War: 3
Transport: 3

The Russian army had ___ soldiers, but only ___ rifles to give them.

5 million, 4.6 million

February Revolution: Dates

23rd February - 3rd March

The Tsar’s abdication

2nd of March 1917

The February Revolution: Overview + Causes

• Leaderless and incredibly spontaneous

• Caused by a buildup of failures upon failures, leading to mass frustration directed towards the Tsar

  • The economy

  • The war

  • Russo-Japanese War and Bloody Sunday were never recovered from

  • Bread rationing and overall food shortages

• People weren’t following a particular ideology - rather, everyone was united by the idea of any change, preferably radical change

• The Tsar was ignorant towards the Revolution and only abdicated after he lost the support of the government and the military

The Provisional Government

Made up of members of the 3rd and 4th Duma, tasked with running the country until a Constituent Assembly could be formed.

Promises of the Provisional Government

• Democracy

• Civil liberties

• Illegalisation of discrimination

• Abolition of capital punishment

• Amnesty for political prisoners

• An independent judiciary

Petrograd Soviet

Made up of Mensheviks and SRs, the Soviet was a representative body protecting the interests of soldiers and workers.

Order No. 1 + Date

March 1st, 1917

Made it so that any order given by the Provisional Government to the military must first be passed through the Soviet, giving them significant influence over both the military and the workers, allowing them to control:

• Railways

• Telegraph stations

• Soldiers in the Petrograd Garrison

• Factories

• Power supplies

3 Reasons why Dual Authority Occurred

• The Provisional Government was not in a position to reject the demands of the Soviet, since the Soviet was far more popular than them

• The Soviet was willing to let the Provisional Government rule as they knew that if things went south and they were in charge the wrath of the revolution would turn on them

• Order No. 1 gave both groups around equal power and influence, with the Soviet likely having more of both

The April Theses and it’s 5 Major Demands

When Lenin returned from Switzerland, he issued the following demands, causing quite a stir:

• An end to the war

• An end to capitalism

• Rights for peasants and workers

• All power to the Soviets

• Nationalisation of banking and industry

Mistakes of the Provisional Government: The Summer Offensive

The first and last major offensive on the part of the Provisional Government. Begun mid-June and lasted for around 3 days. Hundreds of thousands were killed, and more territory was lost than gained.

Mistakes of the Provisional Government: Anarchy in the Countryside

By May 1917, peasants were seizing land illegally. The Provisional Government wanted the laws for land redistribution to be set up by the Constituent Assembly so it more accurately resembled the desires of the people, so there was no inteference and little was done to fix the situation.

During the Summer of 1917, ___ instances of land seizure occurred.

240

Mistakes of the Provisional Government: The Economy

The Provisional Government failed to incentivise peasants to sell their grain to the cities, which was one of the major factors which led to Revolution in the firist place. They resorted to forced collection of grain through ‘punishment squads’, very unpopularly

The Provisional Government aimed to incentivise selling of grain by … which didn’t work because …

…increasing the amount of money they purchase grain for by 100% … the peasants had nothing to use this money for due to a lack of consumer goods.

The July Days

After a rousing speech by Trotsky on July 2nd, 500,000 people violently demonstrated against the PG in various cities which was some of the most widespread urban chaos seen in Russia to that point.

The Kornilov Affair

General Kornilov, Kerensky’s Commander In Chief, would put himself in opposition to Kerensky due to their different political stances. Kornilov would later direct General Kyrmov to march his troops on the Provisional Government in an unsuccessful coup. The Bolsevilks would offer help, and were released from prison due to Kerensky’s desperation.

Outcome of the Kornilov Affair

It ended peacefully after both forces refused to fight one another. In the end, the Bolsheviks were the real winners - their assistance was viewed highly by the public, and it erased any damage to their reputation caused by the July Days.

On the matter of Revolution, Lenin wanted to …

Because …

But Trotsky convinced him to …

Lenin wanted to act immediately and seize power as soon as possible, despite the wishes of other Bolsheviks such as Zinoviev and Kamanev.

Becuase he feared they would be a minority among the constituent assembly, and he feared that a military dictatory would seize power to control the situation in the countryside.

But Trotsky convinced him to wait until the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets in late October, where they could convince the other members of the Soviet to join them in the revolution and therefore complete the revolution in the name of the Soviets and if it went south, the Bolsheviks wouldn’t be as blamed as the Soviets.

What incited the Bolsheviks to begin their takeover?

• The Soviet, under the control of the Bolsheviks, was allowed to set up a ‘Millitary Revolitionary Committee’ in case of another attempted right-winged coup

• It was an open secret that the Bolsheviks were planning a takeover, and so Kerensky attempted to quell the situation by shutting down Bolshevik newspapers, restricting the power of the MRC, and closing the bridges connecting the centre of Petrograd and the working-class districts

• This allowed the Bolsheviks to say Kerensky was attacking the revolution, giving them an excuse to act on the 23rd of October

Events of the 23rd - 24th October

The Petrograd Garrison and MRC, under the control of the Soviet and therefore the Bolsheviks, would seize control rather peacefully of several important facilities, such as bridges, the railway station, post offices, banks, and telegraph stations.

2 Events of the 25th October

Red Guard troops would attack the Winter Palace and arrest members of the Provisional Government, 35,000 men strong.

After it was announced that power had fallen into the hands of the Soviet, Menshevik and non-radical SR’s would walk out in disgrace, leaving the Bolsheviks with no internal opposition within the Soviet.

___ was Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet, and in ___ ___% of the seats belonged to the Bolsheviks, ___% in the Moscow Soviet, as well as holding a majority in ___ other Soviets in large industrial cities.

Trotsky, November 1917, 90%, 60%, 80

In the elections for the Constituent Assembly, SR’s got ___%. The Bolsheviks got ___% of the vote.

nearly 40%, just under 25%

4 Issues Faced by the Bolsheviks after the October Revolution

• Lack of support

• Lack of experience running a country

• Lack of bureaucracy, after masses of them refused to co-operate

• Ending the war would be an extremely difficult task, but it was one they had promised heavily

In the first ___ months of Bolshevik rule, Sovnarkom issued ___ decrees.

6 months, 116

Major issues tackled by Sovnarkom decrees

• Rights and powers of the proletariat

• Granting of self-determination

• Peace decrees

• Land reforms

• Nationalisation of industry

• Ideological decrees, including those on matters of religion and women

Peace Decree

Called for an immediate armistice between the nations of WW1 on the 25th of October. This was ignored and the Bolsheviiks did not have a secure enough base of power to enforce it.

The Land Decree

Issued on October 25, this decree repossessed all privately owned land and declared it property of anyone willing to farm it. This was done to appease peasant anarchy.

State Capitalism

An economic policy made to ease the transition between capitalism and socialism. Small-scale capitalism remained, with only heavy industry being controlled by the state.

Lenin’s thoughts on Brest-Litovsk

He wanted war to end, no matter the cost. He saw it as not only a way to increase trust with the people but also (mainly) as a way to protect the seat of power. If the war continued, it was a real possibility that Petrograd could be under threat.

Bukharin’s thoughts on Brest-Litovsk

The war should not end. Peace should never be agreed with a capitalist country, and continuing to fight would inspire worldwide revolution.

Trotsky’s thoughts on Brest-Litovsk

He was well aware a war with Germany could not be won, but he was fully against sacrificing any land and would continue to refuse Germany’s ultimatums during negotiations.

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on…

…March 3rd, 1918

7 countries / states lost to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• Ukraine

• Poland

• Finland

• Georgia

• Lithuania

• Latvia

• Estonia

Russia lost ___ of their iron and coal reserves and ___ of their population to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, as well as over a ___ square miles of land

three quarters, a third, a million

The Tsar’s family was executed on…

17th of July 1918

The Civil War: Dates

November 1917 to October 1922

Causes of the Civil War

• The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• The murder of the Tsar

• Many socialist groups were against a one-party Bolshevik state, leading them to join the Whites

• The Czech legion joining the Whites

By ___ there were ___ men in the Red Army, however by ___ there had also been ___ deserters.

1920, 5 million, 1921, 4 million

Key Generals of the White Army

Kolchak, Denikin, Yudenich

Advantages of the Whites

• They controlled far more of the Russian coastline

• They controlled far more territory

• They had access to the assistance of the Allied Forces

Key Groups Within the Whites

• Tsarists / Monarchists

• Mensheviks

• SRs

• Kadets

• International Allied Forces

Reasons for Red Victory: Geography

• They had less land, making what they had easier to control

• They had access to the greater industrial areas of Russia (Petrograd and Moscow)

• More people to conscript in a highly-populated area

Reasons for Red Victory: White Disunity

• The Whites were made up of people of widely varying political beliefs

  • They were unable to form a coherent political plan

  • Lenin, on the other hand, had a strong vision and goals for Red Russia

  • The White military distrusted one another and infighting occasionally occurred

Reasons for Red Victory: Leadership

• Trotsky was a military figurehead, incredibly inspiring

  • He created a tightly-run and well motivated army, in constrast to the unmotivated White Army troops

• Lenin was a strong and capable leader who was able to keep the Red army and industry from collapsing during the war under War Communism

• White leaders were self-seeking and of poor quality

Reasons for Red Victory: Popular Support

• Urban workers were fighting to protect the gains of 1917, and knew only a Red victory would acheive this

• Peasants hated both sides, however the Reds were promising them land and the Whites were saying that their land would be returned to its former rich landowners

• National minorities knew a Red victory was more likely to bring them autonomy

Reasons for Red Victory: Allied Intervention

• Allied forces were fighting half-heartedly, felt it was not their responsibility

• Lenin was able to spin the situation in his favour, using allied intervention to show people that they were fighting against a foreign invasion

Reasons for Red Victory: Propaganda

• The Reds were able to show an idyllic future under their rule

• The Whites, not having a coherent plan, would only make negative propaganda

War Communism

A series of extremist economic policies enacted during the civil war

When was War Communism?`

1918-1921

As early as ___, bread rationing had reached an all-time low of ___ per day.

1918, 50 grams

The goals of War Communism

To keep the Red Army fed so the war could be won, and to keep the workers fed so the army could be supplied. Everything else was secondary.

Main 5 Policies of War Communism

• Enterprises given to the Vesenkha, where former bourgeois managers, ‘specialists’, would run them

• Strict labour discipline, including fines for lateness and absenteeism and an internal passport system restricting migration to rural areas

• Class-based rationing: industrial and essential workers got the most, whereas bourgeois got the least

• The market economy was suspended, causing a massive black market and barter system to form

• Grain requisition squads run by the Cheka went into the countryside to forcibly, and eventually extremely violently, take excess grain from peasants

The 1921 famine claimed between ___ and ___ lives.

5 and 6 million

Less than ___ of food came from rationing - the rest came from ___.

A third, the black market

Official records put the death count at the hands of the Cheka at ___, with modern estimates believing it to be closer to ___.

13,000, 500,000.

The Red Terror in the Cities

Random arrests for ‘being near scenes of bourgeois provocation’ or being close with a suspect, with many being denouced as counter-revolutionaries due to personal vendettas.

The Red Terror in the Provinces

Cheka leaders had no checks on their power and no court of appeal to obey, with little central control over their actions. Many bosses were petty and leveraged their position to enact vengeance.

The Red Terror in the Countryside

Grain requisition squads were wreaking havoc, leading to peasant revolts and the development of an all-out class war.

Lenin’s orders to quell the class war in the countryside + its impact

He ordered “no fewer than a hundred kulaks, rich-bags, and bloodsuckers” to be hung “in full view of the people”. This was a bad idea, as killing the most successful peasants led to a massive loss of expertise. People did not want to kill the kulaks as they served a vital function in their community.

Kronstadt Revolt: Date

1st to 18th March 1921

Demands of the Kronstadt Sailors

An end to grain detatchments, free elections to the Soviet, and a Soviet without Bolsheviks and dictarorship, end to political and civil repression.

Reasons why Lenin couldn’t accept the demands of the Kronstadt sailors

• The ice would soon melt, making the Kronstadt naval base a threat to Petrograd - action must be taken soon

• Accepting their demands would mean losing absolute power

• They had to be quickly suppressed, as having people who were once strong supporters was bad PR for the Bolsheviks

The 10th Party Congress: Date

8th to 16th of March 1921

Significance of the 10th Party Congress

Signalled a shift in party dynamics towards one of centralism, where differing opinions and debate would not be tolerated.

In Petrograd the death rate had increased ___.

Fourfold

4 Main Elements of the NEP

• Grain requisitioning was abolished, and replaced with a ‘tax in kind’, with any surplus produce being able to be sold on the open market

• The ban on private trade was removed, and shops were allowed to reopen - rationing was abolished and people were able to buy food on their own income

• Small businesses were reopened and allowed to make a profit, bringing goods back onto the market and incentivising farmers to make a profit to purchase these goods

• The state remained in control of heavy industry, including the production of coal, iron, and steel, and the banking and transport systems

Between ___ and ___, grain harvests had increased by over ___%.

1920, 1926, 100%

Political Repression Under the NEP: Acronym

ROCC

Political Repression Under the NEP: Crushing of Peasant Revolts

Peasants who had acted in opposition to the Cheka and the Bolshevik party were punished over these years. In 1922, entire rebel villages were burned down. Villages who had supported the Reds were rewarded with salt.

Political Repression Under the NEP: Attacks on Political Opposition

The Mensheviks and SR’s, who had played a role in inciting the peasant revolts over the last few years, were outlawed as political organisations, with 5,000 Mensheviks being arrested in 1921.

Political Repression Under the NEP: Attacks on the Church

In 1921, the Union of the Militant Godless was established to challenge the power of the church, who had become a rival to the power of the Bolsheviks. In 1922, churches were stripped of precious items, and death penalties were handed out to leaders of the Russian Orthodox.

Political Repression Under the NEP: Censorship

In order to convince the intelligensia against speaking out against the Bolshevik party, dozens of Russian writers and scholars were deported in the Spring of 1922. In 1922, pre-publication censorship was established. Any peice of information needed to be handed over to the Glavlit before being published.

Factors Leading to an Increase in Centralisation: Acronym

PIC

Factors Leading to an Increase in Centralisation: PIC

Peasants: Due to the peasants unwillingness to sell their grain to the cities, the government would take the systems of grain collection and distribution under central control.