GCSE HISTORY - RUSSIA 1894-1945: TSARDOM AND COMMUNISM (facts)

Why did Germany fail with Operation Barbarossa?

- Stalin ordered a ‘scorched earth’ policy - factories were deconstructed and reconstructed East of the Ural mountains, animals and crops were moved or destroyed
- Russian weather, incessant rain in October and in November the temperature fell to below freezing. Soldiers froze and machines ceased to work.

How did WW2 benefit Stalin?

- He refused to accept defeat- this patriotism appealed to the Russian people
- The Cult of Personality helped him, encouraging Russians that the sacrifices of the 1930’s were vital to the industrial revolution which was enabling the country to win.

What were the effects of the Great Patriotic War?

- 20 million Soviet people were killed
- large areas of farmland were destroyed
- 2000 towns and cities and 70000 villages suffered major destruction
- many non Russian nationalities suffered, xenophobia meant that some were suspected of being pro Nazi sympathisers - secret police transported whole national groups to remote parts of USSR

What was the First Five Year plan focused on?

- major industries
- targets weren’t met but achievements were astounding
- whole cities were built in remote parts of USSR for natural resources

What did the Second Five Year Plan focus on?

- heavy industry
- mining for lead, tin, zinc, + other minerals
- transport and communications were improved
- railways and canals were built
- Moscow underground railway

What did the Third Five Year Plan focus on?

- consumer goods
- plan was disrupted by WW2

What was the effect of modernisation (Five Year Plans)?

- used for propaganda - beacon of socialism
- kulaks were victims of collectivisation
- workers were bombarded with propaganda
- factory discipline was harsh - lateness and absences led to sacking
- workers tried to move to other jobs, so secret police introduced internal passports to prevent free movement
- those working on great engineering projects were often prisoners
- new daycares were created from 1930 so that women could work
- unemployment was almost non existent
- low quality living standards
- new class was introduced made up of foremen, supervisors, technicians and managers; this went against Lenin’s ideas of communism

Why did Stalin modernise the USSR?

- to increase the USSR’s military strength
- to rival the economies of capitalist countries
- to increase food supplies
- to create a communist society
- to establish his reputation

What was collectivisation?

- before collectivisation, farms were too small to make efficient use of tractors, fertilisers or other modern methods. peasants had enough to eat and could see little use in making more for the towns
- the government tried to sell the idea to peasants with perks like free seed
- the peasants didn’t trust the government
- kulaks refused to hand over their farms, so propaganda tried to turn the people against them. eventually, kulaks were arrested and sent to gulags

What were the effects of collectivisation?

- peasants didn’t know how to use new methods
- peasants felt a lot of bitterness watching food being sent away
- food production fell
- there was a famine in 1932-33
- millions died in Kazakhstan and Ukraine

What was propaganda and censorship like in the USSR?

- portraits, photographs and statues of Stalin everywhere
- religious worship was banned
- 70,000 libraries and many sports centres were built
- all music and art was monitored by NKVD
- school children were expected to join the Young Pioneers

How did the purges start?

- Kirov was murdered in 1934, so Stalin used the murder to ‘purge’ his opponents in the party
- It is suspected Stalin arranged Kirov’s murder
- ‘Show Trials’ - loyal Bolsheviks like Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin confessed to being traitors to the state

What was the Great Terror?

- 1936-1938
- army officers killed
- educated people, professors, teachers, miners, engineers, managers killed
- arrests happened in the middle of the night
- NKVD used torture
- 18 million in gulags and 10 million dead
- Stalin destroyed independent thinking

How did Stalin win?

- Trotsky was ill in 1923
- Stalin tricked Trotsky into missing Lenin’s funeral
- Stalin put his supporters in important posts in his role as General Secretary
- He picked off rivals one by one
- Stalin’s policies like ‘Socialism in One country’ were more popular
- Stalin appeared to be a man of the people, as a Georgian peasant

What was War Communism?

- harsh economic measures taken by Bolshevik party in Civil War
- all factories were taken over by government
- production was planned by government
- discipline for workers was strict
- peasants would be shot if they didn’t hand over surplus food to government
- food was rationed
- free enterprise became illegal

What is Kronstadt rising?

- Bolshevik policies sparked a mutiny at naval base
- Kronstadt was important naval base on an island in Gulf of Finland
- sailors on battleships drew up a list of 15 demands for the Bolsheviks
- Trotsky sent 60,000 troops to put down the uprising, killing 1000+ sailors
- made Lenin abandon war communism

What was the New Economic Policy?

- Bolsheviks were angry as it brought back elements of capitalism
- peasants could sell surplus grain for profit and would pay tax on what they produced instead of giving it up to the government
- Lenin said it was temporary
- went into operation in 1921
- by 1925 there was strong evidence was working

What were the causes of the Civil War?

- Bolsheviks had a strong hold in Western Russia, but much of the rest of the country was more supportive of the Socialist Revolutionary party
- March 1918 - the Czech Legion seized control of the Trans Siberian railway
- Lead by Yudenich and Denikin (towards Petrograd and Moscow) and Kolchack (Moscow from central southern Russia)

What were the 'whites' made up of?

- socialist revolutionaries
- mensheviks
- supporters of the Tsar
- landlords + capitalists
- the Czech Legion (former prisoners of war)
- also supported by USA, Japan, France and Britain- to force Russia back into war against Germany

What was the nature of the Civil War like?

- Trotsky created a new Red army of 300,000+ men
- Reds were led by former Tsarist officers - to ensure that they were loyal, their families were held hostage
- The Cheka ensure nobody in Bolshevik territories cooperated with the Whites
- In July 1918, White forces were approached Ekaterinberg where the Tsar was being held, so the Bolshevik commander ordered the execution of the Tsar and his family. They could not risk the tsar being rescued and returned as leader of the Whites
- Both sides were very cruel
- Those who suffered most were workers and peasant

How did the Reds use propaganda in the Civil War?

- Their message was essentially 'fight to protect the rights of the workers and fight to get rid of foreign invaders who want to re-establish aristocratic rule'
- Trotsky used trains to send out travelling cinemas that showed propaganda films
- Trotsky toured around making speeches to boost morale

What were the advantages of the Reds that led them to win the Civil War?

- united and disciplined
- towns and armies were fed, by forcing peasants to hand over food
- they took over factories in Moscow and Petrograd, to supply armies with equipment and ammunition
- they raised fears about foreign armies in the Whites
- effective propaganda made good use of atrocities committed by Whites and raised fear around return of the Tsar

What were the disadvantages of the Whites that led them to lose the Civil War?

- they were not united - they were made up of many groups with different aims
- they were widely spread and so could not coordinate campaigns - Trotsky was able to defeat them one by one
- limited support from Russian population - they didn't like Bolsheviks but preferred them to the Whites (peasants knew that landlords could return)

What was the Constituent assembly?

- Lenin promised free elections
- elections were held in late 1917
- Bolsheviks did not gain majority
- Socialist Revolutionaries won
- Lenin sent Red Guards to shut it down
- Instead Lenin used Congress of Soviets to pass laws as it did have a Bolshevik majority

How did Russia's part in World War 1 end?

- Lenin promised peace
- He told Trotsky to prolong peace negotiations as long as possible
- He hoped a Socialist revolution would break out in Germany
- By February 1918, there was no revolution and Germany began to advance again
- Lenin accepted terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918
- Russia lost 34% of population, 32% of agricultural land, 54% of industry, 26% of railways, 89% of coal mines as well as an imposition of 300 million roubles

What was the Cheka?

- Lenin's secret police
- they were supposed to follow a code of conduct, but by 1917 this was ignored
- By 1921, there were 200,000 members

What was the October/November revolution like?

- some Bolsheviks thought Russia wasn't ready but Lenin could beat them all in an argument
- 6th November - the Red Guards took over post offices, bridges and the State Bank
- 7th November - Kerensky awoke to see that the Bolsheviks were in control of most of Petrograd
- evening of 7th - Red Guards stormed winter palace without much opposition, and arrested the ministers of Provisional Government
- Kerensky managed to escape and tried to rally loyal troops, but failed and so went into exile

What decisions did the provisional government face when they came into power?

- to continue the war or make peace
- to distribute land to the peasants or ask them to wait until elections had been held
- how best to get food to starving workers in the cities

Who was Alexander Kerensky?

- Justice Minister in the provisional government
- respected member of the Petrograd Soviet
- a lawyer

What did Lenin do when he arrived back in Petrograd?

- set out Bolshevik programme in his April Theses
- his slogans 'Peace, Land, Bread' and 'All Power to the Soviets' contrasted with the messages of the Provisional Government so support grew quickly

What were the Provisional Government's failures to deal with Russia's problems?

- war effort was failing, soldiers were deserting in thousands. Kerensky rallied the army for an offensive in June, it failed drastically.
- peasants ignored the government's order to wait. They started taking over the countryside. The soldiers, who were mostly peasants, did not want to miss out, so desertion became worse

What were the July Days?

- Bolshevik led protests against the war - had become a rebellion
- Kerensky found evidence that Lenin had been helped by the Germans, so support quickly fell

What was the Kornilov revolt?

- Kornilov was an army leader
- marched troops into Petrograd, intending to get rid of the Bolsheviks and the Provisonal Government to restore order
- Kerensky did not have as many troops as Kornilov
- Kerensky used the Petrograd Soviet (eventually became Red Guards)

What were the events of the February/March revolution?

- 7th March - Putilov steelworkers went on strike, joined by women (International Women's Day) and other workers on the streets demanding bread
- From 7th to 10th, number of striking workers rose to 250,000
- The Duma set up a Provisional Committee to take over the government. Tsar ordered them to disband, but they refused.
- 12th March Tsar ordered Government to put down revolt by force - soldiers refused
- 12th March - Petrograd Soviet set up
- 15th March - Tsar abdicated

Who was Rasputin?

- healed Tsar's son Alexei of haemophilia "allegedly"
- Tsarina saw him as a miracle worker
- gave Tsar advice on how to run the country
- drinker and womaniser
- meant Tsar was seen as weak
- aristocrat (after many attempts) murdered him in December 1916

What was the effect of WW1 on Russia?

- 9.15 million of 13 million soldiers died
- soldiers were badly led and treated appallingly by aristocrat officers
- poorly supported by industry - short of rifles, ammunition, artillery, shells, boots
- Tsar took command in September 1915 - not very capable, many defeats; he was now responsibly undeniably for failures
- Many widows and orphans needed state pensions which they didn't always receive
- 3.5 million new industrial jobs between 1914-1916
- workers received no extra wages, major overcrowding
- fuel and food shortages - there was enough supplies but it couldn't be transported to the cities

What were Stolypin's policies?

- The stick: came down hard on strikers, protesters and revolutionaries. 20,000 exiled and 1000 hanged (Stolypin's necktie)
- The carrot: allowed kulaks to opt out of mir communes and buy land. This made bigger, more efficient farms. Production increased significantly, but 90% of fertile land in west Russia was still run by inefficient communes.
- Stolypin was assassinated in 1911, but the Tsar was about to sack him anyway

What was the nature of the 1905 revolution?

- 22nd January 1905- Bloody Sunday. 200,000 peaceful protesters led by Father Gapon marched to hand a petition to the Winter Palace. Troops panicked and opened fire. At least 100 were killed, hundreds more injured.
- Tsar survived by issuing the October manifesto. It offered concessions to the middle classes in the form of a Duma, the right to free speech, and the right to political parties.
-These concessions divided his opponents which meant he could crush rebellions in the countryside and cities.

What happened to the Dumas?

- 1st - 1906 - Tsar took no notice
- first and second were very critical of the Tsar (both lasted less than a year)
- 1907 - Tsar changed voting rules so his opponents could not be voted into the Duma
- 3rd - lasted until 1912 because there was less criticism of the Tsar (though it was becoming more critical over time). It had no power to change the Tsar's policies.

What forms of opposition was there to the Tsar in 1905?

- Liberal/'Cadets' - middle class reformers in the Duma. Still wanted Tsar but wanted greater democracy, similar to Britain
- Socialist Revolutionaries - main aim was to give land to the peasants from the nobility. They believed in violent struggle, they killed 2 government officials and a large number of the Okhrana. Main support was in countryside.
- Social Democratic Party - smaller but more disciplined. Followed Marxist theories. In 1903 the party split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) believed it was the job of the party to create revolution, Mensheviks believed Russia was not ready.

What was Russia like in 1905?

- many different nationalities - only 40% spoke Russian as their mother tongue
- industry had grown
- population was growing in cities as peasants moved to work
- workers lived in overcrowded, filthy conditions, with terrible food, disease and alcoholism
- unlike European power, there was no government regulation on child labour, hours, safety or education
- trade unions were illegal
- new class of capitalists emerged
- 80% of population lived on communes
- peasants were using outdated farming techniques
- aristocracy formed 1.5% of society but owned 25% of land

What was the Tsar's autocracy like?

- believed God had put him in that position
- he avoided making important decisions, instead focusing on insignificant, day to day tasks
- managed officials poorly
- he had a secret police, Okhrana