RUSSIA - Evidence

Problems facing Russia 1894 — key stats

85% peasants ·

life expectancy only 40 years ·

Trans-Siberian Railway only completed took a week to cross Russia ·

125 million people but very little fertile land

Problems facing Russia 1894 — key policies

Russification: forced non-Russians to speak Russian,

suppressed cultures of Finland, Poland, Latvia ·

Okhrana: secret police used to crush all opposition to the Tsar

Problems facing Russia 1894 — causes & consequences

Massive poor uneducated peasant population →

impossible to modernise quickly →

resentment built ·

Russification →

ethnic minorities hostile to Tsar →

weakened loyalty across empire ·

Poor communication across vast country →

Tsar couldn't govern effectively → regional instability

Political opposition groups c.1900 — who and when

Socialist Revolutionaries formed 1901 ·

Social Democrats formed 1898 ·

Liberals formed 1905 ·

SDs split into Bolsheviks (Lenin) and Mensheviks 1903

Political opposition groups — key facts

SRs assassinated 2,000 officials in 1901 ·

Bolsheviks wanted immediate revolution, small disciplined party ·

Mensheviks wanted to wait for capitalism to develop ·

Liberals wanted constitutional monarchy like Britain

Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 — key stats

Russian Baltic Fleet completely destroyed ·

Treaty of Portsmouth signed 5 September 1905 ·

Mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt ·

Russia ceded territorial rights in Manchuria

Russo-Japanese War — key names & battles

Treaty of Portsmouth ·

Battle of Tsushima — Russian fleet destroyed ·

Manchuria — territory Russia had to cede

Russo-Japanese War — causes & consequences

Poor leadership + Trans-Siberian Railway too slow to supply troops

→ humiliating defeat ·

Defeat exposed Tsar's weakness →

public humiliation →

fuelled 1905 Revolution ·

End of war → troops returned → used to crush 1905 Revolution

1905 Revolution & Bloody Sunday — key stats

150,000 peaceful protesters marched to Winter Palace ·

~200 killed, 800 injured ·

· June 1905: sailors on Battleship Potemkin mutinied ·

Tsar issued October Manifesto - October 1905

1905 Revolution — key names

Father Gapon — led the march

· Battleship Potemkin — sailors mutinied ·

Bloody Sunday — 22 January 1905 ·

October Manifesto — promised civil liberties and a Duma

1905 Revolution — causes & consequences

Bloody Sunday →

destroyed public trust in Tsar →

mass strikes and mutinies followed ·

October Manifesto promised Duma →

satisfied middle classes →

split opposition →

revolution collapsed ·

Troops returned from Japan → used to crush remaining revolts → Tsar survived

Reality of the Duma — key facts

Tsar changed constitution to dissolve Duma whenever he wanted ·

Dissolved first 2 Dumas in their first year for being too critical ·

Changed voting rules 1907 so opponents not elected ·

3rd Duma lasted to 1912 before dissolved · because even they became too critical

Stolypin's policies 1906-11 — key stats

1,000 strikers/protesters hanged,

20,000 exiled ("Stolypin's necktie") ·

Grain production doubled 1890-1913 ·

Overall crop productivity increased 14% ·

Assassinated September 1911

Stolypin — key names

Peter Stolypin — PM 1906-1911,

carrot and stick policy ·

Dmitri Bogrov — assassinated Stolypin at Kiev Municipal Theatre ·

Kulaks — rich peasants who benefited from land reforms ·

Mir commune — self-governing peasant communities Kulaks could opt out of

Stolypin — causes & consequences

Stick (executions/exile) → crushed opposition 1906-1914 → gave Tsar breathing space ·

Carrot (land reform) → grain doubled → rising prosperity → stabilised Russia temporarily ·

Stolypin's assassination 1911 → reforms ended → Russia more vulnerable going into WW1

Russia in WW1 — battles before Tsar takes command

Battle of Tannenberg Aug 1914: 170,000 Russian casualties, only 12-13,000 German ·

Battle of Masurian Lakes Sept 1914: 125,000 Russian casualties, only 10,000 German

· Rifles shared between 2-3 soldiers

Russia in WW1 before Tsar — causes & consequences

Poor equipment + poor leadership → catastrophic defeats → massive casualties ·

Tannenberg/Masurian Lakes losses → morale collapsed → soldiers deserted

→ army weakened · Defeats → public anger at Tsar's leadership → growing revolutionary sentiment by 1917

Russia in WW1 — battles after Tsar takes command

Lake Naroch Offensive March 1916: 110,000 Russian losses vs 20,000 German ·

Brusilov Offensive June 1916: 500,000-1 million Russian losses; Austria-Hungary 1-1.5 million; Germany ~350,000 ·

All Brusilov gains lost in winter 1916-17 ·

By autumn 1917: 2 million soldiers deserted

Russia in WW1 after Tsar — causes & consequences

Tsar took personal command → defeats now personally blamed on him → reputation destroyed ·

Brusilov gains lost in winter → mass desertion → army fell apart ·

2 million deserters by autumn 1917 → army unreliable → no military backing when revolution came

Rasputin & home front collapse — key facts

Tsarina dismissed so many ministers no one organised food/fuel ·

Trainloads of food left to rot ·

Inflation increased enormously ·

Tsarina was German-born → suspected of treachery

Rasputin & home front — key names

Rasputin — mystic who "healed" Tsarevich Alexei's haemophilia

· Tsarina Alexandra — German-born,

left in charge while Tsar at front ·

Tsarevich Alexei — Tsar's son, haemophiliac

Rasputin & home front — causes & consequences

Tsar left Tsarina + Rasputin in charge → incompetent government → food/fuel chaos → cities starving · Tsarina's German origins → public suspected treachery → trust in royal family collapsed · Rasputin's scandals → both blamed on Tsar → revolution became inevitable

February Revolution 1917 — key stats

40,000 workers from Putilov works struck for higher wages ·

Thousands of women joined on International Women's Day ·

1 million soldiers dead by this point ·

Tsar abdicated 15 March 1917

February Revolution — key names

Putilov Works — largest engineering factory in Petrograd, starting point ·

Petrograd Soviet — workers' council, issued Soviet Order No. 1 ·

Provisional Government — formed from remainder of Duma ·

Soviet Order No. 1 — armed forces loyal to Petrograd Soviet not Prov Gov (meant they were basically democratised and didn’t have to listen to the prov gov)

February Revolution — causes & consequences

Food shortages + war humiliation →

Putilov workers strike →

soldiers refused to fire on civilians →

Tsar had no military support → abdicated · Abdication →

Provisional Government formed →

but Petrograd Soviet issued Order No. 1 → dual power:

PG had authority without power

Failures of the Provisional Government — key facts

By autumn 1917: 2 million men deserted ·

July Offensive 1917: tens of thousands of casualties, more territory lost ·

Bolsheviks won only 24% of votes in free election (Constituent Assembly) ·

Prov Gov continued WW1 ·

Refused to give land to peasants until full election

Failures of PG — key names

Kerensky — leader of PG, continued WW1 ·

July Offensive — disastrous campaign July 1917

· July Days — Bolshevik uprising attempt 16-17 July 1917, failed;

Lenin fled to Finland ·

Kornilov Affair — Kerensky armed Bolsheviks to stop Kornilov's coup → Bolsheviks kept the weapons

Failures of PG — causes & consequences

Continued WW1 → 2 million deserters

→ Bolshevik popularity surged

· Refused land to peasants →

peasants hated PG → supported Bolsheviks ·

Kornilov Affair → Kerensky accidentally armed Bolsheviks → Red Guards kept weapons → militarily ready for October Revolution

October/Bolshevik Revolution 1917 — key stats

Night of 6 November: Bolsheviks seized post offices, bridges, key buildings

· 7 November evening: stormed Winter Palace, arrested PG ministers ·

8 November: takeover announced · Very little resistance at Winter Palace

October Revolution — key names

Lenin — leader, returned from Finland, convinced party to act ·

Trotsky — organised Red Guards, led military operation ·

Winter Palace — seat of PG, stormed Nov 7 ·

April Theses — Lenin's 1917 speech: "Peace, Land, Bread"

October Revolution — causes & consequences

Russia's problems (war, food, land)

→ public support for Bolsheviks → little resistance · Kornilov Affair →

Bolsheviks armed → militarily capable by November ·

PG's weakness + dual power →

Bolsheviks seized power with almost no fighting → revolution succeeded

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk 1918 — key stats

Signed March 1918 · Took Lenin 5 months to agree · Russia surrendered 1 million km² of land and 50 million people · Lost 27% of arable land, 26% of railways, 74% of iron ore and coal · Paid 3 billion roubles reparations · Finland, Ukraine, Georgia given independence

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk — key names

Constituent Assembly — only free election in Russia;

Bolsheviks won only 24%;

Lenin dissolved it after one day using Red Guards ·

Romanov family — executed July 1918 in Yekaterinburg ·

Cheka — Bolshevik secret police (renamed from Okhrana)

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk — causes & consequences

Lenin needed to exit war to consolidate power → signed harsh treaty

→ lost massive territory and resources ·

Harsh terms → outraged SRs and others

→ fuelled opposition → contributed to Civil War

· Treaty made irrelevant when Germany lost WW1 Nov 1918 → but damage already done

Civil War 1918-21 — key stats

Reds had 2.2 million rifles and 12,000 field guns from Tsar's arsenals ·

42,000 Czech Legion soldiers took over railways ·

Grain production under War Communism fell from 80 million to 37.6 million tonnes

Civil War — key names

Whites — Tsarists, SRs, liberals, foreign powers ·

Greens — peasant armies, deserters, national minorities ·

Czech Legion — 42,000 soldiers, seized railways ·

Trotsky — organised Red Army ·

War Communism — state seized grain, nationalised industry to fund war

Civil War — causes & consequences

Whites' lack of unity + no single leader → couldn't coordinate →

Reds defeated them one by one · Reds controlled central Russia + railways → could move troops quickly → decisive advantage ·

Lenin gave land to peasants → peasants supported Reds → Whites couldn't win popular support → Reds won

War Communism & NEP — key stats

War Communism: grain production fell from 80 million to 37.6 million tonnes ·

Kronstadt Mutiny March 1921: Trotsky used 60,000 troops, 20,000 killed/wounded ·

NEP lasted until 1928 (4 years after Lenin's death)

War Communism & NEP — key names

War Communism — state seized grain, banned private trade, nationalised industry ·

Kronstadt Mutiny — March 1921, sailors revolted, triggered NEP ·

NEP (New Economic Policy) — March 1921, small businesses allowed, private trade returned ·

Gosplan — state planning agency

War Communism & NEP — causes & consequences

War Communism → grain production halved → famine → peasant revolts → Kronstadt Mutiny ·

Kronstadt Mutiny → Lenin recognised crisis → introduced NEP → economy recovered ·

NEP success → lasted to 1928 → showed mixed economy worked → but Stalin ended it to force rapid industrialisation

Stalin's rise to power — key stats

Lenin died 1924 · 12th Party Congress April 1923:

only 3 Trotsky supporters elected to 40-member Central Committee ·

Trotsky removed as Commissar for War Dec 1925 ·

Trotsky expelled from party 1927, exiled 1929, assassinated Mexico 1940 ·

Stalin sole leader December 1929

Stalin's rise — key names

Triumvirate — Stalin + Zinoviev + Kamenev, formed Dec 1922 to block Trotsky ·

Lenin's Testament — warned Stalin "too rude," should be removed; suppressed after Lenin's death ·

Socialism in One Country — Stalin's popular policy ·

Ramon Mercader — assassinated Trotsky in Mexico 1940

Stalin's rise — causes & consequences

General Secretary role → Stalin controlled all appointments → packed party with loyalists → rivals isolated · Gave Trotsky wrong funeral date → damaged Trotsky's reputation → formed Triumvirate → defeated Left · Defeated Left (Trotsky/Zinoviev/Kamenev) → turned on Right (Bukharin) → sole leader by 1929

Collectivisation — key stats

10 million kulaks evicted from land total · 1.4 million kulaks herded into camps by 1932 · Kulaks disappeared as a class by 1934 · 3.3 million Ukrainians died in Holodomor 1932-33 · 5-7 million peasants died of collectivisation overall · Grain production reached 95 million tonnes by 1940 · Cattle fell by half 1934-38 as peasants killed own animals

Collectivisation — key names

Kolkhoz — collective farm; 90% profit to state, 10% shared among farmers · Dekulakisation — removal of kulaks; Stalin wanted 6 million, got 1.5 million deported · Holodomor — Ukrainian famine 1932-33 · Gosplan — state planning agency overseeing targets

Collectivisation — causes & consequences

Dekulakisation removed best farmers → agricultural output collapsed initially → Holodomor followed · Collectivisation → mechanised farming → fewer farmers needed → workers freed for factories → industrialisation possible · Peasants killed livestock rather than hand over → cattle halved → food shortages worsened

Five Year Plans & Industrialisation — key stats

1st FYP 1928-32: coal + iron doubled, electric power almost trebled, 100 new towns built · 2nd FYP 1933-37: coal 64.3 → 128 million tonnes; steel 5.9 → 17.7 million tonnes · 3rd FYP 1938-41: focused on war resources · By late 1930s: 40% of industrial workers were women · 72% of health workers were women · White Sea-Baltic Canal: ~100,000 workers died building it

Five Year Plans — key names

Gosplan — state planning agency · Stakhanov — model worker who mined 102 tonnes of coal in one shift (propaganda) · Moscow Underground — built during 2nd FYP · White Sea-Baltic Canal — built by forced/gulag labour

Five Year Plans — causes & consequences

Stalin believed Russia 100 years behind → FYPs set impossible targets → but massive output achieved anyway · Labour shortages → women recruited → 40% of workforce female by late 1930s → transformed gender roles · 3rd FYP focused on war resources → proved essential when Germany invaded 1941

Purges & Great Terror 1936-38 — key stats

107 of 139 Central Committee members shot · Fifth of Communist Party members expelled or shot · 90% of army generals purged · 20 million Russians sent to labour camps by 1939 · ~12 million died in labour camps · Gulag camps: Siberia, 12-14 hour days, tiny rations

Purges & Great Terror — key names

Kirov — popular Leningrad party leader, assassinated 1934; used as pretext for purges · NKVD — secret police under Stalin · Show Trials — public confessions by Old Bolsheviks · Zinoviev + Kamenev — first major victims, accused of Kirov's murder · Gulag — labour camp system

Purges & Great Terror — causes & consequences

Kirov assassination 1934 → Stalin used as pretext → launched purges to eliminate ALL potential rivals · 90% generals purged → Red Army devastated → nearly cost USSR the war when Germany invaded 1941 · Show Trials → public confessions → atmosphere of total fear → no one dared oppose Stalin

Stalin's control — propaganda & cult

Cult of Personality developed 1930s · History rewritten — Stalin edited "A Short History of the USSR" to remove Trotsky · 1940: not going to work became a criminal offence · Workers carried labour books — bad records = loss of food rations · Gelya Markizova — 1936 famous photo with Stalin; her parents later executed

Stalin's control — key names

Cult of Personality — state propaganda portraying Stalin as god-like · Socialist Realism — artists forced to glorify Stalin and Soviet labour · Agitprop — combining agitation + propaganda via posters, film, theatre, trains · NKVD — maintained surveillance network, spied on all Soviet citizens

Stalin's control — causes & consequences

Cult of Personality → citizens genuinely worshipped Stalin → combined with fear → total compliance achieved · Control of arts/education → history rewritten → younger generations knew only Stalin's version → opposition impossible · Church attacked → no alternative moral authority → Stalin's power total

Operation Barbarossa & early WW2 — key stats

3.5 million German soldiers invaded USSR — largest military invasion in history at time · Launched 22 June 1941 · Nazi-Soviet Pact signed 1939 — 10-year non-aggression; broken by Germany 1941

Operation Barbarossa — key names

Operation Barbarossa — German invasion of USSR, 22 June 1941 · Nazi-Soviet Pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop) — non-aggression pact 1939; secretly divided Poland · Lebensraum — Hitler's aim: living space in the East

Operation Barbarossa — causes & consequences

Stalin's 90% general purge → Red Army leaderless → catastrophic early losses · Nazi-Soviet Pact gave Stalin time he thought he needed → Germany broke it anyway 1941 · Barbarossa failed: Russia too vast → supply lines overstretched → Red Army recovered and counter-attacked

Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43 — key stats

790,000 Soviet casualties (750,000 military, 40,000 civilian) · 740,000 Axis casualties · 91,000 German soldiers captured; fewer than 6,000 lived to return home · German 6th Army surrendered February 1943 · First major German defeat of WW2

Battle of Stalingrad — key names

Battle of Stalingrad 1942-43 — turning point of WW2 on Eastern Front · German 6th Army — surrendered Feb 1943, starving and freezing · "Not one step back" — Stalin's order, no retreat permitted

Battle of Stalingrad — causes & consequences

Hitler refused retreat + promised air supplies that never arrived → 6th Army trapped → surrendered · Stalingrad defeat → first major German loss → turned tide of WW2 in East → USSR began pushing Germany back · Massive Soviet casualties → but victory boosted morale → proved USSR could defeat Nazi Germany

Impact of Great Patriotic War on Soviet people — key stats

27 million Soviet deaths total · 1 in every 4 Soviet citizens died · 70,000 villages and 1,700 towns destroyed · 1/3 of Soviet industry destroyed · 25 million people left homeless · 800,000 women served in Red Army · 1942 industrial output = only 40% of 1940 levels · 9 million Soviet soldiers died total · 2 million died in German captivity

Impact of WW2 — key names

Moscow Victory Parade 1945 — Stalin excluded the 800,000 women who served · Scorched earth policy — Soviet tactic destroying resources before German advance · Urals — factories evacuated east to keep production going · Stakhanovites — model workers used in wartime propaganda

Impact of WW2 — causes & consequences

Women entered workforce + army → doubled as workers and soldiers → but excluded from Victory Parade → shows gender complexity of the war · 1/3 industry destroyed → factories evacuated to Urals → production continued → crucial to eventual victory · 27 million deaths + 70,000 villages destroyed → devastating human cost → but USSR emerged as superpower → sets up Cold War