IB European History-Russian Revolutions

Czar Alexander III

CZAR: Restored the old order; crushed all revolutionaries; reverses his father's reforms; inforces Russification; issued pogroms

Czar Nicholas II

Russian Czar during WWI; unpopular with Russian people; overthrown in March 1917; executed by Bolsheviks after November Revolution (1917)

Lenin

founded the Communist Party in Russia and set up the world's first Communist Party dictatorship. He led the October Revolution of 1917, in which the Communists seized power in Russia. He then ruled the country until his death in 1924.

Stalin

Russian leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition (1879-1953)

Prince Lvov

Was asked to head the Provisional Govt of March 14, 1917. War effort continued to run into disaster in the of 1917. Discipline collapsed completely in the army.

Trotsky

A brilliant strategist who served as commander of the victorious Reds in the civil war and Lenin's advisor until Lenin's death. He was very persuasive and had charisma; he was very good at propaganda. He fought Stalin for the head job after Lenin's death in 1924, but lost.

Karensky

Organized the "October Revolution" (Oct. 1917). Head of the Soviet governement, 1917-1924, Leader of the Provisional Government, Feb.-Oct. 1917

Kamenev

was a Bolshevik revolutionary and a prominent Soviet politician. He was briefly the nominal head of the Soviet state in 1917 and a founding member (1919) and later chairman (1923-1924) of the ruling Politburo.

Petrograd

The city where the Russian revolution took place in 1917. The people protested against the Tsar demanding bread, peace, and a new government. Many protesters were killed, but the people overcame the Tsar and sparked the great revolution.

Peace, Land, Bread

Lenin's motto for his new government, his promise to the workers

Council of People's Commissars

The new government set up by Lenin following the Red Guard seizure of government buildings on November 6, 1917.

Provisional Government

The government established in 1917 which replaced Nicholas II when he abdicated. The big mistake of this government was not getting Russia out of the brutal World War I.

Cheka

the tsarist secret police, later re-established by Lenin, which hunted down and executed thousands of real or suspected foes, sowing fear and silencing opposition.

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Federal system of socialist republics established in 1923 in various ethnic regions of Russia; firmly controlled by Communist party; diminished nationalities protest under Bolsheviks; dissolved 1991.

movements of liberation, which addressed their message to the world, and which followed the same revolutionary pattern

The Russian and French Revolution were similar in that they both were…

relative standing of respective nations in Europe, regular versus professional revolutionaries, success of the purges in Russia but not France, long-term success in France but not Russia

The Russian and French Revolution were different because of these factors:

captured the revolution after it had begun

According to Palmer, Lenin and the Bolsheviks did not cause the revolution, but rather…

The People's Will

a Russian terrorist organization, best known for the successful assassination of Tsar Alexander II of Russia. It created a centralized, well disguised, and most significant organization in a time of diverse liberation movements in Russia. Was driven deep underground by Czar Alexander III.

Jews

This people were subjected to the worst of the pogroms

Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, the peoples of the Caucasus, the scattered German communities, the Muslim groups in central Asia

According to Palmer, these peoples were forcibly assimilated under Alexander III's systematic Russification projects

Pobiedonostsev

Philosopher and chief official of the Russification movement. Was procurator of the Holy Synod or layman head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Saw in the West something alien and doomed. Borrowed Burke's attitude about Western rationalism and liberalism. Said Slavs had peculiar national characater which should not be westernized. Wanted Holy Russia in which churchmen protected Russians from Western influence. (NOTE: This is not what actually happened in Russia in the nineteenth century)

Tolstoy, Turgenev, Dostoevski, Tchaikovsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov

Russian authors and composers who in the nineteenth century advanced the standing of Russian culture with respect to the West. One of the reasons Pobiedonostsev was ultimately unsuccessful.

Count Witte

russian minister of finance from 1892-1903; economic modernizer responsible for high tariffs, improved banking system; encouraged western investors to build factories in russia.

Unions, strikes

Despite Russia's industrialization, these were still prohibited

heavily concentrated

The distinctive feature of the Russian proletariat was that Russian industry was…

Social Democrats

A group of Marxists who believed that a worldwide revolution would begin in Russia with the workers; they were divided into the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.

Socialist Revolutionaries

They strongly objected to an armed takeover but they were not listened to and Lenin later banned it; populists, largest radical group. Believed the peasants would one day overthrow the tsar and only revolution could bring reform.

Union of the Russian People

conservation group formed to mobilize pro-tsarist sentiment. The tsar funded their propaganda and their weapons.

Cadets

1905-1940. Constitutional democrats active in Russian reform movements and the government under Kerensky. Repressed after Bolshevik takeover.

Octobrists

Firmly committed to the vision of a constitutional monarchy, the _ were a liberal party who pushed for the enforcement of the October Manifesto.

zemstvos

Alexander II created this in 1864 - a system of provincial and district councils which were elected by various groups including peasants. It was to deal with education, medical relief, public welfare, food supply, and roads in their areas. DID help develop civic sentiment and gave some administrative experience. Many liberals urged a similar body for all of Russia - a ZEMSKY SOBOR/DUMA, but Alexander II refused.

mirs

communes in which land was dolled out to groups of people and shared

redemption dues

Fees that the Russian serfs, now freed, were supposed to pay back to their former lord after 1868. A great example of how emancipation of serfs and slaves often meant "nothing but freedom." The peasants were still paying these back 50 years later.

Land hunger

The term to describe the Russian peasants' desire for more land. The cultivation in Russia was crude and the mirs acquired more land and actually flourished. The peasants demanded more land as well.

kulaks

Rich peasants in the Russian Empire who owned larger farms and used hired labour. They were their own class.

Pugachev

A peasant who claimed to be Peter III and led a peasant revolt against Catherine but it resulted in worse conditions for them than before

Stephen Razin

Leader of a large Russian peasant rebellion in 1670-1671, scared the nobility into clamping down on the peasantry and giving more authority to the tsar

intelligentsia

an educated and intellectual elite

Marx

developed "scientific socialism", said that productive forces and economic relationships together made up the foundation of society. therefore, classes would conflict until the 'golden age' of communism took over

Engels

socialist who wrote the Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx in 1848 (1820-1895)

Plekhanov and Axelrod

Two Russian populists who fled to Switzerland in the 1870's and converted to Marxism. Founded the first organization of Marxists in exile which would later grow to include revolutionaries such as Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin.

brother

Lenin's family record was marred after his _ was involved in a plot to assassinate Alexander III, and then executed.

international

The Social Democrats were different from the Social Revolutionaries because the Democrats saw the revolutionary activity as an movement. This was probably because so many of the Democrats lived in exile.

1903

This was the year the Russian Marxists held a party congress, which ended up splitting the revolutionaries into the factions, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.

Mensheviks

Though Bolshevik means "majority" in reality after the split in 1903 the majority was usually held by the

small core of revolutionary elite

Lenin believed the party should be composed of a…

open

The Mensheviks believed the party should be more…

strongly centralized, strong authority at the top, purges

These were the principles of a Leninist party

imperialist war

Lenin regarded World War I was an…

Plehve

The chief minister in the early 1900's who thought a successful war with Japan would create more loyalty to the czar. Genius!

Father Gapon

Leader of the factory workers who assembled before the czar's palace to petition him on January 1905 (Bloody Sunday).

eight hour work day, a minimum daily wage of one ruble, a repudiation of bungling bureacrats, and a constitutional monarchy

The requests that the workers, along with Father Gapon, drew up during 1905 before Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday

1905, peaceful protest to czar Nicholas II palace, led by Father Gapon, fired on by palace guards, 100s died. Snapped the moral bond between the people and the government.

October Manifesto

(1905), issued by Nich. II, attempted to quiet strikes, local revolts, promised freedom of speech and assembly, called the Duma into session

constitution, civil liberties, and a National Duma

These are what were promised by the October Manifesto

divide the opposition

The tsar's goal in releasing the October Manifesto (succeeded)

Kronstadt and Black Sea

The tsar was not entirely successful in releasing the October Manifesto, there were still mutinies here, albeit small ones

1906

This was the year in which Nicholas II announced that the National Duma would have no power over foreign policy, the budget, or government personnel, essentially "neutering" it.

no power over foreign policy, the budget, or government personnel

The National Duma was weak from the start because it had…

Black Hundreds

fanatical Russian nationalists, perhaps instigated by Orthodox priests, who unleashed a wave of violence against Jews. Led by small traders and agricultural laborers who feared that economic change would cost them. Also by police who opposed political reform. Continued to beat up opponents of tsar. Launched after 1905.

two months

The first National Duma, which insisted on democratic reform, was dismissed after just…

arrested some fifty socialists

THe second National Duma was disbanded after the government…

conservative majority

The electoral rules were changed for the elections of the Third and Fourth National Dumas in order to ensure a…

Stolypin

Tsar's principle minister who dismissed 1st and 2nd Dumas. However, introduced a number of reforms to attract reasonable and moderate people and build the support of the propertied classes. Broadened the provincial zemstvos and freed peasantry of redemption payments. 6.2 million families consequently separated from the mir. He was assassinated by Social Revolutionaries (like Phlehve before him). (Again, nothing more dangerous to a revolutionary than reformer who might make the existing system work.)

Battles of Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes

These disasters in World War I reflected badly on the tsardom

2 million

The number of Russian soldiers killed after the Central Powers advanced into Russia in 1915

Rasputin

Self-proclaimed holy man who claimed to heal the sick and have prophecy. He had much influence over Tsarina Alexandra and she often went to him for advise on political issues.

March 8, 1917

The exact dates in which food riots broke out in Russia, which would soon incite the Russian Revolution of 1917

Petrograd Soviet

The council led by moderate Marxist Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries, which opposed and rivaled the Provisional government. Leon Trotsky became chairman in 1917.

March 17, 1917

The exact date on which Nicholas II abdicated and Russia became a republic

July 1917

The month and year in which the Provisional Government unsuccessfully attempted to launch an offensive in WW1

Immediate peace, redistribution of land to the peasants, transfer of industrial facilities to a committee of workers, recognition of the soviets as the supreme authority rather than the Provisional Government

Lenin's four main points when he arrived in the midst of Revolution in 1917

All power to the Soviets

Lenin's cry when he tried to crush Kerensky and assume power for the Soviets

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Treaty in which Russia lost substantial territory to the Germans. This ended Russian participation in the war (1918).

November Revolution

Nov. 1917 when Lenin and Bolshevik followers over threw provisional government and took over the Russian government

Council of People's Commissars

Lenin became the head of this after Kerensky was overthrown

Commissar for foreign affairs

Trotsky was named this after the overthrow of the Provisional Government

Commissar for nationalities

Stalin was named this after the overthrow of the Provisional Government

the OGPU, the NKVD, the MVD, and the KGB

Successive names for the Cheka secret police after the revolution, in reality they all served the same purpose

Red Army

Military organization constructed under leadership of Leon Trotsky, Bolshevik follower of Lenin; made use of people of humble background Founded in January 1918.

hoarding and food shortages

After the Bolshevik government took power this posed a serious problem for them

Russian Civil War

1918-1920: conflict in which the Red Army successfully defended the newly formed Bolshevik government against various Russian and interventionist anti-Bolshevik armies. Red vs. White Army.

General Kornilov

Imperial Russian general, who was accused of attempting to overthrow the provisional government established in Russia after the February Revolution of 1917 and to replace it with a military dictatorship.

Denikin

was Lieutenant General of the Imperial Russian Army (1916) and one of the foremost generals of the White movement in the Russian Civil War.

Don valley

A center of White Russian resistance during the Russian Civil War

Omsk

Big city in Russia along the trans-Siberian railway.

The Reds took it from the Whites in November 1919

Czech Legion

Who: Czechs and Slovaks

When: 1917

Where: Europe

What: They were volunteer forces composed of predominantly Czechs and Slovaks fighting together with the Entente Powers during WWI. Their goal was to win the Allies support for the independence of Bohemia and Slovak territories of the Kingdom of Hungary.

Why: They were also heavily involved in Russia's civil war.

spheres of influence

Other Western powers intervened in Russia's civil war and established small…

could not unite

The anti-Bolshevik forces ultimately did not win because they…

Red Terror

officially began in September 1918, following attempts on the lives of several Bolshevik leaders, including Lenin. Government decrees gave the Cheka almost unlimited authority and set up forced labor camps to incarcerate those considered enemies.

Fanny Kaplan

This woman at age 18, in 1918, attempted to assassinate Lenin, herself favouring a Constituent Assembly and a non-Marxist nation. She was executed and those of her family that did not emigrate were punished. Lenin, however, was severely weakened for the rest of his life.

Politboro

group of about 12 men that ran Russia; head was the general secretary, essentially a dictator (ie Stalin)

New Economic Policy

Policy proclaimed by Vladimir Lenin in 1924 to encourage the revival of the Soviet economy by allowing small private enterprises. Joseph Stalin ended the N.E.P. in 1928 and replaced it with a series of Five-Year Plans. (See also Lenin, Vladimir.) (p. 766)

permanent revolution

A theory though up by Trotsky, to incite revolutionof the proletariat in all parts of the world

1927

The year in which Trotsky lost the favor of the party and Stalin took control of the party, after 95% of people voted for him