Russian Revolution Unit Questions

3 Pillars of Russian Absolutism

• Orthodoxy

  • Strong link between the state and the Russian Orthodox Church

• Autocracy

  • Dictatorship with unlimited state power

• Nationalism

  • Russian Nationalism

  • Heavily restricted civil liberties

  • Harsh treatment and attacks on non-Russians especially Jews (The Pogroms)

Causes of the 1917 Russian Revolution

• Czar’s failure to reform

• Poverty - Both peasants and industrial workers

• Russo-Japanese War

• Bloody Sunday

• WWI

  • Millions dead, food shortages, inflation

• Nicholas II unpopular and poor leadership

  • Failed to deliver on October Manifesto

  • 1915: Took control of army

    • Had no military Training. War got worse. By 1917, Russians begin to lose the will to fight

    • Left German wife in charge while on the war front

  • G. Rasputin

    • Gained influence over Czar and Czarina because of ability to treat Czars son

    • Gave bad advice, corrupt, and behavior caused scandals. Hated by Russian people - undermined Czars ability to lead

Major events of the Russian Revolution

• Phase 1: February Revolution (1917)

  • Strikes in Petrograd demanded peace and bread - soon spread

  • Czar tried to dissolve Duma, but it met anyway

  • Czar ordered army to put down protest, but army join protesters

  • Duma set up a democratic provisional government under Kerensky

  • Czar abdicated

  • Kerensky didn’t take Russia out of the war

• Phase 2: October/Bolshevik Revolution

  • July 1917: Kerensky ordered Military offensive in War - Led to rebellion in Petrograd by the army

  • As conditions grew worse, Bolshevik numbers grew

  • NOV 1917: Congress of soviets and Bolsheviks seized power with little resistance. Stormed Winter Palace and arrested Government leaders

Events of the Russian Civil War

• Red Army forms under Trotsky

  • Well-disciplined fighting force

• White Army was given Military and Economic aid

  • Britain, France, USA were anti-communist and wanted Russia back in the war

  • Turned people against them

• ~20 Million died form war and Famine

• Russia was on the brink of economic collapse. Still limited industrialization

• Lenin centralized power, created communism, and dictatorship - Czar replaced by Bolsheviks

Why did the Red Army win the Russian Civil War

• The Red Army under Trotsky was a well-disciplined fighting force

• Disunity of whites - made up of different groups with different interests

• War communism - Reds’ centralized control of economy

  • Well-supplied and controlled key interests

• Secret police eliminated opposition - Red Terror

• White alignment with foreigners turned people against them

Lenins Major Policies

• New Economic Policy

  • Practical approach to help the economy and increase food production. Relaxed communist policies

  • Compromise with capitalism.

  • Peasants could sell surplus crops for profit

  • Some private ownership of businesses

  • NEP worked and the economy improved

• Gave Land to peasants. Outlawed private property

• Gave control of factories to workers

• Swiched to the Gregorian calendar

• Dismissed Dumas after Bolsheviks did poorly in 1917 elections

• Secret police (Cheka) to combat counter-revolution

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• Czar and his whole family (Wife and children) brutally murdered

7 characteristics of totalitarianism

• Ideology

  • Sets goals of state, glorifies aims of state, Justifies government action

• State control of individuals

  • Demands loyalty, denies basic liberty, expects personal sacrifice for states good

• Methods of enforcement

  • Police terror, indoctrination, censorship, persecution

• Modern technology

  • Mass communication to spread propaganda, advanced miliary weapons

• State control of society

  • business, labor, housing, education, arts, personal life, youth groups

• Dictatorship + 1 party rule

  • Exercise absolute authoritu, dominates the government

• Dynamic leader

  • Unites people, symbolizes government, encourages popular support through use of will.

How Russia was an example of Totalitarianism

Definition: A government that takes total, centralized state control over every aspect of public and private life.

• Methods of Enforcement

  • The Great Purge, the Secret Police (NKVD), indoctrination, censorship, and persecution were used to force people into obedience

• Dictatorship + 1-party rule

  • Political dissent was completely banned. Secret police were used to ensure absolute loyalty and punish opposition

• State control of society

  • The state controlled education, arts, and personal life, demanding obedience to communist ideology

• Dynamic Leader

  • Propaganda created a cult of personality, portraying Stalin as a supreme, infallible leader, dominating all forms of media, education, and artistic expression

• State Control of individuals

Consequences of collectivization and industrialization

• Collectiviziation

  • Famine struck millions

  • Holodomor

  • Farmers who couldn’t fill their quotas were killed or sent to the Gulags, where they couldn’t farm anymore

  • They lost incentives to work, and production fell sharply

  • Grain that was produced from farms was taken and ship either to urban areas or exported abroad, leaving the farmers empty-handed

  • The state was able to control grain supply for industrial export, despite low yields

• Industrialization

  • The 5-year plan transformed Russia into an industrial nation quickly

  • Unrealistic quotas led to poor-quality products made by unskilled workers

  • Industrialization relied heavily on forced labor at Gulags

  • Industrial workers faced poor conditions and high production quotas

Stalin vs Lenin

• Ideology

  • Lenin: Global communist revolution

  • Stalin: "Socialism in One Country,"

    • Prioritized rapid industrialization and strengthening of the USSR as a global power.

• Leadership

  • Lenin: collective leadership, allowing some debate within the party.

  • Stalin: Eliminated all opposition

• Violence and enforcement

  • Lenin: Used violence and terror as a tool for political control, focusing on enemies of communism

  • Stalin: Utilized systematic, widespread terror (the Great Purge) against his own party, citizens, and close associates to keep power.

• Economic Strategy

  • Lenin: New Economic Policy.

    • Partial return to capitalism to stabilize the economy.

  • Stalin: Abolished the NEP, implementing 5-year plan

    • State control, rapid industrialization, and collectivization.