paper 3: imperial russia timeline + historians

paper 3

alex II historiography - good

“with the possible exception of Khrushchev, no other Russian leader did so much to reduce the suffering of the Russian people” (J. N. Westwood)

alex II historiography - bad

failed to address social and economic problems - increased tensions between peasants and aristocrats - contributed to end of tsardom (Pipes)

emancipation decree

1861

alex III reign

1881-1894

alex II reign

1855-1881

duma period

1906-1917

feb 1917 historiography

• spontaneous and decentralised movement - did not lead to any significant change - temporary upheaval (Pipes)

• fuelled by food shortages and military defeats - significant turning point in russian history - petrograd soviet played a large role in counterbalancing the PG (Westwood)

oct 1917 historiography

bolshevik coup - Lenin is responsible - they took advantage of the political instability - undemocratic + violent - communist dictatorship (Pipes)

led more by radicalised peasants - revolution was delivered from below (Fitzpatrick)

lenin’s ussr historiography

• ruthless and power-hungry — disastrous economic policies (Pipes)

• genuine commitment to a more equal society - new soviet identity (Fitzpatrick)

reactions to reforms (Alex II)

1870s

ascension of nicholas II

1894

first revolution, creating of duma, october manifesto

1905

feb 1917 revolution

inflation = riots — loss of control of army — unplanned — nicholas II abdicates — PG in charge

oct 1917 revolution

bolshevik coup — storming of Winter Palace — Lenin in charge

war communism, treaty of brest-litovsk

1918

new economic policy

1921

treaty of rapallo (russia + germany)

1922

lenin’s death

1924

J. N. Westwood

british traditionalist historian of modern russia, criticised for neglecting cultural and social factors

alex III historiography (bad)

tried to suppress cultures - russification - weakened zemstvos and reintroduced a diluted form of serfdom - wanted to secure the tsardom at the expense of the population (Westwood)

alex III historiography (good)

highly reactionary - helped stabilise russia after political upheaval - necessary to prevent civil war - missed opportunity to modernise russia (Pipes)

land captains

1889

stolypin

agrarian reforms: increase private peasant land ownership
harsh leader: noose = stolypin’s necktie
tried to provide stability

stolypin historiography

reforms were a step in the right direction - sought to modernise Russia (Pipes)
reactionary figure - wanted to preserve the power of the Tsar - reforms were inadequate (Fitzpatrick)

alex III counter reforms

abolished zemstvos, tightened censorship, improvement in infrastructure (steel, oil)

1905 revolution causes

russo-japanese war, bloody sunday, food shortages

sheila fitzpatrick

revisionist australian social historian — criticised for over-simplifying

richard pipes

conservative american historian, biased against USSR after being polish refugee

nicholas II historiography (good)

tried to modernise russia’s economy and society - “moral politician” (Multatuli [related to Tsar = bias])

nicholas II historiography (bad)

politically incompetent (Pipes)

martin sixsmith (foreign correspondant in ussr)

trotsky was a military genius