Synthesis 2

Fundamental Laws 1832 & 1906

Declared Tsarist power unlimited and derived from divine right

October Manifesto 1905

Promised civil liberties and a legislative Duma

Land Captains 1889

Gave centrally appointed officials the power to overrule Zemstvas

Ban on factions 1921

Lenin banned internal factions within the Bolshevik Party which enabled Stalin’s rise

1936 Stalin Constitution

Granted formal autonomy and democratic structures but in reality all power remained with Stalin and the Politburo

Khrushchev’s Secret Speech 1956

Denounced Stalin and launched destalinisation, the most significant internal political change in the Communist period

Emancipation Edict 1861

Freed 50 million serfs but gave them ~50% less land and imposed redemption payments until 1907

Witte’s ‘Great Spurt’ 1890s

State-led industrialisation funded by excessive grain exports. GNP grew from 40bn (1881) to 120bn (1913) roubles and railways expanded massively. ‘Squeezing the peasants dry’

Famine 1891

400,000 deaths due to fragile peasant agriculture and poor welfare provision

Stalin’s collectivisation

Led to famine in 1932 with 5-7m deaths and 90% of agriculture collectivised by 1939

Five year plans

Industrialisation led to wages increasing 80-100% between 1930 and 1937. Workers lived in Kommunalki and faced criminal prosecution for being absent

Khrushchyovki and 7 hour day 1958

Mass produced apartments and reduced working days

Crimean War 1853 - 1856

The catalyst for Alexander II’s ‘Great Reforms’

1905 Revolution

Forced the October Manifesto and creation of the Dumas through strikes and Potemkin mutiny

WWI

15 million conscripted and 880,000 strikers in 1916 with Nicholas in charge of the army. February revolution 1917 brought down the regime

Russian Civil War 1918 - 1922

Led to War Communism with forced grain requisitioning which crushed the economy until imposition of NEP

WWII

27m deaths and grain harvest fell by 57m tons between 1940 and 1942

Cold War

Led to heavy industry and space investment such as Sputnik 1957

Russification and Valuev Circular 1863

Restricted Ukrainian language publication. 30,000 Poles exiled after Polish revolt 1863

Jewish Pale of Settlement

Jewish population confined to the Pale of Settlement and removed from Zemstva elections

1905 revolution

Finnish Autonomy reintroduced under October Manifesto whilst Polish and Baltic uprisings repressed harshly

Lenin’s Indigenisation 1923

Actively promoted minority languages and cultures with minority education

WWII population transfers

Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians and Baltics deported by Stalin

Khrushchev’s rehabilitation

Rehabilitated deported ethnic groups but also crushed Hungary’s attempt to leave the Warsaw Pact

Dual Power and Soviet Order No.1

Order No.1 gave the Soviet control over the military so the PG could not use the military without Soviet consent

PG’s decision to continue WWI

A very damaging and public-alienating decision

Kornilov Affair August 1917

Kornilov attempted a coup against the PG and Kerensky was forced to arm the Bolshevik Red Guards to defeat it

Constituent Assembly dissolved January 1918

Elections gave Bolsheviks only 24% of seats so Lenin dissolved it after one day. Russia’s only genuinely democratic parliament lasted 13 hours

Alexander II

1855 - 1881

Alexander III

1881 - 1894

Nicholas II

1894 - 1917

Lenin

1917 - 1924

Stalin

1924 - 1953

Khrushchev

1955 - 1964