Booklet 1 - Essay Plans

Main cause for the february revolution:

• The main cause of the february revolution was the lack of military support forthe Tsar. This was highly significant since it allowed the social discontent to reach a point where it was bale to actually topple the Tsar. However, the structural weaknesses of the autocracy were also important since it amplified both the highly dangerous challenges faced by the military,a s well as making no effort to ease the social or economic discontent of the population. Whilst socio-economic problems were significant, they were an underlying factor and it was the military disloyalty that enabled the protests to topple the tsar. Therefore, the military was the most important factor in the February revolution.

• Structural weakness

  • Structural weaknesses within the Russian government, was a significant reason for the February revolution as it exacerbated the effects of the war and economic problems on Russian society. Through the autocracy’s failure to react or adapt to these problems,

    • 1915 - Tsar declares himself supreme leader of the armed forces

    • 1912 - lena goldfields massacre - 120 killed

    • Due to total power, the Tsar was surrounded by advisors that were only in position at the whim of the Tsar, leading to poor decision making, and a high turnover of ministers, leading to greater instability.

      • in 1915-16 there were

        • 4 PMs

        • 3 Defense Ministers

        • 3 foreign Ministers

        • 6 ministers of the interior

    • Not every minister badly advised the Tsar, for example, Stolypin was able to introduce greater agricultural reforms, before his assassination.

• Socio-economic

  • Socio-economic problems were an important underlying cause of the revolution due to the social discontent against the Tsar, which created the popular protest which eventually unseated him.

    • Wages were less than 1/3 of european wages

    • Living conditions, especially in Petrograd were awful, with overcrowded and unsanitary housing that workers could barely afford

      • Inflation @ 200%

      • Cost of living @ 300%

    • The rise of Strikes

      • in 1914 - 1/4 of the population was on strike

      • in 1917 - 4/5 of the population was striking

      • Jan 1917 - 154,000 on strike in Moscow

    • Social discontent did not necessarily mean the end of the Tsar, as with full military support, the Tsar was able to maintain power despite the Bloody Sunday protest.

• Military support

  • WW1 was a pivotal trigger for the loss of confidence in the Tsar, and eventual fall from power

    • Humiliating defeats

      • 1914 - Battle of Tannenberg (300,000 casualties)

      • 1916 - Brusilov Offensive - (500,000 casualties)

    • Poor conditions and morale

      • -35 degrees temperatures with soldiers badly supplied and clothed

      • rations decreased from 4,000/day to 2,000 a day

      • 2 rifles for every 3 soldiers

    • Mutiny

      • 1916 - Guchkov and progressive block engaged in talks about a possible military coup

      • 25th Feb - Cossacks refuse to attack protesters

      • 17th Feb - Volynski mutiny of 60,000 soldiers + armed protestors with 40,000 rifles.

To what extent was the failure of the Provisional Government the key reason in the Bolshevik seizure of power?

Judgement

• Failure of the Provisional Government

  • The failure of the provisional government was fundamental to the success of the october revolution. With competent and popular government, it is hard to imagine the conditions for a second uprising in 1917 or the rise in support for radical parties such as the Bolsheviks.

    • Economic

      • By October prices were 735% above pre-war levels

    • Political dead-lock

    • Kerensky (Tsar-like figure)

    • Kornilov Coup

• Strengths of the Bolsheviks

  • The strength of the Bolshevik party played a important important role in the october revolution. IN the face of tan absence of any popular revolutionary atmosphere, the revolution could be better described as a military coup, however the success lack of any manner of real resistance relied on the failure of the provisional government. With such weak leadership, the provisional government acted as an amplifying factor for the rise in power of the bolshevik party.

    • Membership that had been only 20,000 in February rose to 200,000 by October 1917.

    • 10,000 Red Guards

    • Trotsky’s elected as chairman of the petrograd soviet in September

    • Only actually voted for a revolution after Lenin harangued them all night on the 10th of october. Even with this persuasion, the party was still divided, with Zinoviev and Kamenev disagreeing

• WW1

  • ….

    • Brusilov Offensive further damaged the provisional gov’s reputation