1917 Revolutions Flashcards
What evidence is there to show that there is clear opposition to the Tsar during the build up to 1917?
- “People can be heard speaking of the government in the sharpest and most unbridled tones” Okhrana Report.
- People involved in strike action: 1910 - 47,000 1914 - 1,337,000
- There were 17,000 casualties of acts of terrorism between 1905 to 1914.
- General strike paralysed St Petersburg in July 1914. Barricades erected by strikers - police tried to break it down.
- Many progressive members of the duma supported the strike
What number of households had been separated from their communes that lived on farms?
10%
What was the development of the Russian economy like in the period of 1905 - 1914?
Grain production: 1900 - 56 million 1910 - 74 million 1914 - 90 million tons
By 1914 Russia was the world’s 4th largest producer of coal, pig-iron and steel.
What were conditions like for workers?
People still worked long hours for low pay. Some hours had increased since 1905.
Workers wages were less than one-third of the average in western Europe and the Russian government made no real attempt to improve conditions.
How stable was the political system after 1905?
- Nicholas was re-asserting his autocracy, meaning that the likelihood of further reform was unlikely.
- liberals were divided - Octoberists and Kadets distrusted each other.
What was the situation with certain revolutionary groups at this point?
Bolshevik membership: 1905 - 150,000 1914 - 10,000
- 4 out of 5 members of the St Petersburg Committee of the Bolshevik party in 1908-9 were Okhrana agents.
- Leadership in exile
Why was Russia drawn into war in 1914?
- Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Serbian nationalists - Russia defended the Serbs - ‘protector of the Slav peoples of the Balkans.
Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia - brought Germany into war. - The Schlieffen plan meant that if Russia mobilised it had to declare war
- Tsar’s cabinet were pro-war, reflecting the upper-class being nationalistic - war could help unify country - stop revolutionary feeling
- Choosing between partial and full mobilisation
- 30 July 1914 - Nicholas signed papers for full mobilisation
What response did the duma have to the outbreak of the war?
- Met a week after the declaration of war and gave the government an almost unanimous vote of confidence
- On August 8th, the duma dissolved itself as not to burden the government with “unnecessary politics during the war.
What did General Brusilov say about the war?
The Tsar had been forced to go to war by the strength of his own people’s patriotic fervour. He said:
“public resentment would have turned on him with such ferocity that he would have tumbled from his throne”
What was St Petersburg renamed?
Petrograd - to make it sound more Slavonic - it sounded too German
How many men did Russia lose in the first 12 months of the war?
Over 4 million men
By the end of 1915, Russia was in full retreat
How did war affect the role of the Tsar?
- Hamilton Fyfe - because of the incompetence, intrigues and corruption of the men who governed the country - magnificent material was wasted.
- 1915 - the Tsar makes himself Commander in Chief of the Russian army and leaves the capital for the front - he was now personally responsible for Russia’s performance - the blame would be on him.
- The poor distribution of equipment, high death toll, lack of military success + decline in morale suggest that there were issues with central leadership.
How did war impact transport?
- By 1916, the railway system had virtually collapsed.
- By 1916, Petrograd and Moscow were only receiving a third of their food and fuel requirements. It CAUSED food shortages.
- The Trans-Siberian railway had increased from 13,000 to 44,000 , but this was not enough to support the war effort.
- Before war Moscow had 2200 wagons of grain per month by Feb 1917 it received only 700. Petrograd only received 300 rather than 1000.
What impact did war have on money?
- INFLATION - war destroyed the financial stabilities in 1914 - the gold standard.
- 1914-1917 - government spending rose from 4 million roubles to 30 million roubles
- Loans from abroad.
- Printed more money for wages that worked in the short term - caused inflation in the long term.
- Price of food and fuel quadrupled.
What effect did war have of the economy + food supplies?
- Rationing was introduced - by 1917 Petrograd was receiving a quarter of the amount of bread that they were in 1914.
- Refugees swelled the population
- Food shortages
- Requisition of horses and fertilisers for the war meant peasants could not sustain agricultural output.
- Peasants began hoarding because trading was unprofitable.
- Army had first claim on more limited food - ordinary people suffered.
How did war effect morale in Russia?
- Occasional military successes - Brusilov Offensive on the south-west front - this never justified the Russian casualties.
- The Russian army was not on the verge of collapse - contributed to allied victory
- Ill-equipped and underfed, the “peasants in uniform, who made up the majority of the Russian army began to desert in increasing numbers
Morale had been shattered by 1916 - there was no encouraging leadership or good news about the war - dislocated transport and food shortages brought hardship on Russian civilians.
What effect did the war have on the Russian army?
- They had the largest army
- They had spent the most on the army out of any European country.
- The problem was no lack of resources, but it was poor administration and lack of liaison between gov departments - equipment and supplies did got get to the correct places.
- “soldiers were holding the front with not enough weapons to go round”
- Rodzianko (president of duma) - “soldiers fought bare-footed
What happened on 23rd of February 1917?
International Women’s Day - protestors took to the streets - temperature was warmer, people demanding more bread and protesting against the Tsarist rule.
What happened on the 27th of February 1917?
- Demonstrations turned into a spontaneous revolutionary movement.
- Over half the Petrograd garrison supported the revolution
- Armed crowds broke into the prisons (the Peter and Paul Fortress), police stations burned down, government arsenals ransacked.
_ the Winter Palace was seized.
What did Alexander Kerensky do during this crisis?
Called for the Tsar to be deposed or stand down as head of state.
- He was a member of the Provisional Duma Committee (he was a leading SR)
After recalling the Duma what does Nicholas II fail to do?
Fails to cooperate - he rejects the proposal to replace his incompetent cabinet with a “ministry of national confidence” whose members would be drawn from the duma.
- This destroys one of the last opportunities to gain support from the politically progressive parties.
- the duma wants to work together for the benefit of the war.
Who else does Nicholas fail to co-operate with?
- Union of zemstvos and the Union of municipal councils - both were willing to work with the Tsar and his government in national war effort - he refused their offers.
What did the Union of zemstvos and Union of municipal councils join together to form?
the “zemgor” - dedicated to helping Russia’s wounded - success of organisation highlighted the governments own failures - there could be an alternative to Tsarism.
