History

Question 1

Ottoman Empire

Answer 1

• Muslim Turks who controlled much of the Middle East and Africa until WWI, when they aligned with Germany (the losing side of WWI), which crumbled their empire.
• They were responsible for the Armenian genocide.
• Invaded the Middle East in about 1500.

Question 2

What is the book Animal Farm based on?

Answer 2

Joseph Stalin’s betrayal of the Russian Revolution.

Question 3

What was the Russian Revolution?

Answer 3

A series of revolutions in Russia in 1917.

• they kicked out the Tsar Nichols II, which destroyed the Russian Empire.
• the government was taken over by communist Bolsheviks, who created the Soviet Union.

Question 4

Who were the Bolsheviks?

Answer 4

Russian communists.
They were Marxist/socialists.

They favored a “dictatorship of the working class”.

Question 5

Who was the leader of the Bolsheviks?

Answer 5

Vladimir Lenin

Question 6

What was the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party?

What happened to it?

Answer 6

It was a Russian political party (Marxist/Socialist) founded in 1898.

The party split.

• the more moderate of the two groups was called “Mensheviks” (they wanted democracy)
• the group that favored a “dictatorship of the working class” were the “Bolsheviks”.

Question 7

Russian Empire

Answer 7

(aka “Imperial Russia”)
Created by Peter the Great in 1721.

• it was an absolute monarchy ruled by Tsars.
• most people were peasants (or Serfs) who lived in rural areas.

Question 8

Who created the Russian empire?

Answer 8

Peter the Great

• in the 16th century.
• through conquest

Question 9

Where is Russia located?

Answer 9

Asia and Eastern Europe.

Question 10

What is the most populous country in the world?

Answer 10

China

Question 11

Why did the Russian Empire fall?

Answer 11

People became angry at Tsar Nicholas II because:

• he gave up Russian power to the Japanese to end the Russo-Japanese war
• in 1917 there was a food shortage caused by WWI ruble inflation
• people rebelled and Nicholas gave up power. He and his family were shot.

Question 12

What was the background of the Russian Revolution?

Answer 12

During the 1890s, Russian industry improved. This put more jobs in the cities.

Question 13

What caused more Russians to move to cities?

Answer 13

• In the 1890s, serfs were Emancipated.
• industry improved, which put more jobs in the cities.
• the serfs went to the cities to work. They found jobs, but the working conditions were horrid.
• they began to create political parties in order to try and change the conditions.

Question 14

What was “Bloody Sunday”?

Answer 14

It took place in Russia in 1905.

3,000 people marched to Nicholas II’s palace to show a petition for reform.

• his soldiers fired at the people, killing 100.
• lead to the Russian Revolution

Question 15

What also lead to Russian discontent with Nicholas II?

Answer 15

Over 3,000,000 Russians dying in WWI

Question 16

What did Nicholas II do to further piss off everyone in sight?

Answer 16

He took personal control of the Russian Army, leaving his wife, Alexandra, in charge of the government.

• a mystic and faith healer named Rasputin had a lot of control over Alexandra’s decisions, which irritated everyone.

Question 17

How did the Russian revolution begin?

Answer 17

With a series of strikes by workers.

• within weeks, most of St Petersburg’s factories had closed.
• a few months later, Nicholas gave up his authority to a provisional government.

Question 18

October Revolution

Answer 18

October 10, 1917

The Bolsheviks’ Red Army took over and kicked out the provisional government.

• all parties who opposed the Bolsheviks were broken up.
• private property began to be given up as everything was going to be owned by the state

Question 19

Russian Civil War

Answer 19

1917-1922 (right after the Russian Revolution ended)

Fought mostly between:

• the Red Army (Bolshevik communists)
• the White Army (those that opposed the communists)

Question 20

How many people died during the Russian Civil War?

Answer 20

8,000,000

Many from starvation.

Question 21

War communism

Answer 21

The name for the economic policy Lenin introduced in 1918, as a response to the Russian Civil War

• as much food as possible was sent to Red Army troops.
• millions of people starved to death as a result.
• the red army won, though.

Lenin ended the policy in 1921.

Question 22

Socialism

Answer 22

Economic system where the means of producing wealth (factories, offices, etc) are owned by society as a whole.

• this means the value produced belongs to everyone in society as opposed to a small class of private owners.

Question 23

Social democracy

Answer 23

Where the government takes some wealth from the rich and gives it to the poor like a communist state, but there is still private ownership of capital.

• right now, we live in a social democratic republic (because we live in a republic, not a democracy)

Question 24

In Marxist theory, what is socialism?

Answer 24

The temporary social state between capitalism and communism.

Question 25

Communism

Answer 25

A way of running an economy and a government where:

• the means of production (factories, equipment) are communally owned
• there is no state, money, social classes

Question 26

What are the main differences between socialists and communists?

Answer 26

In communism:

• the state and money do not exist

Question 27

What do communists believe?

Answer 27

They believe they we should eliminate the wealthy class (who own the means of production).

• this way, decisions can be made to benefit the collective population rather than to serve the greed of one or several individuals.

Question 28

Who led the Russian Revolution?

Answer 28

Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky

Question 29

What are some good points of Karl Marx and Friederich Engels “Communist Manifesto”

Answer 29

It says we should:

• abolish child labor
• have a strong progressive income tax
• have free education

Question 30

How did Stalin come to power?

Answer 30

After Lenin (who was the leader of the Russian Revolution) died from the bullet wound, Trotsky and Stalin got into a power struggle over who would rule the party.

Stalin won.

Question 31

What was Trotskyism?

Answer 31

Form of communism.

Said that communism had to spread worldwide.

• they needed to create a “permanent revolution”.
• Trotsky wanted a less authoritarian govt than Stalin. More democratic.

Question 32

Vladimir Lenin

Answer 32

He took over Russia from Lenin after the Revolution and collectivized all the agriculture.

• govt took all the land from the owners, joining them into large farms run by the govt.
• govt officials then let farmers work the new farms, though they had to turn their produce over to the govt.

Question 33

How did WWII break out?

Answer 33

Stalin cooperated with Hitler.

• they agreed to conquer Poland and divide it between themselves.
• but then Hitler turned against Stalin and tried to conquer the Soviet Union.
• Stalin then joined the allies against Hitler.

Question 34

Nikita Kruschev

Answer 34

Leader of the Soviet Union after Stalin.

• began a “de-Stalinization” process when he took control.
• he made better contacts with France and the US and became less friendly with China.

Question 35

Red Terror

Answer 35

The wave of killings that Lenin ordered after his assassination attempt.

Everyone who was even suspected of being an enemy of the Bolsheviks was murdered.