History - Russian Revolution 👨🏻🤛 Flashcards
Why was Russia behind the rest of the world?
While the rest of Europe was modernising, Russian rulers didn’t care about catching up with Europe and modernising.
Who were the Tsars?
They were the rulers of Russia.
Who were serfs?
People owned by their landlords to work.
Who was Tsar Alexander II?
He was a Tsar who tried to improve the country, and so he released serfs from their serfdoms. However, the landlords weren’t happy about this and made the serfs have to pay off an impossible amount of money.
People were not happy that Tsar Alexander II was having so much control over the country. What did they do to him?
Alexander II was killed.
Who was Tsar Alexander III?
Tsar Alexander II’s son, who felt his dad’s death had weakened the Tsar’s authority.
What did Tsar Alexander III do to Ethnic minorities??
He repressed religious minorities and Non-Russians.
Who was Tsar Nicholas II?
Tsar Alexander III’s son, who became Tsar after his father died. However, he wasn’t ready to rule.
What was Tsar Nicholas II’s first promise to Russia to celebrate his coronation?
He promised free pretzels and beer to a huge crowd in Moscow, and since Russian peasants were often starving, it was very appealing.
Why did people get mad at Tsar Nicholas II during his promise of free pretzels and beer?
Nicholas partied with the French, instead of being there for the people. This was bad for the Tsar’s reputation.
Who was Vladimir Lenin?
A member of Russia’s middle class who supported the idea of communism and wanted to take over Russia.
Who was Karl Marx?
He came up with the way that the economy has evolved and wanted to defeat capitalism.
What is Socialism?
When property is owned by the government and work is done by workers.
What is Communism?
When there is no private ownership, and work is done by everyone.
Lenin was exiled to Siberia. After this, where did he go?
Europe.
When Lenin was in Europe, what did he join?
He joined a party of communists, and wrote a communist newspaper to be smuggled into Russia.
Why did the socialist party Lenin was in split up?
Many didn’t agree with Lenin on a lot of things, so it split up into two parts.
What were the “majority” / bolsheviks?
Lenin’s part of the socialist party. They were often in the minority (unlike the name suggests), and were more radical.
What were the “minority” / mensheviks?
The less radical part of the socialist party. They were often in the majority.
Who was Sergei Witte?
One of the Tsars most skilled advisors, who knew that Russia has to catch up.
What did Sergei Witte bring to Russia?
He brought factories to Russia, but the conditions in the factories were terrible.
Why did Russia go to war with Japan?
The tsar thought that people would start to like them if they won a war.
Did Russia win the war against Japan?
No, they underestimated Japan’s power and lost.
Who was Father Gapon?
A priest who lead a very peaceful protest to petition to give better working conditions to workers.
Why did Father Gapon’s protest end in “Bloody Sunday”?
It ended by a massacre from the soldiers. It started the 1905 revolution.
What made the 1905 revolution terrible for the Tsars?
The soldiers began to mutiny.
What was a soviet?
Local elected councils that coordinated strikes and supply workers.
What was the Duma?
An assembly for the liberals, so Nicholas had to share laws and have his decisions approved. It was to satisfy the liberals.
Once the war with Japan was over, what happened to the soviets?
Soviets were dismantled, leaders were arrested, and peasant uprisings were stopped.
Who was Pyotr Stolypin?
Tsar’s new top man, who began to crack down even harder on the Tsar’s opponents, in order to prevent another revolution.
Why was Russia’s economy starting to improve?
Many positive reforms began to take place. Lenin did not like this as he knew people wouldn’t be willing for a revolution.
Who was Joseph Stalin?
Another pro-communist who helped the Bolsheviks get money (by doing bad stuff like robbing).
Who was Rasputin?
A “healer” who tricked the Tsar into thinking that he healed their bleeding son. This gave him a close connection to the Tsar.
During WW1, why did Lenin want Russia to lose the war?
He thought it’d help him overthrow the Tsar.
Why did Russia’s economy get worse again in in WW1?
Russia’s economy got worse since germany started to defeat them.
Who started to command the war?
Tsar Nicholas himself! Now his wife was left to rule.
Why was Rasputin Killed?
People thought he was too much of an influence on the Tsar.
What happened on international women’s day in Petrograd?
Hungry woman took to the streets and the next day men joined too.
During the revolt on Woman’s day, why couldn’t soldiers stop it?
Soldiers were hungry, and mutinied too.
Why did Nicholas abdicate and give up his position?
He had to give up as the Liberals said it would calm down the people.
How did Lenin get back to Russia from Europe?
The Germans thought that Lenin would be able to cause trouble in Russia, so they helped him get back.
Why did Russia have a “dual power” once the Tsar’s rule was over?
There were two governments: The provisional government and the soviets.
What slogan did Lenin and the bolsheviks come up with to convince the people to rebel?
Peace, land, and bread. They came up with this since these were the things the provisional government wouldn’t give them. They also wanted to give soviets power.
Who was Kerensky?
Kerensky was the prime minister who accused Lenin of being a german spy and made him flee, since there were many protests following the slogan. He even arrested bolsheviks.
Who was General Kornilov?
He was promoted by Kerensky, but turned out to want to take over, and went to Petrograd.
What was the defence of Petrograd?
When the soviet protected Petrograd from Kornilov.
How did the Bolsheviks take over?
They had been given power from Kerensky to defend Petrograd, and were now very popular with the people, so they took over easily.
Once Lenin took over, what did he do when the social revolutionaries won the election?
He closed it by force.
Why was there a failed assassination attempt on Lenin?
His communist utopia was a bit like a dictatorship.
To deliver on their promise on peace, what deal did germany offer them?
They asked for a crazy amount of land.
Why did Trotsky stop fighting the war?
He thought that if they stopped fighting and didn’t fight the peace treaty either, Germany would also stop, this obviously didn’t work and germany easily took over a lot of land.
When Germany took over a lot of Russia’s land, they gave Russia an even worse treaty. Did Russia accept?
They had no choice but to accept.
What was the white army?
An army created to topple Lenin’s government. They were opposing the red army (Bolsheviks). This was the russian civil war.
Who won the civil war?
The red army.
What was the Red Terror?
When the Bolshevik police executed suspected traitors.
Why were the Tsars murdered?
The red army killed them as they were worried what would happen if the white army freed them.
Why did Lenin stop leading the communist party?
He was experiencing strokes and had to step down.
Who took over once Lenin stopped leading?
Stalin.
How did Stalin take over?
He was given the position of secretary. This meant he could give jobs, and he gave his friends jobs. This meant he could get more and more power.
How many estates did russia have?
5 including Aliens.
What were the nontaxable estates?
The nobility and the clergy.
What were the taxable estates?
The townspeople and the Peasantry.
Could the clergy be poor?
Yes!
Who were the Nobility?
The landowners and beurocrats.
Who were the clergy?
The priests and monks.
Who were the townspeople?
Citizens with special privileges such as merchants and commoners.
Who were the peasantry?
Unfree serfs, forced to be soldiers or farmers.
