provisional govt. and bolshevik revolution Flashcards
Weaknesses and mistakes of Provisional Government Feature 1:
Unelected and had to share power.
Feature 2:
Delayed key reforms.
- “dual control” meant they had no control over certain areas of the government. This was due to the petrograd soviet for example, having control over the railway system and teh post service.
- this made int very difficult for the government to increase transportation of food to the cities. -> the people therefore didn’t view the provisional government as a strong source of authority.
- “order number 1” meant petrograd soviet had the final say in military matters. Therefore, the provisional government couldn’t work effectively if their actions depended on another organisation
- Petrograd soviet was elected, but the P.G was not. It was made up of deputies who had been elected under the duma- however this happened under tsarism. This weakened the authority and the trust of the government.
Supporting detail:
- They were desperate to continue WW1, as it was relying on other allied countries to invest in Russia’s recovery.- most ordinary people simply wanted out of the war
- delayed elections: intended to call elections to the constituent assembly, but found general elections very difficult to organise. Additionally, lots of problems needed attention. This appeared as though they purposefully delayed elections to stay in power.
- Delaying reforms: Peasants wanted more land taken from landlords. P.G did not act on this- they believed land reform should be decided by the constituent assembly. The P.G actually had little authority elsewhere regardless.
- free speech meant people were openly criticising the provisional government
1917 Decrees
Feature 1:
Improved workers’ rights (or end the war or improve peasants’ lives)
Feature 2:
Tried to reassure nationalities.
Supporting detail:
- Decree on Worker’s rights meant:
→ 8 hour working days, a key demand of striking workers since the 1905 revolution and before.
→ unemployment insurance for those unable to work. If they were sick, injured, or unemployed, they could still survive.
→ Workers committees would now run on their own factories
Supporting detail:
- Decree on nationalities meant
→ All the different peoples of the old russian empire could have their own governments
→ however these governments still remained under Bolshevik control. - ethnic minorities within the old russian empire ensured that russian control would not be imposed on them.
Closure of Constituent Assembly
Feature 1: Prompted by rejection of Bolshevik decrees.
Feature 2:
Carried out by force.
Supporting detail:
- The constituent assembly rejected the 1917 decrees and the principle of all power to the soviets by a majority of over 100 votes.
- It realised that granting all power to the soviets would make the constituent assembly irrelevant.
Supporting detail:
- Lenin took the rejection as an opportunity to claim this proved the constituent assembly did not represent the will of the people
- The bolshevik delegates walked out the assembly in protest, and Lenin announced that the constituent assembly would be dissolved.
- The next day, Lenin brought in the red guards to prevent the assembly from opening. Shortly afterwards, all opposing political parties were banned in Russia, including the SRs, Mensheviks and t eh Kadets.
- Leaders of the opposing parties were arrested as enemies of the people.
Treaty of Brest Litovsk
Feature 1:
Damaged the economy.
Feature 2:
Humiliating for Russia.
Supporting detail:
- Lenin demanded that Trotsky achieve peace with Germany at any price. They could not afford and could not win against Germany.
- Because russians were desperate to leave the war, they set extremely harsh terms
- they lost:
→ 74 percent -> coal mines, iron ore
→ 50 percent industry
→ 26 percent railway, farmland and population
→ 300 million gold roubles
Ultimately, russia’s economy had been worse than ever before
Supporting detail:
- The loss of some of Russia’s most productive farmland meant that the treaty had effectively made Russia’s food shortage situation even worse.
- People began to leave starving cities and return to countryside so they could grow their own food.
- by 1918, 1 million ppl had left petrograd
- workers shrunk by 60 percent
- Most russians devastated by what they had lost.
- Conservatives in russia were now convinced that they had to fight the Bolsheviks, to save Russia from further humiliation. This fear of humiliation would lead to the civil war.
Civil war
Civil war
Groups against Bolsheviks
- monarchists
- upper class and middle class people in fear of losing everything under Bolsheviks
- Supporters of the Constituent assembly who hated the way Bolsheviks had turned russia into a dictatorship
- nationalities that wanted independence
Reds
- The bolshevik army
- Added volunteers to the red guard
- very organised
- every officer was supervised by a Bolshevik political comissar
- threatened their families if they betrayed in any way
- Discipline was very harsh, deserters and soldiers who did not act when ordered to were executed
- 5.4 million men in the army
- One factor was because food supplies would go to the army first.
Whites
- Made up of different groups, many had differing opinions. (SRs, ultra conservatives, army officers against Brest-litovsk treaty)
- There were 4 main white armies that attacked the red from different regions
- These groups would sometimes quarrel and fight within themselves
Greens
- consisted of peasant armies that fought for control of their own local areas.
Involvement of other countries
- Britain sent supplies worth 100 million pounds to the whites. Britain wanted russia back in the war.
- Japan sent 70,000 troops toe astern siberia to taek some land from Russia during the unrest
- USA sent troops to the saem region to prevent Japan from doing this
- An armed force of 50,000 men from the Czech republic and Solvenia took control of large stretches of the Trans-siberian railwa
Reasons for Bolshevik victory in the Civil War
Feature 1:
Trotsky’s leadership of the Red Army.
Feature 2:
White weaknesses.
-
Supporting detail:
- It was very well organised. Leon Trotsky organised and disciplined the red army. Discipline was very harsh, deserters and soldiers who did not act when ordered to were executed
→ threatened their families if they betrayed in any way - Their army was huge. 5.4 million men in the army
→ One factor was because food supplies would go to the army first. - The reds used extremely striking images and slogans to convince people to support them. FOr example, according to red propaganda, the whites would take away peasant land
Supporting detail:
- Although led by many experienced generals and admirals, there was no overall white leader.
- This meant white attacks were not organised
- Fought for different things- monarchist white and an SR white had differing values. As a result it was difficult to work together
- Reputation of the whites was particularly bad among the peasants
- Whites therefore received little peasant help
- White forces attacked from outer areas of russia. This meant it was hard to get supplies and to communicate between different sectors and industry, railway networks were in the centre of russia.
- White armies much smaller than the reds
Red terror
- Following the assasination attempt on Lenin, Bolsheviks used CHeka ina campaign known as the Red Terror on their opponents
- Nearly 300,000 including the tsar and his family were killed by the Cheka between 1918 and 1920
- The cheka would punish anyone who helped the whites after the reds would capture an are from the whites
- Cheka was used to establish fear, for those who wanted to oppose the Bolsheviks
