Russia 1894-1921 Flashcards
When and where did bloody sunday happen?
January 1905, st petersburg, winter palace
Why did bloody sunday happen?
Peoples shock at the outocome f the russo-japanese war turned into protest
Poor working and living conditions for so many people
Explain as much as you can about Bloody Sunday and what happened
Crowd of 200,000 people gather and stand in orderly rows, walk calmly, all wearing best clothes, led by religious figure(Father Gabon), women and children were both present
The people wanted to meet with the Tsar outside his palace and hand him a petition requesting some improvements for russia overall at this time. The letter began “Dear Father Tsar” proving they didnt want to hurt or dethrone him just make change to the horrible conditions.
When the soldiers saw them coming however they were asked to stop and not everyone could/did so the solder opened fire on the crowd killing hundreds of people.
Kick started the 1905 revolution!
Name 6 things that the 1905 petition said
8 hour working day
minimun wage of 1 rouble
freedom of press
freedom of religion
freedom of assembly
end the war with japan
Who did the Tsar appoint as Prime Minister to crush the revolutions following Bloody Sunday?
Peter Stolypin
Name 9 of Stolypins reforms that he put in place after 1905
expansion of health services
health insurance for workers
trade unions recognized
introduced 50,000 primary schools
expansion of secondary/higher education
creation of Kulaks-peasants who own land/farms
increased amount of land available to buy
improved factory working conditions
courts that could hang without trial
Why did the Tsar abdicate in 1917?
pressure from politician etc about rumours of rasputin and his wife
his wife being german was causing outrage due to ww1 with germany
he had taken all the blame for the 1.3 million dead people in the battles of ww1
blamed for lack of food across russia due to war
more people questioning the royals as inflation rises insanely high and money is now worthless due to the first world war
Name 7 reasons the civil war started
the bolshevikes were very unpopular and disliked by most of russia
lots of russians wanted the tsar back
some russians wanted a democratic system to be set in place
the Treaty of Brest-Llitovsk was very disliked by the public
poor economy meant money was worthless to the russians
food shortages were very bad
peasants wanted the land that Lenin had promised them
What were the 2 sides in the russian civil war?
Reds vs whites
reds; bolsheviks, communists, commisars(enforcers), used conscription to force people onto their side
whites; ex tsarist officers, nobility, anyone who wanted the tsar back or democracy, cossacks, ex POW, help from france,britain, usa and japan
Why did the reds win the Civil War?
effective and disciplined force as one man,
Trotsky was in charge and re-introduced the death penalty if you deserted the reds,
claimed they were fighting for russia since the whites had foreign help,
war communism(grain requisition-stealing food/farmland), controlled the industrialized areas giving access to railways which meant well fed army and constant supplies,
v over 5 million men in the army(outnumbered whites ten man to one)
Why did the whites lose the Civil War?
unorganised and uncoordinated as there was no one leader and they were scattered all over russia, all fighting for different things, did not send enough troops or supplies, foreign countries stopped helping as they had their own issues after ww1
Name the 8 ways which the Tsar kept control of russia before 1905
russians flogged/beaten if speaking against them
no parliment
the church ‘chosen by god’
power of the biggest army in europe at the time
russification policy
siberian labour camps
civil service ministers are loyalists
okhrana took out political oppositions
Why did the provisional government fail? (8)
never elected
people of russia wanted peace (end the war)
peasants began seizing the land
soldiers were deserting and returning home
lack of support from army/police
conflict with the soviets
food prices were very high
stayed in the war too long
