Russia Before The Revolution (before 1917) Flashcards
Why did the February/March revolution take place (1917)?
The reasons why the Feb/March revolution took place are:
• there was a collapse of order in the Russian Army.
• the Tsar (who was already unpopular) had declared himself the supreme commander of the army. He now controlled the army from the inside and had a really high rank even though it was hard for other soldiers to change their ranks in the army.
• the Russian soldiers were unhappy with their involvement in the war: the war resulted in a lack of supplies (I.e food and fuel) across the entire country and starvation became common with many casualties. This greatly effected the Russian population and made them unhappy.
To add to this, many of the soldiers were conscripted peasants who were unwilling to fire at their own.
• there was already great dislike for the tsar however he was now also keeping them in a war many Russians wanted to leave.
Why was Nicholas II unsuccessful in resolving the issues faced by Russia before 1917?
One reason that Nicholas II was unsuccessful was due to him not allowing change in the ways Russia was ruled. For example: The October Manifesto in 1905 (where an elected parliament - the Duma - was established) was quickly overruled by the Fundamental Law in 1906 which gave power to the Tsar to dismiss the Duma, change the electoral system and appoint his own ministers.
This would have halted change and progression in Russia as it still gave the general population very little control over their parliamentary system and the entirety of it was still shaped to accommodate the Tsar.
This inability for change could also be seen through the attitudes towards peasants, with the idea that keeping them uneducated and in poverty would keep the Tsar’s control.
The lack of moving the focus of taxes towards the peasant education and away from the army highlights Nicholas II’s poor ability to notice and address societal issues.
Who were the Tsar’s oppositions?
• Social Democrats (SDs)
• Marxists:
- Bolsheviks (led by Lenin): to get to communism they believe they needed a professional revolutionary group with centralised leadership.
- Mensheviks: exactly following Marxist steps to communism.
