russia - historical interpretations

Question 1

Tsar Nicholas ll

Answer 1

” Nicholas lacked in grasping the realities of Russia” - John Hite

“It was Nicholas’ weakness of will that led to his demise” - John Hite

Question 2

Autocracy

Answer 2

“A word from the Tsar was sufficient to alter override or abolish any existing legislation or institution” - Alan Wood

Question 3

Russo Japanese War- 1904 - 1905

Answer 3

90,000 casualties at the Battle of Mukden

“The autocracy had shown itself incapable of defending the national interest” - Orlando Figes

Question 4

Bloody Sunday - 9 Jan 1905

Answer 4

200 killed, 800 wounded

“Nicholas the bloody” - ppl of Russia

“The event hardened the outlook of those who previously had little political concern”- Sally Waller

Question 5

October Manifesto - 17 Oct 1905

Answer 5

“The tsarist regime survived 1905 remarkably unscathed” - Michael Lynch

Question 6

Dumas - 1906 - 1914

Answer 6

The first duma was dismissed after 73 days in office

“The duma played an integral role in provoking debate, pursuing reform and to some extent, awakening the political consciousness of the masses” - Richard Pipes

Question 7

Lena Goldfield Massacre - 4 April 1914

Answer 7

500 casualties

“The period of blossoming liberalism in Russia was very short.. at most lasted from 1907 until Lena” - Chrsitopher Reed

Question 8

Political strikes from 1910 to 1912

Answer 8

grew from 47,000 in 1910 to over 500,000 in 1912

Question 9

Russia in WW1 - 1914 ‘

Answer 9

“The calorie intake of unskilled workers fell by a quarter and infant mortality and crime increased at an alarming rate” - Orlando Figes

up to 1.2 million soldiers killed by 1916

goods prices increased by between 100% - 500%

Question 10

Rasputin and Tsarina - 1914

Answer 10

“Alexandra’s sexual corruption became a metaphor for the diseased condition of the tsarist state”- Orlando Figes

Question 11

Tsar Nicholas refused to reform

Answer 11

“Nicholas was the source of all the problems” - Orlando Figes

“While the collapse of tsarism was not inevitable, it was made more likely by deepening cultural and political flaws” - Richard Pipes

Question 12

February Revolution - 23 Feb 1917

Answer 12

by 25th strikers increased up to 250,000

ended march 3rd

“When the February Revolution came, it was not as the result of military defeat or even war weariness, but as the result of the collapse of public support in the government” - Steve Smith

Question 13

Provisional Government and the Soviet

Answer 13

“The provisional government was a government of persuasion” - Orlando Figes

Question 14

April Thesis - 1917 - Lenin

Answer 14

“Peace, Bread, Land: - Bolshevik Slogan

Question 15

Tsar Abdicates

Answer 15

2 March 1917

Question 16

June Offensive - 1917

Answer 16

400,000 Russian Casualties

Question 17

July days - 1917 “

Answer 17

‘the most menacing manifestation of popular discontent with the government since the February revolution - Alan Wood

Question 18

October Revolution - 26 Oct 1917

Answer 18

“The Bolsheviks did not seize power they picked it up” - Adam Ulen

Question 19

Sovnarkom (Bolshevik official title) - Oct 1917

Answer 19

“The Sovnarkom are extremely efficient, energetic and decisive” - Daily news article

“They were revolutionaries, not politicians” - James White

Question 20

CHEKA - Dec 1917

Answer 20

“The Bolshevik leadership had created an extreme situation and they saw the way out in the organisation of a powerful punitive institution, capable of terrorizing and terrifying the population” - Alter Litvin

200,000 members by 1921

Question 21

Initial Decrees - Nov 1917

Answer 21

“We shall destroy everything and on the ruins, we shall build our temple” - Lenin

decree on land - 8 November 1917
decree on peace - 8 November 1917

Question 22

Voting for a Constituent Assembly - Nov 1917

Answer 22

SRs - received 42%, Bolsheviks received 24%

“The surprising indifference towards the dismissal of the Assembly showed that Russia lacked a sense of national cohesion capable of inspiring the population to give up immediate and personal interests for the sake of the common good” - Richard Pipes

Question 23

Treaty of Brest Litovsk - March 1918

Answer 23

“It was a device, the Bolsheviks admitted, to trade space for time, the time which they needed to consolidate their revolutionary rule” - Richard Crampton

lost 50% of industrial enterprises

Question 24

State capitalism - 1918

Answer 24

Socialism is nothing but state capitalist Monoply which has turned in the interest of the whole people” - Lenin

Question 25

Civil War - 1918 - 1921

Answer 25

“We must execute not only the guilty execution of the innocent will impress the masses even more - Commissar of Justice Nikolai Krylenko

“Terror may have saved communism, but it corrded its soul” - Richard Pipes

“Lenin, Trotsky and Derzhinsky believed that overkilling was better than running the risk of being overthrown” - Robert Service

Question 26

White Terror

Answer 26

260,000 people died as result of white terror

“Red victory was more of a result of White weakness than Red Strength” - Orlando Figes

“The failure of the whites to recognize the peasant revolution was the reason for their ultimate defeat” - Richard Pipes

Question 27

War communism

Answer 27

“We were forced to resort to War Communism by war and ruin” - Lenin

“Instead of raising productivity to unprecedented heights, War Communism had reduced it to levels that threaten Russia’s very survival” - Richard Pipes

grain requisitioning
abolition of private trade

Question 28

New Economic Policy - March 1921

Answer 28

wages for factory workers increased y 150%

doubling of grain harvest from 1921- 25

“The enforcement. ofWar Communism and the subsequent introduction of the NEP also suggest that Bolshevik economic planning can be considered merely a fragmented response to a series of desperate situations” - Richard Malone

Question 29

Kronstadt uprising - 1921

Answer 29

10,000 Red Army soldiers were killed in sieges

“The Kronstadt uprising was a symbolic parting of the ways between the working class and the Bolshevik party - Sheila Fitzpatrick

Question 30

Pyotr stolypin - april 1906

Answer 30

new interior minister

agarian law reform

hunted down revolutionaries between 1905 - 11 over 3000 revolutionaries tried & executed for terrorist activity