russia - historical interpretations Flashcards
Tsar Nicholas ll
” Nicholas lacked in grasping the realities of Russia” - John Hite
“It was Nicholas’ weakness of will that led to his demise” - John Hite
Autocracy
“A word from the Tsar was sufficient to alter override or abolish any existing legislation or institution” - Alan Wood
Russo Japanese War- 1904 - 1905
90,000 casualties at the Battle of Mukden
“The autocracy had shown itself incapable of defending the national interest” - Orlando Figes
Bloody Sunday - 9 Jan 1905
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
October Manifesto - 17 Oct 1905
“The tsarist regime survived 1905 remarkably unscathed” - Michael Lynch
Dumas - 1906 - 1914
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
Lena Goldfield Massacre - 4 April 1914
500 casualties
“The period of blossoming liberalism in Russia was very short.. at most lasted from 1907 until Lena” - Chrsitopher Reed
Political strikes from 1910 to 1912
grew from 47,000 in 1910 to over 500,000 in 1912
Russia in WW1 - 1914 ‘
“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%
Rasputin and Tsarina - 1914
“Alexandra’s sexual corruption became a metaphor for the diseased condition of the tsarist state”- Orlando Figes
Tsar Nicholas refused to reform
“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
February Revolution - 23 Feb 1917
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
Provisional Government and the Soviet
“The provisional government was a government of persuasion” - Orlando Figes
April Thesis - 1917 - Lenin
“Peace, Bread, Land: - Bolshevik Slogan
Tsar Abdicates
2 March 1917
June Offensive - 1917
400,000 Russian Casualties
July days - 1917 “
‘the most menacing manifestation of popular discontent with the government since the February revolution - Alan Wood
October Revolution - 26 Oct 1917
“The Bolsheviks did not seize power they picked it up” - Adam Ulen
Sovnarkom (Bolshevik official title) - Oct 1917
“The Sovnarkom are extremely efficient, energetic and decisive” - Daily news article
“They were revolutionaries, not politicians” - James White
CHEKA - Dec 1917
“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
Initial Decrees - Nov 1917
“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
Voting for a Constituent Assembly - Nov 1917
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
Treaty of Brest Litovsk - March 1918
“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
State capitalism - 1918
Socialism is nothing but state capitalist Monoply which has turned in the interest of the whole people” - Lenin
Civil War - 1918 - 1921
“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
White Terror
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
War communism
“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
New Economic Policy - March 1921
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
Kronstadt uprising - 1921
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
Pyotr stolypin - april 1906
new interior minister
agarian law reform
hunted down revolutionaries between 1905 - 11 over 3000 revolutionaries tried & executed for terrorist activity
