russia revision Flashcards
The February
Revolution
● Triggers for revolt – the immediate reasons for the February Revolution.
● Events in Petrograd in February 1917, including strikes and the mutiny in the army. The Tsar’s absence and abdication.
- Russia in early
1917
● Threats to the tsarist regime: discontent among peasants and town
workers and the growth of opposition.
● The impact of the First World War: military defeats; economic, political and social effects; the Tsar as commander-in-chief.
- The February Revolution
● Triggers for revolt – the immediate reasons for the February Revolution.
● Events in Petrograd in February 1917, including strikes and the mutiny in the army. The Tsar’s absence and abdication.
- The Provisional Government
● The establishment of the Provisional Government and the problems it faced. The role of Kerensky.
● The weaknesses and failures of the Provisional Government.
● The significance of the Kornilov Revolt.
- The Bolshevik Revolution
● Lenin’s return and activities, including the April Theses and the growth in support for the Bolshevik Party. The ‘July Days’.
● The Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917. The reasons for their success. The roles of Trotsky and Lenin.
- Early consolidation of power, 1917–18
● The early Bolshevik decrees of November–December 1917.
● The removal of opposition, including the Constituent Assembly and the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
● The reasons for, main terms, and significance of, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Different reactions in Russia to the Treaty.
2 The Civil War, 1918–21
● The reasons for, key events and effects of the Civil War.
● The reasons for the Bolshevik victory, including the strengths of the Bolsheviks, role of Trotsky, foreign intervention and the weaknesses of the Whites.
- Moves towards totalitarianism
● The Red Terror and the role of the Cheka. The Kronstadt Mutiny.
● Bolshevik centralization, including the role of Lenin and the Politburo. Setting up of the USSR.
- Economic and social change, 1918–24
● Reasons for, and features of, War Communism. Reasons for its unpopularity.
● Reasons for, and features of, the New Economic Policy. Different reactions to the NEP. Its effects on the economy, 1921–24.
● Social changes, including the impact of Bolshevik policies on women, education and culture.
- The struggle for power, 1924–28
● The strengths and weaknesses of Stalin and his rivals (Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Bukharin).
● The emergence of Stalin as leader of the USSR: the removal of rivals for the leadership in the years 1924–28.
- The use of terror in the 1930s
● The reasons for, nature of and consequences of the purges, including the purges of the armed forces.
● The work of the secret police (NKVD); the use of, and conditions in, the labour camps.
● The reasons for, and the importance of, the show trials of 1936–1938.
- Propaganda and censorship
● Official culture, socialist realism, control of education and religion. Media censorship.
● The new Constitution of 1936.
- The Cult of Stalin
● The meaning of the Cult of Stalin and reasons for its introduction.
● How the Cult of Stalin was achieved.
- Agriculture and collectivization
● Stalin’s reasons for changes in agriculture, including the problems of the NEP.
● The organisation of collectives, mechanization, widespread opposition and the attack on the kulaks. Famine in the Ukraine.
● The successes and failures of collectivization.
- Changes in industry
● Stalin’s motives for rapid industrialization, including the failings of the NEP.
● Gosplan, Five-Year Plans and the Stakhanovite Movement.
● The successes and failures of industrialization.
- Life in the Soviet Union
● Living and working conditions in towns and the countryside.
● The differing experiences of social groups.
- The position of women and ethnic minorities
● Changes in family life and employment and the political position of women.
● Reasons for, and features of, the persecution of ethnic minorities.
