Russian Revolution

Question 1

Emancipation of the Serfs

Answer 1

1861
- Granting of legal freedom to serfs
→ had to make redemption payments

Question 2

Sergei Witte

Answer 2

appointed as finance minister 1892
- Believed that Russia needed to industrialize
- Brought-in economic reforms
- Not supported by Tsar / gov

Question 3

what happened in 1894

Answer 3

Nicholas II becomes tsar

Question 4

Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II

Answer 4

1896
May

Question 5

What was the Khodynka tragedy

Answer 5

Crushing incident
- 1300+ people crushed, similar injured
- Tsar seen as insensitive due to attending ball after the tragedy

Question 6

All-Russian Social Democratic Party (ARSDP) formed

Answer 6

1898
- Founded on ideas of Karl Marx

Question 7

Socialist Revolutionary (SRs) formed

Answer 7

1901
- Aimed to confiscate & redistribute land to peasantry

Question 8

What happened at the Second congress of ARSDP in London

Answer 8

1903
- Split between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks

Question 9

Who was removed in 1903

Answer 9

Witte

Question 10

Union of Liberation formed

Answer 10

1904
Held power in the zemstvos, but overall not very powerful

Question 11

Start of Japan Russo-Japanese war

Answer 11

1904
Started by by attacking Port Arthur
- Russia demanded Manchuria and Korea (neutral zone N-39th parallel)
- Did not accept counter offer → negotiations deteriorated

Question 12

Bloody Sunday

Answer 12

1905 Jan 22nd
- Non-violent march to Winter Palace led by Father Gapon
- Demands for assembly elected by universal suffrage, civil liberties, fairer axes, voice for workers
- Violently dispersed by Cossacks → 130+ killed, 100s more injured

Question 13

Redemption payments

Answer 13

1905 | Nov
phased-out → peasants calmed

Question 14

1905 strikes

Answer 14

Started in Moscow
- Formation of workers’ soviets in St. Petersburg & Moscow; demands for improved workers’ conditions
Mutiny on the battleship Potemkin
Attempt by Kadets to form ‘Union of Unions’

Question 15

October Manifesto

Answer 15

Nicholas II issued October Manifesto at Witte’s will (he wanted to kill himself)
- Concessions to the masses
- Promised free speech, voting rights (for those who didn’t have them previously)
- Elected assembly — Duma

Question 16

Treaty of Portsmouth

Answer 16

1905
Treaty with Japan
Japan unhappy because treaty favoured Russia

Question 17

Fundamental Laws

Answer 17

1906 | April passed by Nicholas II
- “supreme autocratic power belongs to the tsar”
- Tsar could overwrite Duma’s decisions
- State Council (tsar-appointees) and military in gov. control

Question 18

First Duma

Answer 18

1906 May → June
- Kadet majority
- SDs and SRs boycott elections
- Dissolved by Tsar

Question 19

Stolypin appointed as minister

Answer 19

1906
- Worked towards improving the peasant’s situation + agriculture
- Introduced significant reforms and laws (→ “Stolypin’s Necktie)

Question 20

Second Duma

Answer 20

1907 Feb. → June
- SDs and SRs won
- Significant divisions in the Duma
- Dissolved by Tsar

Question 21

Third Duma

Answer 21

1907 Nov - 1912 June
- Controlled by right-wing parties; better relations w/ gov.
- Progressed land reform, military re-org, national insurance for workers

Question 22

1909 → 1914

Answer 22

Widespread strikes

Question 23

Lena gold mine massacre

Answer 23

1912
Siberia; 270+ miners killed, similar wounded

Question 24

Fourth Duma

Answer 24

1912 Nov. → 1914 Aug.

Question 25

300th anniversary of the Romanov Dynasty

Answer 25

1913
- Shows face for first time since 1905 Rev.
- Propaganda affair

Question 26

Tannenberg

Answer 26

1914 Aug
70,000 Russians killed, 92,000 captured

Question 27

Rasputin murdered

Answer 27

1916 Dec
murdered by courtiers out of concern for royal family
was thought to be manipulating the Tzarina

Question 28

Putilov steel works strikes

Answer 28

1917 Feb.
Demonstrations in Petrograd during international Women’s Day
→ Troops didn’t disperse strikes; Cossacks turned against tsar

Question 29

Nicholas II abdicated

Answer 29

1917 March
troops diverted train to Pskov, where Nicholas was convinced of abdication

Question 30

Provisional Government and their weaknesses

Answer 30

Formed in 1917
Alexander Kerensky PM after Lvov
Weaknesses
- Developed from (weak and undermined) Duma
- Shared power with the Petrograd Soviet

Question 31

what were the July Days

Answer 31

June 1917
- Sailors at Kronstadt naval base declared own gov.
- Demonstrations by workers/sailors
PG suppressed the dissidents → Lenin fled to Finland; Pravda newspaper closed

Question 32

Lavr Kornilov

Answer 32

Attempted a march on Petrograd
- Kerensky accused Kornilov of trying to make a military dictatorship → removed him
- Called for support from workers / army → Bolsheviks led resistance among workers and soviets

Question 33

Oct 25th - 27th

Answer 33

Kerensky tried to pre-emptive strike the Bolsheviks
- Ordered transfer of Petrograd garrison to the German front
- MRC took over the garrison
- Bolsheviks took over Petrograd and the Winter Palace

Question 34

Constituent Assembly dissolved

Answer 34

1918 Jan
- SRs had majority in elections
- Red Guards forcefully dissolved it at 1st meeting
SRs / SDs / every one else didn’t like it

Question 35

Russian Civil war

Answer 35

Started1918 Jan

Question 36

Lavr Kornilov march on Petrograd

Answer 36

August 1918
- Kerensky accused Kornilov of trying to make a military dictatorship → removed him
- Called for support from workers / army → Bolsheviks led resistance among workers and soviets

Question 37

Kerensky tried to pre-emptive strike the Bolsheviks

Answer 37

October 1918
- Ordered transfer of Petrograd garrison to the German front
- MRC took over the garrison
- Bolsheviks took over Petrograd and the Winter Palace

Question 38

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Answer 38

1918 March 3rd
- Signed 1 million km$^2$ over to Germany
- 1/2 of Russia’s industry and farmland
Treaty very unpopular