Russian Revolution Flashcards
Where is Russia located
4000 miles to west.
It is as large as the surface area of the moon
11 different time zones
Beyond the ural mats Russia has a wild place with frontier settlements
In the Countryside there were very few paved roads .Outside the main cities roads would turn to mud in heavy rain.made travel very slow.
Poland
130 million people lived in Russia but over 50% weren’t Russian
Non russians were from all sorts of races eg polish
Many non-Russians resented the fact that Russian officials controlled them.
Russians made the non-Russians speak Russian,wear Russian clothes and follow Russian customs.(Russification)
In Poland it was forbidden to teach children in polish ,Russians had all the important jobs.
Petrograd and Moscow -biggest cities
- Petrograd was the capital of Russia (Tsar and ministers ruled country from there)
- 1900-Russia experienced industrial growth and many factories were built in Petrograd and moscow (owned by rich businessmen who dined on caviar and smoked salmon at beautiful restaurants/visited ballets and concerts (profits went to grand houses) )
- factory workers lived in filfthy,crowded ,disease ridden dormitories near the cities-little privacy (beds could be occupied 24hrs a day by 2 workers in turn
- workers were not content with low pay and long working hours.
The best farmland
- Only 25% of Russia was really good farmland(most was in the south and west of Russia,especially in the Ukraine-breadbasket of Russia)
- the rest of Russia was either desert,arctic tundra ,or taiga(woods)
- 4 out of 5 Russians were peasants.They had a hard life and there was often starvation and disease
- peasants used a strip Meath of farming ,wooden tools and had few animals.
- they are rye bread and cabbage soup(meat was rare)
- They lived in wood and straw houses,slept on beds of straw and wore course wooden shirts
- poorest had sandals made of free bark
- peasants were often in debt to their landlords (nobles)
- nobles made up 1% of of the population but owned 25-p% of land
- nobles were very rich with 2 houses and enjoyed ballet and other social events
- if peasants protested eg.during times of famine, the tsar would use his feared Cossack soldiers against them
Siberia
- Extremely cold -up to -60°c
- very large
- huge natural resources but very small population
- the rulers of Russia sent anyone who opposed them to Siberia
- most Russian railways were in European-Russia apart from the Trans-Siberian Railway.
- to travel from one end to the other took a week so communication was difficult
- civil servants ran each part of Russia including Siberia,carrying out the Tsars wishes
- since the wages of the civil servants were low and because the were far away form central government (especially Siberia)there was lots of corruption and bribery.
Romanovs
Tsar Nicholas II Tsarina Alexandra Olga Tatiana Marie Anastasia Alexie (only son)(tsarevitch-heir to the throne)
Private life
- the private life of the tsar had a serious influence on Russia
- he had married princess Alexandra of the Hesse -Darmastadt (German)
- they were cousing,both directly descended from queen Victoria
- by Russian law only a man could rule but the tsar only had 4 daughters before their son alexis was born.
Alexei
- it was a tragedy when they found out that Alexis had haemophilia and inherited disease in which blood cells fail to clot
- This disease is passed down from mother to son and the mutating recessive gene which can disappear and reappear in a family
- In this case the gene had mutated in Queen Victoria and she had passed it down to one of her sons and three of her daughters
- The real danger of the disease is the bleeding not by a cut but from internal bleeding extreme damage is caused by bleeding into the joints through pressure and swelling can stop the bleeding
- Access suffered terribly and was not allowed to have morphine for pain in case he became addicted.
- Alexandra was so worried about her son and desperate to help him that she employed the work of Rasputin
1905 revolution -Long-term effects
- Poor working conditions workers wanted higher wages and shorter hours
- Peasants had to make redemption payments over 40 years with your freedom in 1861
- Tsar Nicholas II never visited the factories or farms and had little understanding of their conditions
- Peasants were dissatisfied with their living conditions and how land was divided up
- The governments violent and oppressive policies led to the persecution of the people e.g. POGROMS
1905 revolution-short-term effects
- The government policies to develop industry such as high taxation had disastrous effects on the people
- The economic slump lead to high unemployment and anger amongst the working classes
- There were poor harvests in 1900 and 1902 this resulted in starvation and attacks on land owners houses
- Many middle-class people were angry that the Tsar would not share his power
- People blamed the Tsar for losing the war against Japan and conditions in towns deteriorated and bringing the workers to breaking point
- Russia had expected an easy victory to raise morale they were embarrassed to lose against a second rate power the Russian fleet had sailed for six months to engage the Japanese and was destroyed in under an hour
- there were nationwide food shortages due to the war effort
1905 revolution-Immediate effects
Father Gapon led a March to deliver a petition to the Tsar asking for a re-form ,they were slaughtered by the Cossacks
Russia and the Great War
- Although Russia seemed relatively calm under the Tsar after 1905 not everyone was happy with life in Russia
- The tsar used repressive measures to keep control – he did not allow anyone to speak out against him and promised anyone who did harshly
- Although the tsar had allowed the formation of the Duma in October 1905 manifesto he did not follow what the Duma told him ,in his fundamental laws he set out that despite the existence of the Duma he still got to make a final decision and when he did like what the Duma told him he just dissolved them
- The tsar faced political opposition – The most significant of which came from a group called the Bolsheviks who were led by Lenin and wanted the workers to fake control
Results of the 1905 revolution
– The October manifesto
– promise of freedom of speech rights to form political parties
– establish a Duma
– no new laws without consent of Duma
– broken promises
– voting system was unfair Rich had more influence than poor
– Duma had little influence over the Tsar and new laws
– first two Dumas were dismissed for demanding reforms – further changes introduced to excluded socialist
Continuation of great war
– Although Russia was a huge army It lacked guns and bullets
– Their industry was still underdeveloped and there was a limited transport system
How did the war go for Russia part one
-In 1914 Russia suffered terrible loss is at the Battle of Tannenburg and the Masurian lakes men fell into swamps and died agonising death days later
-There were massive desertions in 1915
-The new recruits had no weapons one bullet was issued a day whereas the Germans had machine guns
– Food prices went up by 400% as people struggle to get food. There was increasing anger
