Russian Revolution part 2 Flashcards
The Russian Empire in 1914
In 1914, Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia and its empire. Besides the
territory around Moscow, the Russian empire included current-day
Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Poland, Ukraine and
Belarus. It stretched to the Pacific and comprised todayís Central
Asian states, as well as Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. The majority
religion was Russian Orthodox Christianity ñ which had grown out
of the Greek Orthodox Church ñ but the empire also included
Catholics, Protestants, Muslims and Buddhists.
what did vast majority of russia’s population do
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the vast majority of
Russiaís people were agriculturists. About 85 per cent of the Russian
empireís population earned their living from agriculture. This
proportion was higher than in most European countries. For instance,
in France and Germany the proportion was between 40 per cent and
50 per cent. In the empire, cultivators produced for the market as
well as for their own needs and Russia was a major exporter of grain.
what were industirs in 20th century russia
Industry was found in pockets. Prominent industrial areas were
St Petersburg and Moscow. Craftsmen undertook much of the
production, but large factories existed alongside craft workshops.
Many factories were set up in the 1890s, when Russiaís railway
network was extended, and foreign investment in industry increased.
Coal production doubled and iron and steel output quadrupled. By
the 1900s, in some areas factory workers and craftsmen were almost
equal in number.
Most industry was the private property of industrialists. Government
supervised large factories to ensure minimum wages and limited hours
of work. But factory inspectors could not prevent rules being broken.
In craft units and small workshops, the working day was sometimes
15 hours, compared with 10 or 12 hours in factories. Accommodation
varied from rooms to dormitories.
workers were a divided social group explain
Workers were a divided social group. Some had strong links with
the villages from which they came. Others had settled in cities
permanently. Workers were divided by skill. A metalworker of St.
Petersburg recalled, ëMetalworkers considered themselves aristocrats
among other workers. Their occupations demanded more training
and skill . . . í Women made up 31 per cent of the factory labour
force by 1914, but they were paid less than men (between half and
three-quarters of a manís wage). Divisions among workers showed
themselves in dress and manners too. Some workers formed
associations to help members in times of unemployment or financial
hardship but such associations were few.
Despite divisions, workers did unite to strike work (stop work) when
they disagreed with employers about dismissals or work conditions.
These strikes took place frequently in the textile industry during
1896-1897, and in the metal industry during 1902.
what did peasants do in countryside
In the countryside, peasants cultivated most of the land. But the
nobility, the crown and the Orthodox Church owned large
properties. Like workers, peasants too were divided. They were also deeply religious.
how were peasants in europe different from peasants in russia
But except in a few cases they had no respect for the
nobility. Nobles got their power and position through their services
to the Tsar, not through local popularity. This was unlike France
where, during the French Revolution in Brittany, peasants respected
nobles and fought for them. In Russia, peasants wanted the land of
the nobles to be given to them. Frequently, they refused to pay rent
and even murdered landlords. In 1902, this occurred on a large scale
in south Russia. And in 1905, such incidents took place all
over Russia.
Russian peasants were different from other European peasants in
another way. They pooled their land together periodically and their
commune (mir) divided it according to the needs of individual families
political parties bfr 1914? who operated as an illegal party?
All political parties were illegal in Russia before 1914. The Russian
Social Democratic Workers Party was founded in 1898 by socialists
who respected Marxís ideas. However, because of government
policing, it had to operate as an illegal organisation. It set up a
newspaper, mobilised workers and organised strikes.
why were peasants socialist by nature? why did social democrats and social revolutionaries disagree?
Some Russian socialists felt that the Russian peasant custom of dividing
land periodically made them natural socialists. So peasants, not
workers, would be the main force of the revolution, and Russia could
become socialist more quickly than other countries. Socialists were
active in the countryside through the late nineteenth century. They
formed the Socialist Revolutionary Party in 1900. This party struggled
for peasantsí rights and demanded that land belonging to nobles be
transferred to peasants. Social Democrats disagreed with Socialist
Revolutionaries about peasants. Lenin felt that peasants were not
one united group. Some were poor and others rich, some worked as
labourers while others were capitalists who employed workers. Given
this ëdifferentiationí within them, they could not all be part of a
socialist movement.
The party was divided over the strategy of organisation. Vladimir
Lenin (who led the Bolshevik group) thought that in a repressive
society like Tsarist Russia the party should be disciplined and should
control the number and quality of its members. Others (Mensheviks)
thought that the party should be open to all (as in Germany).
russia was an autocracy? explain.
Russia was an autocracy. Unlike other European rulers, even at the
beginning of the twentieth century, the Tsar was not subject to
parliament. Liberals in Russia campaigned to end this state of affairs.
Together with the Social Democrats and Socialist Revolutionaries,
they worked with peasants and workers during the revolution of
1905 to demand a constitution. They were supported in the empire
by nationalists (in Poland for instance) and in Muslim-dominated
areas by jadidists who wanted modernised Islam to lead their societies
the year 1904 was bad for russian workers why
The year 1904 was a particularly bad one for Russian workers. Prices
of essential goods rose so quickly that real wages declined by 20 per
cent. The membership of workersí associations rose dramatically.
When four members of the Assembly of Russian Workers, which
had been formed in 1904, were dismissed at the Putilov Iron Works,
there was a call for industrial action. Over the next few days over
110,000 workers in St Petersburg went on strike demanding a
reduction in the working day to eight hours, an increase in wages
and improvement in working conditions.
what was the bloody sunday and stsrt of 1905 revolution
When the procession of workers led by Father Gapon reached the
Winter Palace it was attacked by the police and the Cossacks. Over
100 workers were killed and about 300 wounded. The incident,
known as Bloody Sunday, started a series of events that became known
as the 1905 Revolution. Strikes took place all over the country and
universities closed down when student bodies staged walkouts,
complaining about the lack of civil liberties. Lawyers, doctors,
engineers and other middle-class workers established the Union of
Unions and demanded a constituent assembly
effects of 1905 revolution
During the 1905 Revolution, the Tsar allowed the creation of an
elected consultative Parliament or Duma. For a brief while during
the revolution, there existed a large number of trade unions and
factory committees made up of factory workers. After 1905, most
committees and unions worked unofficially, since they were declared
illegal. Severe restrictions were placed on political activity. The Tsar
dismissed the first Duma within 75 days and the re-elected second
Duma within three months. He did not want any questioning of his
authority or any reduction in his power. He changed the voting
laws and packed the third Duma with conservative politicians. Liberals
and revolutionaries were kept out.
what was the ww1 when did it happen which ountries were involeved
In 1914, war broke out between two European alliances ñ Germany,
Austria and Turkey (the Central powers) and France, Britain and
Russia (later Italy and Romania). Each country had a global empire and the war was fought outside Europe as well as
in Europe. This was the First World War.
what worsened the situation during war
In Russia, the war was initially popular and people
rallied around Tsar Nicholas II. As the war
continued, though, the Tsar refused to consult the
main parties in the Duma. Support wore thin. AntiGerman sentiments ran high, as can be seen in the
renaming of St Petersburg ñ a German name ñ as
Petrograd. The Tsarina Alexandraís German
origins and poor advisers, especially a monk called
Rasputin, made the autocracy unpopular.
western front and easter front explain
The First World War on the ëeastern frontí differed
from that on the ëwestern frontí. In the west, armies
fought from trenches stretched along eastern
France. In the east, armies moved a good deal and
fought battles leaving large casualties. Defeats were
shocking and demoralising. Russiaís armies lost
badly in Germany and Austria between 1914 and
1916. There were over 7 million casualties by 1917.
As they retreated, the Russian army destroyed
crops and buildings to prevent the enemy from
being able to live off the land. The destruction of
crops and buildings led to over 3 million refugees in Russia. The
situation discredited the government and the Tsar. Soldiers did not
wish to fight such a war.
