Russian Revolution: What were the causes and immediate outcomes of the February Revolution in 1917? Flashcards
Russian Morale During War
-Many socialists abandoned policies and joined national war effort
-Lenin called all true revolutionaries to transform war into civil war -> everyone was against him
Impact of War on Russia
-inflation
-food and transport
-living conditions
-the army
-prohibition
Problems because of war - Inflation
government spending rose from 4 million to 30 million -> increased taxation and heavy borrowing
abandoned gold standard
hyperinflation -> earnings doubled, prices of food and fuel quadrupled
Problems because of war - Food Supply and Transport
Transport:
disruption of transport system -> signaling system of railway network broke down -> trains stranded -> large shortages -> had to stop fighting temporarily
Food supply:
horses needed for war -> more difficult for peasants to keep agricultural output up (in the second part of war)
Army was the priority for food -> hunger and even famine created for ordinary Russians -> very small rations
Problems because of war - The Army
One of the largest armies e.g 180 million fought -> poor adiministration -> hard to get basic needs -> shortages of food and artillery-> low performance
Problems because of war - Prohibition
consumpriton of alcohol was an integral part of russian society - > nicholas ll made huge error in banning it
1/3 of gov income came from taxes on alcohol sales
by 1916 damage was clear -> laws repealed
Patriotic Organisations
political mistake of tsar - no collaborating with zemgor
zemgor - body that helped russia’s war efforts
organisation was succesful -> showed failure of tsar t orecognise good opportunities nd represented alternative to tsarism
Tsar becoming Commander-in-chief
-august 1915 - tsar took direct command of army trying to rally nation around him
PROBLEM: NOW NICHOLAS WAS PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR RUSSIA’S PERFORMANCE IN THE WAR
The Progressive Bloc
Duma forced nicolas ll to recall it in July 1915
Duma wanted to replace tsar’s cabinet with members from the duma - NICHOLAS ll rejects this proposal
236 out of 422 duma deputies formed hte ‘progressive bloc’ with oter political parties that finally united
Bloc tried to persuade Nicholas ll to introduce reforms - HE REFUSE -BOMBASTIK MISTAKE
Incompetence of Ministers
1915-1916:
4 prime minister
3 foriegn secretaries
3 minsiters of defence
6 interior ministers
none succeeded in governing the country properly during the time of war
Character of Nicholas ll
-limited imagination
-not too bright
-made crucial error taking command of army in 1915 -> tied the fate of the dinasty to the success of the war
-weak leader
Rasputin
monk with self proclaimed healing powers
very hated
slept with the wifes of outraged members of imperial court
was hated for his debauchery - alcohol sex etc
Alexandrina wanted him to cure Alexei’s haemophillia
Why was Rasputin Murdered
-outrages debauched bahaviour -in that conservative time
-mysterious relations with the Romanovs-> people from imperial court were jealous and did not understand
-being left in charge of the coutnry together with the ‘German woman’ - > seemingly destroyinfg tsarism
Key Events: February Revolution
18 February: Strikes at Putilov factories
23 February: On Women’s dat - socialist groups demanded female equality + food and end to war
25 February: General Strikes Begin
27 February: formation of provisional comitee and Petrograd Soviet
2 march - PC declares itself a PG, tsar signs abdication decree
3 march- PG declares a revolution has taken place
4 march -Tsar abdication made public
Why was kerensky chosen to be leader of Provisional Government
- The complete failure of the Tsarist system.
- The failure of Lvov to manage.
- Kerensky was a good communicator, orator, and patriot.
- He had a range of good contacts with most of the political groups.
- As a lawyer he had defended several of the revolutionaries and had
some support on the Left- this enabled him to form at least a temporary
coalition. - There was simply no alternative.
