social studies (dictatorship blah blah blah) Flashcards
who was tsar Nicholas the II
Tsar Nicholas the II was the last tsar of Russia before the revolution. He was overthrown in 1917. He had a wife Alexandra and and 5 kids (4 daughters, 1 son). He was greatly influenced by his wife in his decisions. People thought Tsar nicholas was weak, feeble and easily influenced. Tsar nicholas was an absolute monarch meaning he had control over everything. His heir was his only son Alexis who had hemophilia meaning that he was looked after well and very protected. As leaders Nicholas and his wife made sure they had absolute power by:
1.Dissmissing ministers who opposed him
2. Set up a parliament (duma) to please the people but didn’t allow it to have any power.
3. Operated a secret police force to arrest opponents of the government
4. exiled polititical prisoners to Siberia
5. Strikes and uprisings were put down by Cossacks (special mounted soldiers)
In the end the tsars ended up eventually getting pushed of the throne by the people.
The russian revolution occured in 1917, Nicholas abdicated (gave up his position of power). Russia then withdrew from the war. In 1918 nicholas and his family were assasinated.
Who was Rasputin
Rasputin was a peasant monk who claimed to have mystical healing powers. He claimed that he could heal the tsar and tsarinas son Alexis from his hemophilia. The tsar and tsarina ended up believing him and letting him become a key part of the royal household. Hemophilia is a disease where your blood does not clot properly. Alexis sickness meant a lot as he was the next heir to the throne as the only boy out of the tsar and tsarinas children. Rasputin was described as:
1. An ill mannered peasant
2. A drunkard and womaniser
3.He bragged about his influence in the royal family
Alexandra had total faith in him and many rumors suggest he was having an affair with her. He had lots of power of the royals in their decision making. He have advice to the empress on who to fire and hire.
rasputin was eventually murdered by 3 russian nobles who poisond him with cakes, shot him as he tried to run away and finally dumped him in the river.
What was russian society like before the revolution
It was controlled by the tsar and a few supporters, Ministers the church and army. Most of the 150 million people were the peasants who did most of the work and were treated very poorly.
What are the features of absolute monarchy
what are the features of dictatorship
- Power is usually achieved by force or political tricks.
- There was only 1 party with set political views. Anyone who disagrees with the party’s views would be executed of sent to some sort of labor camp.
- It would be rare for elections to be held, let alone regularly. If there was there would usually only be one party to vote for . Usually you would have to wait until the dictator dies, gets shot or overthrown.
- Power and ultimate status achieved by propaganda or personality cults. Power could also be achieved by overthrowing the previous leader. Also by articles and fake news.
5.You are not able to speak out against the dictator/parties views or beliefs. if you do you would be executed or sent to a labor camp. Many people were turned against each other as ratting someone out for speaking against the dictator gave you higher status in the party. - Propaganda- statues, posters, songs all created to higher the status of the dictator. The government was in control of the media which highlighted the greatness of the dictator and their views/opinions. The government had full control over the newspapers, radio and television as they were seen as political weapons.
- Power is kept by force, police and armed forces. Power also was kept by execution and labor camps.
what are the features of democracy
who is joseph stalin
Joseph stalin was the second communist leader of russia and one of the most well known dictators. After vladimer lenin died in 1924 joseph took over and ruled to 1953. He carried on many of lenins views into his version of communist russia. Joseph stalin created a huge personality cult treating and regarding him as some type of god. This personality cult was achieved by propaganda such as songs, poems, places, posters and statues all being written and named after him. He was taught about in schools and gained a celebrity status. He introduced and carried on many things such as:
\1. Forced all the peasants to live together and work in collectivized farms. This meant all the workers in the cities had food. There was no such things as private farms they were all owned by the government.
2. Made workers work very long hours and were punished severely if they didn’t work hard enough
3. people who spoke against him were killed or sent to the gulags
4. had labor camps called gulags to enforce power
5. Started industrialized programmed
6. Purges meaning he erased all opponents
7. Had full control over the newspapers, radio and television making sure to continue his personality cult
What is a purge
A purge is a position removal or execution of people who are considered undesirable by those in power.
What is the magna carta
The magna carta was issued in june 1215 and was the 1 document to put into writing the principle that the king and his government were not above the law. It was an agreement between king John of England and his knights limiting the kings power. King john was mostly forced into signing as he was a strong and ruthless leader who exploited his power. It sought to prevent the king from exploiting his power, and placed limit of royal authority by establishing law as a power in itself.
