The Russian Revolution and Communism in Russia

Question 1

Alexander III

Answer 1

r. 1881-1894
Reacting to the assassination of Alexander II, his policy was “Russification, orthodoxy, and autocracy”
industrialized during the 1890s, Trans-Siberian Railroad

Question 2

Constitutional Democrats (Kadet)

Answer 2

reflected the aims of the new middle class and some liberal landowners for parliamentary government and gradual reform

Question 3

Vladimir Lenin

Answer 3

favored a party of elite revolutionaries, his supporters were the Bolsheviks, promised the people “Peace, land and bread”

Question 4

The Revolution of 1905

Answer 4

a peaceful protest march of workers and their families in St. Petersburg was shot down (“Bloody Sunday” - troops fired on the crowd)
-provoked general strikes, peasant uprisings, and formation of Soviets (worker’s revolutionary councils)

Question 5

October Manifesto

Answer 5

Nicholas II’s general promise of reform (after a general strike was called)

• constitution
• civil liberties
• a Duma (general legislature) to represent all classes

Question 6

Bloody Sunday

Answer 6

during the Revolution of 1905, troops shot on a protest march of workers and their families. This led to more discontent and provoked general strikes, peasant uprisings, and formation of Soviets

Question 7

Zemstvos

Answer 7

political councils elected landowners and peasants, set up by Alexander II as a part of his reforms. Liberals in them started to demand reforms

Question 8

Alexander Kerensky

Answer 8

a modern member of the Soviet, the president of the provincial government, wanted to stay in the war

Question 9

Rasputin

Answer 9

“the mad monk” who claimed to have healed the tsar’s son of hemophilia, influenced the tsar and his wife

Question 10

The March Revolution

Answer 10

-1917
-food riots in Petrograd ==> the tsar ordered troops to restore order, the troops and the Duma disobeyed
==> workers and soldiers organized radical legislative bodies called Soviets ==> the rebellion spread
-March 15: the tsar abdicated
-March 17: Russia was proclaimed a republic

Question 11

Dictatorship of the Proletrariat

Answer 11

• proclaimed in 1918
• Bolsheviks ==> Communist
• nationalized important industries
• Russian Orthodox Church lands were seized
• Russia pulled out of WWI- TREATY OF BREST-LITOVSK: surrendered Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Poland to Germany

Question 12

Five-Year Plans

Answer 12

• Started in 1928 by Stalin

- rapid industrialization

Question 13

Farm Collectivization

Answer 13

• consolidated small farms into communes
• modernized agriculture but displaced many peasants
• kulaks were destroyed as a clas

Question 14

The Purge Trials

Answer 14

• Stalin’s paranoia

- as many as 1 million were executed, more were sent to gulags

Question 15

The October Revolution

Answer 15

• 1917
• Bolsheviks overthrew Kerensky’s government
• the Congress of Soviets established a Council of People’s Commissars with Lenin as head, Trotsky as foreign minister, and Stalin as nationalities minister
• within months, the freely elected legislative assembly was abolished, created the Cheka (secret police)

Question 16

Russian Civil War

Answer 16

• Red Army (communists) vs. White Army (supported by tsarists, middle class, many peasants, socialist factions, and many Allied nations)
• Red Army won because White Army could not unite