Topic 5 facts Flashcards
what was the role of Trotsky in the new Bolshevik govt?
commissar for foreign affairs
what were the reasons for foreign intervention in the civil war?
- 1918 main motive was to keep Russia fighting in WW1 preventing more German forces on Western front
- after the German armistice in November 1918, intervention continued to support anti-Bolshevik forces
- divisions and muddled thinking with allied governments
who were the foreign interventionists in the civil war?
- interventionists: Britain, France, Japan, US, Poland, Romania, Italy, Lithuania
what was the impact of foreign intervention in the civil war?
- did not bring down the Bolshevik regime as intervention was on a small scale
- Bolshevik survival secured by military successes of Red Army under Trotsky and Tukhachevsky
- November 1920- British cabinet agreed to negotiate a trade agreement with Bolsheviks recognising them
- most allied troops only fought minor skirmishes
when and what was the Russo-Polish war?
1919-21:
- Polish wished to regain territory taking advantage of chaos of Civil war
- The Reds were motivated by the failure of the allied intervention in the Civil War to make a push to invade Poland and spread communism
- Poland seen as geographical bridge to West to export revolution
- Reds pushed Polish back to Warsaw but stretched lines and lacked support- defeated by Polish troops under Pilsudski
- treaty of Riga 1921- Russia surrendered large areas and soviet morale down
what and when was the comintern?
established 1919 and not abolished until 1943:
- first congress in Moscow in March 1919- 50 delegates
- chairman Zinoviev but largely influenced by Lenin
- great optimism for spread of revolution believing in inevitability of world revolution
- second congress July-august 1920. Some European delegations broke away from Comintern due to debate over Lenin 21 conditions
- by the third congress in summer 1921, realisation that world revolution was not close. little interest
why was Russia diplomatically isolated by 1921?
- excluded from the league of nations and the post war arrangements for collective security in 1919
- cooperated economically with Germany who were also isolated. By 1932, 47% of total imports came from Germany
what and when was the treaty of Rapallo?
signed between Germany and Russia in April 1922:
- reopened diplomatic relations
- commercial and economic relations
- compensation waived from war
- a further agreement in July authorised German military to train in USSR
when did Britain give diplomatic recognition to USSR?
1924
when and what was the Anglo-soviet trade treaty?
1921:
- Britain agreed to advance a 30mil loan to USSR
- soviet paid compensation for stolen British assets after the October 1917 revolution
why were relations ruptured between Britain and USSR in 1926?
Soviet behaviour during the General Strike- soviet leadership saw it as the beginning of a proletarian revolution (which it wasn’t)
what was the union of militant Godless?
formed in 1921 to attack the power of the church who the communists saw as a rival to their power
what and when was the ban on factions?
1921- agreed that once party policy had been agreed by the central committee everybody must agree. Penalty was expulsion from the party
how was political repression used to develop a centralised state?
- militant godless
- ban on factions
- Mensheviks and SRs outlawed as organisations in 1921
- revolts dealt with harshly (Tambov 1922 villages destroyed)
- Nomentklatura (5500 trusted people entitled to key posts)
- Cheka renamed GPU in 1922. Given more substantial role
- Glavlit censored and checked texts before being published
what was the Politburo?
formed in 1919- top layer of the party, containing 7-9 members- overtook sovnarkom in decision making
