U3AOS1 INTERPRETATIONS Flashcards
S + L
Institutional weaknesses in Tsarist Russia
“The Russian Empire was deeply fissured” (Service)
Nobility’s “first thought was their own convenience and advantage” (Lynch)
1832 “Collected Laws of the Russian Empire”
Tsar = “autocratic and unlimited monarch” + “ God himself ordains that all must bow to his supreme power”
S + H + Pipes
Impact of economic weaknesses on the fall of the monarchy
“The collapse of the autocracy was rooted in a crisis of modernisation” (Smith)
WC’s poverty inc their sympathy to radical ideals (Harcave)
“While the collapse of tsarism was not inevitable, it was made likely by deep-seated cultural and political flaws that prevented the tsarist regime from adjusting to the economic and cultural growth of the country” (Pipes)
Herzen 1868
Nobility
“a civil priesthood, sucking the blood of the people with 1000s of greedy, unclean mouths”
Description of Bloody Sunday
“like a peaceful protest”
Ramsay MacDonald (British politician)
Condemnation of Tsar after Bloody Sunday
“blood-stained creature”
People’s name for the tsar
“Little Father” → “Bloody Nicholas”
S
Severity of 1905 Revolution by October
“the monarchy’s fate hung by a thread” (Service)
Lenin
Significance of the 1905 Revolution
“a dress rehearsal for 1905”
Russian army
“peasantry in uniform”
T
Economic impact of WWI on the elite
“A continual shower of gold came from above” (Trotsky)
Progressive Bloc
Goal for reform of pol/admin leadership
“establish a government of public confidence”
F + W
Significance of Bolshevik strategy
“The Bolsheviks’ strength was that they were the only party uncompromised by association with the bourgeois February regime and the party most firmly identified with ideas of workers’ power and armed uprising” (Fitzpatrick)
“a political alternative for the disenchanted and disappointed” (Wade)
F + L + C
Impact of Tsar Nicholas II on the development of revolution
“Nicholas was the source of all problems” (Figes)
“The danger Russia faced… would probably have destroyed any man who sat on the throne” (Lieven)
“Nicolas was ideologically incapable of accomodating to the new middle class let alone a more demanding peasantry and working class” (Corin)
SR view of the October Manifesto
“A fraud of the people, a trick of the Tsar”
Liberal view of the October Manifesto
“Thank God for the tsar, who has saved us from the people”
F + P + S + T
Significance of the October Manifesto
“The political outcome of the 1905 Revolution was ambiguous and in some ways unsatisfying to all involved” (Fitzpatrick)
“Russia gained nothing more than a momentary breathing spell” (Pipes)
“That the autocracy came out of the Revolution unscathed had little to do with tactics” (Smith)
1905 Rev left T regime “alive and strong” (Trotsky)
Witte + Tsar
Monarchy’s view of October Manifesto
“I have a constitution in my head, but as to my heart, I spit on it” (Witte)
“I created the Duma, not to be directed by it, but to be advised” (Tsar)
Stolypin
Approach to reform
“Suppression first and then, and only then, reform”
T + P
Dumas/Fundamental Laws
“A constitution is given, but autocracy remains. Everything is given, and nothing is given.” (Trotsky)
“It was an opportunity missed and tensions continued to mount” (Perfect)
L + T + F
Rasputin
R’s behaviour = “symptom of the fatal disease affecting the tsarist regime” (Lynch)
”Rasputin’s proximity to the Tsar’s family proved fatal to the dynasty” (Tyrkov)
“But the point of rumours is not their truth or untruth: it was their power to mobilise the angry public against the monarchy” (Figes)
Fr ambassador + Grand Duke Nikolai
Disdain for monarchy under leadership of Alexandra + Rasputin
“the Russian Empire is now run by lunatics” (Fr ambassador)
“It is now in chaos” (Grand Duke Nikolai)
Purishvekich (Duma member + Rasputin’s murderer)
Rasputin’s control of the administration
T’s ministers = “marionettes whose threads have been taken firmly in hand by Rasputin”
Rodzianko
Concern for Tsar’s decision to appoint himself CinC
“Your decision will appear to the people to be a confession of the hopelessness of the situation and the chaos that has invaded the administration”
F + Hill
Role of WWI in contributing to the outbreak of the Feb Rev
“hard to imagine that it could have survived long even without the war” (Fitzpatrick)
“War accelerated the development of the revolutionary crisis” (Hill)
K + G
Limitations of the Provisional Government
“The Soviet had power without authority, the Provisional Government had authority without power” (Kerensky)
“the PG exists only so long as it is permitted by the Soviets” (Guchkov)
P
Initial reforms by the PG
“a dazzling series of reforms” (Pipes)
R + F + L
Impact of the Bolshevik’s political strategy
“Tailoring the Bolshevik programme so that it would reflect popular aspirations was one of Lenin’s most important contributions to the revolution” (Rabinowitch)
“The Bolsheviks’ strength was that they were the only party uncompromised by association with the bourgeois February regime and the party most firmly identified with ideas of workers’ power and armed uprising” (Fitzpatrick)
“he [Trostky at 2nd All-R C of Sov] charged the socialists with having sold out to the bourgeoisie” (Lynch)
Trotsky
Impact of Lenin’s AT
“A rearming of the Bolshevik ranks”
Zinoviev
Outcome of July Days for the Bolsheviks
“these were dark and difficult days”
W
Significance of the July Days for the Bolsheviks
“The experience of July, though traumatic, was highly instructive. It showed in particular that in order to take power they would have to have the assurance of at least the neutrality of Petrograd garrison” (White)
Demands from crowd at Tauride Palace on 4 July 1917
“Take power… when its been given to you!”
Trotsky + Lenin
Significance of the Kornilov Affair
“The army that rose against Kornilov was the army-to-be of the October Revolution” (Trotsky)
“Either a Soviet government or Kornilovism. There is no middle course” (Lenin - opening of 3rd Coalition Government)
L
Significance of the MRC
”the soviet decision to create the MRC had sounded the death-knell for the PG” (Lynch)
L
Lenin’s contribution to the revolution
“Lenin’s presence stiffened Bolshevik resolve but did produce absolute unity” (Lynch)
L
Reason for Kerensky’s actions in October 1917
“The Provisional Government, incapable of solving the war and land problems, was becoming increasingly reactionary” (Lynch)
Trotsky
Speech at 2nd All-Russian Congress of the Soviets
”No compromise is possible… You are miserable bankrupts…” → “into the dustbin of history”
L
Reasons for Oct Rev
PG simply “Lacked the ruthlessness the situation demanded”
+
“The Bolsheviks did not seize power, it fell into their hands”
(Lynch)
