What caused the first civil war Flashcards
1
Q
What were the main reasons for the first civil war
A
- Dissolution of the Constituent assembly
- Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- The chaos ensuing Russia
2
Q
How did the dissolution of the Constituent assembly by Lenin contribute to the outbreak of the first civil war
A
- Lenin did not believe in the democratic process,
however, the revolution had come too late to prevent the
elections of the All-Russian Constituent Assembly from
going ahead in November as planned - In November 1917 elections among the constituent
assembly were called and the results showed the
Bolsheviks had only won a mere 24% of the vote, with
the Social Revolutionaries having double the number of
votes and seats in the assembly - Lenin’s response to the result was ruthless and brutal.
In January 1918 Lenin ordered the Constituent
assembly to be dissolved by gunpoint of the Red
Guards. - Humiliating the dreams of liberals and reformers who
hoped for a democratic state - SR coup, 2000 troops attempted revolution against
the Bolsheviks
-
3
Q
What did lenin demand for
A
- Lenin demanded democratic centralism - This required absolute obedience from all party members
4
Q
How did the Brest-Litvosk treaty help cause the civil war
A
- Soon after the dissolvement of the constituent assembly Lenin sought about making peace with Germany in the hope that they were close to surrendering anyway.
- Talks then began on how the surrender would occur and involved large amounts of land lost such as the Baltic states and the Russians were forced to accept the independence of Ukraine.
- Wars were not won by idealism alone; Lenin understood
that recourses and technical skill were needed. The plain
truth was that Bolshevik Russia did not yet have sufficient
quantity to match Germany. - Nevertheless, there was large scale opposition
- Resistance from ‘Left Bolsheviks’ defying
democratic centralism which required total and utter
support for all decisions made by Lenin. - For the political parties, they
had just been humiliated and
were now watching their
country getting signed away - However, Lenin’s gamble payed off, in August 1918
Germanys position on the Western Front collapsed,
deeming the Brest-Litvosk treaty as meaningless. It
strengthened Lenin’s hold over the party and provided
the opportunity to expel the Left SRs from the
government and to outlaw them and all other parties
politically.
5
Q
How did the chaos already in Russia contribute to the first civil war
A
-, one could argue that the situation in Russia at this stage was in a state of chaos, so much so that the it was inevitable no matter what government came into power
-the scene in Russia was
already set up for a civil war.
- Russia had a severe food
shortage - Thousands of mutinies
already occurring across the
country in the industry,
economy in rapid decline - loss of wheat fields in
Ukraine from Brest-Liitvosk
agreement - millions of peasants starving
6
Q
What problems faced the Bolsheviks when they took power in October 1917
A
- a shortage of raw materials
- rocketing inflation
- hunger gripped large areas of Russia - grain supplies
were 13 million tons short of the nations needs - within a few months of the October revolution, the food
crisis had been further deepened by the ceding to
Germany of Ukraine, Russia’s richest grain-producing
region
7
Q
What three decrees were issued that were meant to define the government’s approach to national policy
A
- PEACE - October 1917 - appeal to the warring nations to
enter talks for a ‘democratic peace without annexations’ - LAND AND WORKERS CONTROL - gave bolshevik
approval to the peasants overthrowing of landlords - for
example included ‘private ownership of land shall be
abolished forever’. Also instructed the workers’
committees to maintain the strictest order and discipline
in the workplace to keep production taking place - NATIONALISATION - June 1918, brought all major
industrial enterprises in Russia under central
government
