What was the name of the Tsar?
What was the capital city of Tsarist Russia? List SEVEN problems in Russia in 1900- Economy, Peasants, Workers, Aristocracy, Church, Government, Tsar
Just 700 nobles owned HOW MUCH of the land? How long did it take to cross Russia by train How was the Tsar’s coronation a catastrophe?- There was a crowd crush on the Khondynka Field; 1,282 people died.
Name FIVE groups angry at the government before 1905- Students, peasants, industrial workers, nationalist groups in Finland and Poland, members of the intelligentsia and bourgeois who wanted a constitution.
How did the Constitutionalists campaign
in 1904-5? Name FOUR of Nicholas II’s reforms- Max 11½ hours’ work for day workers, abolished villages’ joint responsibility, gave religious freedom throughout the empire, promised more powers for the zemstvo.
Why did these reforms not stop people’s anger?- They only came after riots & strikes, did not go as far as people wanted, and were accompanied by repression
What was the name of the Tsar’s secret police? What was the name of the trade unions set up and infiltrated by the secret police? Name the FOUR main events of the Russo-Japanese Way of 1904-5- Feb 1904: the Japanese destroy the Russian Pacific Fleet
5 January 1905: Port Arthur surrenders
May 1905: the Japanese destroy the Russian Baltic Fleet at Tsushima
Sept 1905: the USA mediate the Peace of Portsmouth.
What were the FOUR Key events of the 1905 Revolution- 22 January: Bloody Sunday
June: Sailors on the battleship Potemkin mutinied; workers and soldiers set up ‘Soviets’
August Manifesto: the Tsar’s promise of a powerless Duma did not stop the violence
October Manifesto: the Tsar promised a Duma with powers and a universal electorate.
How did the Tsar overturn his promises in the October Manifesto?- In May 1905 Nicholas issued the 'Fundamental Laws', giving himself a veto of any decisions, the right to dissolve the Duma, and the right to make laws when it was not in session
Liat the Dumas and their fate- 1st (1905): made numerous demand, dismissed by force after 2 months
2nd (1907): demanded nationalisation of land; dismissed after four months and the voting system changed
3rd (1907-12): worked with Stolypin on moderate reforms
4th (1912-1917): was ignored.
Name the Prime Minister who had tried to reform Russia in the 1900s. Name SIX of Stolypin’s reforms.- Army & navy reforms; Justices of the Peace; better health & accident insurance; universal education; allowed peasants to contract out of the mir (village community); cancelled redemption payments
Name TWO Russian defeats in the First World War.- Tannenberg or Masurian Lakes
What scandal in 1915 severely damaged the government’s reputation? How many million men left the fields to join the army? What mistake did Nicholas take in September 1915 that severely damaged his personal reputation? Who severely damaged the reputation of the Tsarina What happened on International Women’s Day?- 8 March 1917: demonstrations/ bread riots.
What date did the Tsar abdicate? When was the Provisional Government set up? Who was the leader of the ‘Provisional Government’? Who was the Provisional Government’s first prime minister? What post did Kerensky hold at first in the Provisional Government? Name FIVE civil rights the Provisional Government introduced.- Freedom of the press, the vote for all men and women over 21, release of all political prisoners, abolition of the death penalty, the right to strike
When were elections for a ‘Constituent Assembly’ organised for? Which were the two main parties, who disagreed? When did Lvov resign and Kerensky take over? Why is the Provisional Government sometimes called the ‘Dual Government’?- It was forced to share power with the Soviets.
When did the Petrograd Soviet issue Order No.1? What did Order No.1 state?- That soldiers and workers must obey only the Soviet’s orders
What did Order No.1 mean?- That the Provisional Government issued orders, but they were only obeyed if the Soviet agreed
Where did a mutiny occur in May 1917? - At the Kronstadt naval base
What did the mutiny declare?- The Kronstadt Soviet declared independence from the Provisional Government.
Name FOUR aspects of the disastrous economic situation the Provisional Government inherited from the Tsar’s government.- Harvest failures, a weak industrial economy, inflation, food shortages in the towns
What problem was happening in the countryside?- The peasants were demanding to own their own land.
Name THREE groups which opposed the Provisional Government.- Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries
What was the name of the army’s offensive, in June 1917, which failed disastrously? How did the Provisional Government anger the poor in the towns?- Rationing failed to end the food shortages.
How did the Provisional Government anger the peasants in the countryside? - The government gave the land back to the nobles.
How did the Provisional Government’s granting of civil rights help the opposition?- It allowed freedom of speech and a free press.
How did the Provisional Government anger both soldiers and the people? - It tried to continue the war.
Name the two groups into which the Social and Democratic Labour Party divided in 1903.- Bolsheviks and Mensheviks
Who was smuggled back into Russia in 1917? Who smuggled him? When did Lenin return to Russia? How else did the Germans help the Bolsheviks?- They funded the Bolsheviks.
What was the name of the prospectus which Lenin published? What did the April Theses promise? What was Lenin’s slogan?- ‘All power to the Soviets’
The Bolsheviks set up a very efficient party organisation. Name THREE features.- Two million members by August 1917, a propaganda newspaper (Pravda), a private army
What was the name of the Bolshevik army? Who led the Red Guards? When did an attempted Bolshevik Revolution coups fail? Who led a right-wing rebellion in August 1917? How did Kerensky defeat Kornilov?- By asking the Red Guards for help
When did the Bolsheviks gain control of the Petrograd Soviet? Who organised and led the actual coup on 6/7 November? Why did Lenin not take part in the 6/7 November coup?- He was forced to stay in hiding in Finland.
What event on 3 November 1917prompted the coup?- Kerensky ordered the Petrograd garrison to the front; they refused.
What happened on the night of 6 November 1917?- The Red Guards took over key buildings.
Name TWO key locations the Bolsheviks took over.- Telephone exchange, bridges
What was the name of the building which was the provisional Government’s headquarters? What signalled the attack on the Winter Palace on 7 November 1917?- A bombardment from the battleship Aurora
How did Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein misrepresent the attack on the Winter Palace in his 1927 film Oktyabr?- He portrayed it as a heroic battle when in reality it was almost bloodless
How did the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries hand victory to the Bolsheviks? - They walked out in protest at the Bolshevik takeover, but did not help Kerensky.
What did Lenin announce on 8 November 1917?- ‘We shall now proceed to the construction of the socialist order.’
What characterised Bolshevik rule?- It was centralised and dictatorial.
Lenin was the leader – what was the Russian term for ‘leader’? What did the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk decide?- Russia withdrew from the War, but gave big areas of Russia’s best agricultural and industrial land to Germany – Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
How many seats did the Bolsheviks win in the elections of November 1917? What did Lenin do with the Constituent Assembly after one day? What date did Lenin dismiss the Constituent Assembly? What was the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’- Lenin said that a dictatorship was needed until Russia was changed into a Communist country.
How did Lenin rule Russia? What set up the government of the USSR in 1923? The Constitutional Law set up a ministerial cabinet. What re the English and Russian names for this?- Sovnarkom : the ‘Council of People’s Commissars’
What was the Russian name for the Communist Party’s ruling cabinet? How did the Constitutional Law organise the government?- It ensured that the Sovnarkom was controlled by the Politburo.
Which law gave workers an 8-hour day, unemployment pay and pensions? What did the Comintern declare?- Under Zinoviev, it declared that it would cause communist revolutions all over the world.
Name the ‘White’ generals in the Civil War.- General Yudenich and Deniken attacked from the West, Admiral Kolchak from the Eeast.
When was the last White army in Russia defeated? What was the name of the Bolshevik secret police?- CHEKA (1917-23), then called OGPU (1923-34), then NKVD (1934-46), then KGB.
Where were opponents of the Bolsheviks sent?- To the GULAG (the system of labour camps)
What did the Politburo set up in 1920?- An Agitprop Department to organise propaganda
What did an ‘agit-train’ do?- It took propaganda newsreels round the country.
Where was there a mutiny against the Bolsheviks in 1921? Describe TWO main ideas of the new Economic Policy.- New Small Businesses/ Experts/ Lenin let the peasants sell their surplus, and pay a tax instead.
When did Lenin die? Give one way the Politburo honoured Lenin in death.- It organised a massive funeral, it built a granite mausoleum in Red Square, people queued for hours to see Lenin’s embalmed body.
Who cared for Lenin during his final illness? Whom did Stalin fall out with during this time?- Lenin’s wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya
What did Lenin’s Testament say?- It supported Trotsky and warned against giving Stalin power.
What did Trotsky do as head of the Revolutionary Military Committee?- Organised the November coup
What did Trotsky do as Commissar for Foreign Affairs?- Negotiated the Treaty of Brest–Litovsk
Give FOUR things that Trotsky did as Commissar for War.- Formed the Red Army, organised the CHEKA, won the civil war, put down the Kronstadt rebellion
Of which propaganda organ was Trotsky an editor? Name one of Trotsky’s disadvantages in the race to succeed Lenin.- He was arrogant and unpleasant, he had many enemies, he only joined the Bolsheviks in 1917, so he was resented as a newcomer, he was Jewish; many Bolsheviks were anti-Semitic.
Who were the two old Bolsheviks who opposed Trotsky because they hoped to be leader themselves? How many leading Communists supported Trotsky? What did Trotsky and the 46 attack in 1923? At which Party Conference were Trotsky and the 46 defeated?- 13th Party Conference in January 1924
What were they marked for? What disease did Trotsky catch in 1923? What did Trotsky mean by ‘world revolution’?- Encouraging Communists in other countries to rebel
What had Stalin intended to be as a young man? When had Stalin become a Bolshevik? Which Bolshevik newspaper had he issued the very first edition of? In what way was he a Bolshevik hero?- He had twice been imprisoned in Siberia.
What did Stalin do after 1917 as Commissar for Nationalities?- He destroyed the national identity of the different races.
What characterised Stalin in his work as Commissar for Nationalities?- He was particularly ruthless and brutal.
What key position did Stalin take in 1922? No one else wanted to be secretary. What did they mock Stalin as? Name one of Stalin’s advantages in the race to succeed Lenin.- He was a brilliant organiser, e was genial, pleasant and liked a laugh – this made him popular, as General Secretary of the Communist Party, he appointed the top posts in the Party, and he put his supporters into these positions.
What were the ‘top officials’ called, and how many were there? What were the party officials called, and how many were there? Why was it an advantage for Stalin that he appointed the nomenklatura?- Because they appointed the apparatchiki – so all the officials in the Party were Stalin supporters
What did Stalin mean by ‘Socialism in one country’?- Establishing Communism in Russia first, and going for world revolution later
Give one way the Politburo honoured Lenin in death.- It organised a massive funeral, it built a granite mausoleum in Red Square, people queued for hours to see Lenin’s embalmed body.
Who organised Lenin’s funeral?- As General Secretary, Stalin organised Lenin’s funeral.
How did Stalin turn this to his advantage?- He told Trotsky the wrong date for Lenin’s funeral, so Trotsky missed it – this made Trotsky look bad.
What role did Stalin give himself in the funeral and why?- Chief mourner; it made him look loyal.
How did Stalin present himself as a follower of Lenin’s ideas? - He wrote a book summarising Lenin’s ideas.
What was the ‘Lenin Levy’?- The enrolment of hundreds of thousands of new members
How did the ‘Lenin Levy’ help Stalin’s rise to power?- The new members didn’t know anything of the past, and accepted him as the leader.
How did Trotsky try to get Stalin discredited in 1924?- He forced the Politburo to discuss Lenin’s Testament.
Who saved Stalin at that meeting? In 1925, Stalin joined with Kamenev and Zinoviev to form an alliance against Trotsky. What was it called? - The troika - they forced Trotsky to resign his position as Commissar for War and dismissed the 46.
After this, Trotsky fell from influence. What happened to him in 1927? In 1929? In 1936? In 1940?- 1927: Imprisoned
1929: Exiled
1936: Sentenced to death in a show trial.
1940: Murdered in Mexico by a NKVD agent.
Which two ‘leftists’ did Stalin attack next, and how?- Kamenev and Zinoviev; Stalin removed their supporters in Moscow and Leningrad and replaced them with his own supporters.
In 1926, Kamenev and Zinoviev joined with Trotsky to try to stop Stalin. What was this opposition called? How did they attack Stalin? Who saved Stalin in 1927? - Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky (moderate Bolsheviks who supported the NEP)
What happened to the ‘United Opposition’?- Kamenev and Zinoviev and 1500 of their supporters were expelled.
What did Stalin do at the 16th Party Conference in 1929 and why?- He turned against the NEP to defeat Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky.
How did he do defeat Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky in 1929?- When Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky defended the NEP, Stalin denounced them as ‘deviationists’ and they were demoted.
What happened on Stalin’s 50th birthday, in December 1929?- Stalin was celebrated as Lenin’s successor, the new vozhd (leader).
Whose murder started the purges in 1934? What was the name of Stalin’s system of workcamps? What happened to politicians as soon as they were defeated?- They ‘disappeared’ from all textbooks and official photographs.
When did Stalin first announce (voluntary) collectivisation? How many million kulaks were ‘eliminated’? What was a kolkhoz? How many million peasants left the countryside to work in the towns, 1928–37? What was a ‘Stakhanovite’?- A hard worker who tried to emulate the record-breaking shift of Alexey Stakhanov
|