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    Test your Knowledge

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  • open section What was the name of the Tsar?
    • Nicholas II
  • open section What was the capital city of Tsarist Russia?
    • Saint Petersburg
  • open section List SEVEN problems in Russia in 1900
    • Economy, Peasants, Workers, Aristocracy, Church, Government, Tsar
  • open section Just 700 nobles owned HOW MUCH of the land?
    • A quarter
  • open section How long did it take to cross Russia by train
    • A week
  • open section How was the Tsar’s coronation a catastrophe?
    • There was a crowd crush on the Khondynka Field; 1,282 people died.
  • open section 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.
  • open section How did the Constitutionalists campaign in 1904-5?
    • Banquets
  • open section 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.
  • open section 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
  • open section What was the name of the Tsar’s secret police?
    • Okhrana
  • open section What was the name of the trade unions set up and infiltrated by the secret police?
    • Zubatov unions
  • open section 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.
  • open section 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.
  • open section 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
  • open section 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.
  • open section Name the Prime Minister who had tried to reform Russia in the 1900s.
    • Stolypin
  • open section 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
  • open section Name TWO Russian defeats in the First World War.
    • Tannenberg or Masurian Lakes
  • open section What scandal in 1915 severely damaged the government’s reputation?
    • Munitions scandal
  • open section How many million men left the fields to join the army?
    • 15 million
  • open section What mistake did Nicholas take in September 1915 that severely damaged his personal reputation?
    • He to control of the amy
  • open section Who severely damaged the reputation of the Tsarina
    • Rasputin
  • open section What happened on International Women’s Day?
    • 8 March 1917: demonstrations/ bread riots.
  • open section What date did the Tsar abdicate?
    • 15 March 1917
  • open section When was the Provisional Government set up?
    • 14 March 1917
  • open section Who was the leader of the ‘Provisional Government’?
    • Kerensky
  • open section Who was the Provisional Government’s first prime minister?
    • Prince Lvov
  • open section What post did Kerensky hold at first in the Provisional Government?
    • Justice minister
  • open section 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
  • open section When were elections for a ‘Constituent Assembly’ organised for?
    • 25 November 1917
  • open section Which were the two main parties, who disagreed?
    • Kadets and Mensheviks
  • open section When did Lvov resign and Kerensky take over?
    • July 1917
  • open section Why is the Provisional Government sometimes called the ‘Dual Government’?
    • It was forced to share power with the Soviets.
  • open section When did the Petrograd Soviet issue Order No.1?
    • 12 March 1917
  • open section What did Order No.1 state?
    • That soldiers and workers must obey only the Soviet’s orders
  • open section What did Order No.1 mean?
    • That the Provisional Government issued orders, but they were only obeyed if the Soviet agreed
  • open section Where did a mutiny occur in May 1917?
    • At the Kronstadt naval base
  • open section What did the mutiny declare?
    • The Kronstadt Soviet declared independence from the Provisional Government.
  • open section 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
  • open section What problem was happening in the countryside?
    • The peasants were demanding to own their own land.
  • open section Name THREE groups which opposed the Provisional Government.
    • Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Social Revolutionaries
  • open section What was the name of the army’s offensive, in June 1917, which failed disastrously?
    • The ‘June Offensive’
  • open section How did the Provisional Government anger the poor in the towns?
    • Rationing failed to end the food shortages.
  • open section How did the Provisional Government anger the peasants in the countryside?
    • The government gave the land back to the nobles.
  • open section How did the Provisional Government’s granting of civil rights help the opposition?
    • It allowed freedom of speech and a free press.
  • open section How did the Provisional Government anger both soldiers and the people?
    • It tried to continue the war.
  • open section Name the two groups into which the Social and Democratic Labour Party divided in 1903.
    • Bolsheviks and Mensheviks
  • open section Who was smuggled back into Russia in 1917?
    • Lenin
  • open section Who smuggled him?
    • The Germans
  • open section When did Lenin return to Russia?
    • April 1917
  • open section How else did the Germans help the Bolsheviks?
    • They funded the Bolsheviks.
  • open section What was the name of the prospectus which Lenin published?
    • The April Theses
  • open section What did the April Theses promise?
    • ‘Peace, Bread, Land’
  • open section What was Lenin’s slogan?
    • ‘All power to the Soviets’
  • open section 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
  • open section What was the name of the Bolshevik army?
    • The Red Guards
  • open section Who led the Red Guards?
    • Trotsky
  • open section When did an attempted Bolshevik Revolution coups fail?
    • July 1917?
  • open section Who led a right-wing rebellion in August 1917?
    • General Kornilov
  • open section How did Kerensky defeat Kornilov?
    • By asking the Red Guards for help
  • open section When did the Bolsheviks gain control of the Petrograd Soviet?
    • September 1917
  • open section Who organised and led the actual coup on 6/7 November?
    • Trotsky
  • open section Why did Lenin not take part in the 6/7 November coup?
    • He was forced to stay in hiding in Finland.
  • open section What event on 3 November 1917prompted the coup?
    • Kerensky ordered the Petrograd garrison to the front; they refused.
  • open section What happened on the night of 6 November 1917?
    • The Red Guards took over key buildings.
  • open section Name TWO key locations the Bolsheviks took over.
    • Telephone exchange, bridges
  • open section What was the name of the building which was the provisional Government’s headquarters?
    • Winter Palace
  • open section What signalled the attack on the Winter Palace on 7 November 1917?
    • A bombardment from the battleship Aurora
  • open section 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
  • open section 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.
  • open section What did Lenin announce on 8 November 1917?
    • ‘We shall now proceed to the construction of the socialist order.’
  • open section What characterised Bolshevik rule?
    • It was centralised and dictatorial.
  • open section Lenin was the leader – what was the Russian term for ‘leader’?
    • Vozhd
  • open section 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.
  • open section How many seats did the Bolsheviks win in the elections of November 1917?
    • 175
  • open section What did Lenin do with the Constituent Assembly after one day?
    • He dismissed it.
  • open section What date did Lenin dismiss the Constituent Assembly?
    • January 1918
  • open section What was the ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’
    • Lenin said that a dictatorship was needed until Russia was changed into a Communist country.
  • open section How did Lenin rule Russia?
    • By decree
  • open section What set up the government of the USSR in 1923?
    • The Constitutional Law
  • open section The Constitutional Law set up a ministerial cabinet. What re the English and Russian names for this?
    • Sovnarkom : the ‘Council of People’s Commissars’
  • open section What was the Russian name for the Communist Party’s ruling cabinet?
    • The Politburo
  • open section How did the Constitutional Law organise the government?
    • It ensured that the Sovnarkom was controlled by the Politburo.
  • open section Which law gave workers an 8-hour day, unemployment pay and pensions?
    • The Labour Law
  • open section What did the Comintern declare?
    • Under Zinoviev, it declared that it would cause communist revolutions all over the world.
  • open section Name the ‘White’ generals in the Civil War.
    • General Yudenich and Deniken attacked from the West, Admiral Kolchak from the Eeast.
  • open section When was the last White army in Russia defeated?
    • In the Crimea in 1922.
  • open section What was the name of the Bolshevik secret police?
    • CHEKA (1917-23), then called OGPU (1923-34), then NKVD (1934-46), then KGB.
  • open section Where were opponents of the Bolsheviks sent?
    • To the GULAG (the system of labour camps)
  • open section What did the Politburo set up in 1920?
    • An Agitprop Department to organise propaganda
  • open section What did an ‘agit-train’ do?
    • It took propaganda newsreels round the country.
  • open section Where was there a mutiny against the Bolsheviks in 1921?
    • The Kronstadt Naval Base
  • open section 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.
  • open section When did Lenin die?
    • 1924
  • open section 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.
  • open section Who cared for Lenin during his final illness?
    • Stalin
  • open section Whom did Stalin fall out with during this time?
    • Lenin’s wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya
  • open section What did Lenin’s Testament say?
    • It supported Trotsky and warned against giving Stalin power.
  • open section What did Trotsky do as head of the Revolutionary Military Committee?
    • Organised the November coup
  • open section What did Trotsky do as Commissar for Foreign Affairs?
    • Negotiated the Treaty of Brest–Litovsk
  • open section 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
  • open section Of which propaganda organ was Trotsky an editor?
    • Pravda
  • open section 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.
  • open section Who were the two old Bolsheviks who opposed Trotsky because they hoped to be leader themselves?
    • Kamenev and Zinoviev
  • open section How many leading Communists supported Trotsky?
    • 46
  • open section What did Trotsky and the 46 attack in 1923?
    • The New Economic Policy
  • open section At which Party Conference were Trotsky and the 46 defeated?
    • 13th Party Conference in January 1924
  • open section What were they marked for?
    • ‘Political annihilation’
  • open section What disease did Trotsky catch in 1923?
    • Malaria
  • open section What did Trotsky mean by ‘world revolution’?
    • Encouraging Communists in other countries to rebel
  • open section What had Stalin intended to be as a young man?
    • A priest
  • open section When had Stalin become a Bolshevik?
    • 1905
  • open section Which Bolshevik newspaper had he issued the very first edition of?
    • Pravda
  • open section In what way was he a Bolshevik hero?
    • He had twice been imprisoned in Siberia.
  • open section What did Stalin do after 1917 as Commissar for Nationalities?
    • He destroyed the national identity of the different races.
  • open section What characterised Stalin in his work as Commissar for Nationalities?
    • He was particularly ruthless and brutal.
  • open section What key position did Stalin take in 1922?
    • General Secretary
  • open section No one else wanted to be secretary. What did they mock Stalin as?
    • ‘Comrade Card-index’
  • open section 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.
  • open section What were the ‘top officials’ called, and how many were there?
    • 5,000 nomenklatura
  • open section What were the party officials called, and how many were there?
    • 20,000 apparatchiki
  • open section 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
  • open section What did Stalin mean by ‘Socialism in one country’?
    • Establishing Communism in Russia first, and going for world revolution later
  • open section 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.
  • open section Who organised Lenin’s funeral?
    • As General Secretary, Stalin organised Lenin’s funeral.
  • open section 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.
  • open section What role did Stalin give himself in the funeral and why?
    • Chief mourner; it made him look loyal.
  • open section How did Stalin present himself as a follower of Lenin’s ideas?
    • He wrote a book summarising Lenin’s ideas.
  • open section What was the ‘Lenin Levy’?
    • The enrolment of hundreds of thousands of new members
  • open section 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.
  • open section How did Trotsky try to get Stalin discredited in 1924?
    • He forced the Politburo to discuss Lenin’s Testament.
  • open section Who saved Stalin at that meeting?
    • Kamenev and Zinoviev
  • open section 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.
  • open section 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.
  • open section 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.
  • open section In 1926, Kamenev and Zinoviev joined with Trotsky to try to stop Stalin. What was this opposition called?
    • The ‘United Opposition’
  • open section How did they attack Stalin?
    • They criticised the NEP.
  • open section Who saved Stalin in 1927?
    • Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky (moderate Bolsheviks who supported the NEP)
  • open section What happened to the ‘United Opposition’?
    • Kamenev and Zinoviev and 1500 of their supporters were expelled.
  • open section What did Stalin do at the 16th Party Conference in 1929 and why?
    • He turned against the NEP to defeat Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky.
  • open section 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.
  • open section What happened on Stalin’s 50th birthday, in December 1929?
    • Stalin was celebrated as Lenin’s successor, the new vozhd (leader).
  • open section Whose murder started the purges in 1934?
    • Kirov
  • open section What was the name of Stalin’s system of workcamps?
    • GULAG
  • open section What happened to politicians as soon as they were defeated?
    • They ‘disappeared’ from all textbooks and official photographs.
  • open section When did Stalin first announce (voluntary) collectivisation?
    • 1927
  • open section How many million kulaks were ‘eliminated’?
    • 7
  • open section What was a kolkhoz?
    • Collective farm
  • open section How many million peasants left the countryside to work in the towns, 1928–37?
    • 17
  • open section What was a ‘Stakhanovite’?
    • A hard worker who tried to emulate the record-breaking shift of Alexey Stakhanov

 


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