Russia 1894-1945

Communications across Russia - There were few paved roads and outside the main cities the roads were hard packed earth which would turn into mud during the rain. It was hard to get communication from one side of Russia to another as people spoke different languages and messgaes could get lost in translation

The size of Russia - Russia is so big that it can be night on one side and day on the other side. As it is impossible to be in two places at once it would take two weeks to travel from one side to the other

Different people of Russia - There were over 16 races of people living in Russia, making it difficult in different ways. For example, many spoke different languages and believed in different religions and each race had different cultures and clothing meaning they agreed on very little

Climate of Russia - The climate varied from extreme hot to extreme cold and this made travel and living very difficult

Intelligent

Wanted the best for his people

Lack listening skills

Lacked an interest in government

Had a very violent approach to opposition

The Tsar, Tsarina and their family - He was at the top of the class system and had many servants and palaces. He was indidually in charge of making decisions about Russia

The nobility - They were next down from the Tsar in the class system, they owned a quarter of the land in Russia and were very rich, the nobility made up only 1% of the population

The middle classes - They were under the nobility in Russia's class system, they lived good luxurious lives with restaurants and hotels. Overall, they were quite rich and they were educated, having good well paid jobs or owning factories

Workers - They were the second to bottom class, they worked in factories which had poor hygiene and everything was shared. People were often forced off of the land and into factories. The dorms they slept in had 30 people in them and they worked hard jobs with little pay

Peasants - They were at the bottom of the class system. They worked off the land and were the poorest group of people. The houses they lived in were very dirty. 84% of people in Russia were peasants. They fed the rich and hardly had any money for themselves. There wasnt enough land for everyone to have some

War with Japan - Nicholas II thought a war would be a good idea to prove that his government was strong. However, Russia lost to Japan again and again. This caused humiliation as Russia is so big and supposedly powerful. Food became more expensive and workers found themselves unemployed and hungary 

Bloody sunday - Conditions became so bad that 200,000 people marched to the winter palace to give a petition to the Tsar. The march was peaceful and consisted of banners and no weapons. The soldiers fired on the crowds and hundreds died 

Socialist Revolutionaries                                                                                                           Aims: to get rid of the tsar and his government and to give land to peasants by forming communities                                                                                                                               Were they a threat? They used violent acts and had a lot of support from the peasants who make up 84% of the population so there was a lot of them

Social Democrats                                                                                                                     Aims: To overthrow the tsar and to create a socialist state                                                       Were they a threat? They had both huge numbers and skilled individuals. They organised strikes and demonstrations which did not directly affect the Tsar

Liberals                                                                                                                                     Aims: Free elections and a parliment to run the country and the tsar to only be a constitutional monarch like in England                                                                                                             Were they a threat? Not a threat as they want to keep the Tsar and they aren't violent and do not carry out acts of terrorism. They only protest peacefully

The Tsar and Tsarina's popularity - In september 1915 the Tsar went to the front line, leaving the Tsarina to run the country. The people of Russia mistrusted her due to the fact that she was German and believed to be passing information over to the German's . The collapse of their reputation was greatly helped by her relationship with Rasputin and some said they were lovers. She furthered the country's hatred for her by not working with the DUMA and replacing able ministers with scoundrel friends of Rasputin. Due to all the changes in ministers the country began to become disorganised, the railway collapsed and food left to rot

Soldier's in the army - The army had no wagons nor horses nor first aid supplies. When the troops passed a swamp, the wounded were left to perish. In dirt, filth and rain the wounded would have to wait five day or more for bandages. One third of men had no rifle when going into battle. At the begining of the second year of the war, 25% of men were deserting and whole train loads of men except for the officers in command were deserting

The people at home - Food was short. People were not being fed and food was not reaching the cities as the trains were being used to take supplies to the war front. Coal and industrial materials were scarce and many had no coal to heat their homes, they became cold and hungry. The prices of goods were going up but wages were staying the same. Workers were asked to work extra hours and the sale of vodka was stopped. Factories closed leading to  unemployment and further poverty. As defeat piled on defeat and the number of casulties increased Russian's bega to lose faith in the givernment

The war - The government decided to go on fighting as they thought that a treaty with Germany would worsen the people of Russia's life. Soldiers deserted more and the people became more happy 

Land - The government said that the idea of peasants owning their own land should wait until there was a proper government in place. The peasants didn't like this and began iezing land for themselves

Food - The petrograd soviet took control of this and did so quite effectively and successfully as they had the support of the people

The people - The petrograd soviet had more support from the people as they felt they were being listened to and were therefore more powerful than the government

The leader of Russia's communist party (called the Bolsheviks)

Lenin believed that all classes and the Russia class system should be abolished

He had been expelled from Russia by the Tsar and was living in Switzerland

Lenin got to Russia by making a deal with Germany that if they helped him cross into Russia, he would take power and pull Russia out of the war

They agreed and Lenin travelled in a sealed train to Russia

Germany hoped that Lenin's return to Russia might spark revolution in Russia leading them to surrender 

They were kept under house arrest

The whites constantly had the idea of reinstating the royal family 

The decision was taken to kill the Tsar, the Tsarine, their four daughters and their son

Lenin knew that one of his first acts as leader would be to get Russia out of the war

He signed the treaty of Brest-Litovsk..                                                                                               In this treaty Russia was forced to give up

• Land that is now Finland and Ukraine  
• 62 million people
• 27% of farm land
• 26% of railways
• 74% of iron ore and coal

Yes 

• The fighting stopped and no more lives were lost
• People wanted the war to be over as Lenin had promised

No

• All od those lives were lost for nothing
• They lost the best farmland
• They lost lots of land and resourcs

Reds

• Members: The bolsheviks or communists, they were supported by individual workers 
• Aims: To stay in power and build a new society bades on equality

Whites

• Members: All the opponents to Lenin - tsartists, nobles, middle class conational democrats, Mensheviks and socialists
• Aims: The groups which made up the whites has different aims, some wanted th etsar back, some wanted a military dictator, others wanted a constitutional government or revolutionary change. Their only united aim was to get rid of Lenin

Greens

• Members: Independent groups of nationalists, peasants and bandits who roamed Russia causing havoc 
• Aims: They used the chabs in Russia to take money and land for their people in an aim for independence

Internal factors 

The land owners wanted their land and property back. People thought the bolsheviks were wrong for taking the land and some people felt that the reds were traitors as they signed the treaty and wasted all the lives that had been lost in the war

External factors

The whites had the advantage of help from foreign powers. Britain, France, Japan and the USA didn't want Bolshevism to spread to other countries so sent mney and aid to help the whites

Why the reds won:

• They had better organisation
• The reds were getting all the food
• They had a united aim
• With the murder of the Tsar and his family, the whites lost hope
• Trotsky was an amazing war leader

Why the whites lost:

• They lacked a good leader
• The reds were getting all of teh food
• They had no united aim
• With the murder of the Tsar and his family they lost all hope
• They didn't trust eachother

Stalin wanted himself to be shown as close to Lenin as it would give the Russian people faith in him and show he was the natural leader to follow Lenin                                                          Control by terror:

• Purges
• Show trials
• Deaths
• Labour camps
• Fear                                                                                                                                     Control by idea:

• Cult of personality, encouraging everyone to hero worship him
• Propaganda
• Censorship
• Politics, education and religion were all controlled by Stalin                                                     Re-writing history
• Under STalin's rule, the history of the revolution was rewritten
• Disgraced leaders like Trotsky were purged from history
• Stalin's role was glorified and he was always shown to be next to Lenin

Who killed Kirov and why?

It is most likely that Stalin was responsible for the death of Kirov. He did this as Kirov was a threat to his power, he wanted to replace Stalin

How did Stalin use Kirov's death?

Stalin used Kirov's death as an excuse to purge Russia of all those who might oppose him. During this time millions of Russians from all walks of life were captured and shot or sent to labour camps. He focused on getting rid of the 'old bolsheviks'

What was the point of the 'show trials'?

The point was to show that Stalin was right. They were called show trials as they were broadcast to the whole world via radio. Rather than just murdering them putting them on trial and forcing confessions made Stalin look better as he was being fair. Evidence and witnesses were sometimes obviously faked and they confessed to save their family as they were being threatened.

Food was rationes and was often served cold and inedible

People would drop dead mid work and be left to decompose in the snow

Everybody worked, from the age of 12 people were forced to work 18 hour days and were even taken out of sick beds to complete their set work

Bed bugs and diseases like typhoid infected the camps and spread throughout

Parcels were opened and searched by the guards who would eat any food they contained

When walking to work one step left or right from the group was taken as an attempt at an escape and guards were taught to shoot without warning

Success:

• Overall grain production did increase
• Chikdren got an education
• Women had more rights and oppertunities

Failure:

• 3 million deaths from famine
• 6.5 million deaths from dekulakisation
• 1933 - grain production decreased and the number of pigs and cows decreased as the peasants would rather burn their grainand slaughter their animals than give them to the governement 
• By eliminating kulaks they lost their best workers