Russia 1855-1964: Impact of War

• Military defeat for Russia
• Heavy Casualties: 450,000 Russians killed
• 1 in 5 died in battle; most died of disease
• Promoted people to question how great Russia really was
• Occurred during the inauguration of Alexander II - Opportunity to create new reforms

IMPACT:

• Treaty of Paris (1856): Lost Land (Bessarabia) and right to maintain a fleet in the Black Sea
• War acted as a catalyst for change:  Emancipation of Serfs (1861), creation of the zemstva (1864), reform of military in 1860s under Milyutin to reduce service and improve training
• BUT these changes may have happened eventually; however the Crimean War sped this us

• Military victory
• Treaty of San Stefano (1879) allowed Russia to regain the land they had lost during the Crimean War and increase their power in the Balkans
• Conditions revoked under the Treaty of Berlin - humiliating for Russia
• No radical reform as a direct result of war
• Unrest and anger contributed to growing opposition to the Tsar - Alexander II was assassinated in 1861 (possible parallel with the unrest Nicholas II faced after the Russo-Japanese War)

• Humiliating defeat for Russia; underestimated Japanese power
• Highlighted Russia's weaknesses (parallel with Crimean War and WWI)
• Treaty of Portsmouth: Russia forced to withdraw from Port Arthur (similar to the Crimean War)

IMPACT

• Contributed to growing domestic unrest (over food shortages, call for political representation)
• Showed modernisation (e.g. Trans-Siberian Railway, Witte's Great Spurt) still hadn't resolved Russia's weaknesses
• The Russian public associated the military incompetence of the war with the Tsar himself (parallel with WWI)

• Military failure
• Approximately 8 million casualties
• Tsar Nicholas II took personal control: directly held responsible for Russia's defeat
• Severe strain on the economy; inflation and food shortages caused resentment (more strain than previous wars)
• Contributed to February 1917 revolutions (forced abdication of Nicholas II)
• Provisional Government's refusal to withdraw Russia from the war led to their overthrow during the October 1917 revolutions

• Red (Bolsheviks) victory over their enemies (Tsarists/landowners/clergy in the white and green armies)
• Aim of defending the February/October 1917 revolutions and Communism united the reds
• Led to mistrust and paranoia in Bolshevik Russia
• Need for discipline; order and loyalty during Lenin's rule
• Weakened the economy (War Communism caused famine in 1921)

• A military victory
• Enormous human cost; 27 million killed
• Very little aftermath in terms of modernisation
• Strict discipline and repression during the war to defend ideology (parallel with the Civil War)
• Patriotic feeling = population united to defeat the Nazis
• Prompted Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe after 1945; paranoia and increase in rivalry with non-communist countries (e.g. America during the Cold War)

• No winner/loser
• Russia was defending itself and Communism against ideological enemies (as in Civil War and WW2)
• Nuclear arms and space race put a strain on the Russian economy
• Heightened tensions with non-Communist countries
• Restraint on change; the USSR had to appear stable and strong to international rivals

• Russia lost most wars
• War highlighted Russia's weaknesses
• War placed a massive strain on the population and economy
• Defeats led to loss of confidence in the leader at the time (e.g. Russo-Japanese War, WW1 and the Cold War)
• Defeat in war was often a stimulus for change and modernisation was highlighted
• War often directly led to food shortages/famines
• War led to workers strikes and peasant unrest
• Defeat in war led to an increase of repression (creation of the Okhrana, Red Terror)
• War being a catalyst for change was more true of the Tsarist period than the Communist period
• Limited war had limited impact (Crimean war/Russo-Japanese War/Russo-Turkish War); whereas total wars (WW1/WW2) had more far reaching effects
• Communists were more successful at winning wars than Tsars as they create patriotic support for Russia whereas Tsars were personally to blame for Russia's defeats