Carolina Ramos y Vivian Rodriguez
Tests 20 de febrero de 2015
Long Term causes of the Russian Revolution
1. What Russia was like before the First World War.?
Russia was in control of a huge territory. It had remained outside the political and
economic development of Western countries, despite some attempts by the rulers
incorporate Russia to European culture. In the early nineteenth century, Russia was
still an absolute state in which the will of the Tsar was law, and in which economic
conditions are framed in a system of exploitation agriculture, with the characteristic
feudal serfdom system. Russia turned into a military power capable of competing for
the conquest of territories. This imperialist although different from the industrialized
countries strengthened the tsarist government expansionism. The tsarist monarchy
was characterized by an autocratic power in the nineteenth century still knew no
bounds, since he had not yet emerged in Russia a social group strong enough to
confront the power of the landlords. Russia retained a backward economic system
and blocked by the bondage in which the power of feudal lords was based.
2. What the strengths and weaknesses of the Russian monarchy were before 1914.
The strengths of the Tsar's government were those usually found in an autocratic
regime - Church, army, a repressive secret police and the unthinking love of the
peasantry.
The weaknesses of the government lay in its incompetence, in the huge size and
economic poverty of Russia, and in the pressures coming from a modernising world
- i.e., from a middle class which had already in 1905 forced the Tsar to set up a
parliament (the Duma), and from extreme political groups which wanted even more
radical changes.
3. Who opposed the tsar's government in Russia before 1914.
The revolutionaries, the socialists and the Marxists.
4. How well the tsar ruled Russia in the years leading up to 1914.
He didn’t rule as well as he was expected to because his government was weak. The tsarist
monarchy was characterized by an autocratic power in the nineteenth century still knew no
bounds, since he had not yet emerged in Russia a social group strong enough to confront the
power of the landlords.
The 1905 Revolution
1. Why there was a revolution in 1905 - remember both long-term and immediate causes.
There were four problems in Russian society at the time that had led to the revolution.
These are the agrarian problem, the nationality problem, the labor problem, and the
educated class as a problem. While individually these may have not made a
difference, the combination of these problems created the conditions for a potential
revolution. "At the turn of the century, discontent with the Tsar’s dictatorship was
manifested not only through the growth of political parties dedicated to the overthrow
of the monarchy but also through industrial strikes for better wages and working
conditions, protests and riots among peasants, university demonstrations, and the
assassination of government officials, often done by Socialist Revolutionaries."
The government finally recognized these problems, albeit in a shortsighted and
narrow-minded way. The minister of interior Plehve stated in 1903 that, after the
agrarian problem, the most serious ones plaguing the country were those of the Jews,
the schools, and the workers—in that order. The Russian economy was tied to
European finances so when the western money markets contracted in 1899-1900,
Russian industry plunged into a crisis deeper and more prolonged than that which
concurrently struck western European industry. This setback aggravated discontent
throughout society in the five years preceding the revolution of 1905.
2. How Nicholas survived the 1905 revolution.
One of the most significant reasons why Nicholas II survived the revolution being the
lack of leadership, organisation and unity at the time the revolution took place.
Despite the failure of Russia in the war against Japan, the Tsarist regime survived the
revolution remarkable unscathed. There are a number of reasons for this. A significant
reason is that since Nicholas II had enough manpower by way of his military to deal with
the revolution, he could crush pockets of resistance wherever there was opposition to the
Tsarist regime.
3. How the 1905 revolution weakened the tsar and helped the 1917 revolution.
With them under command of the Tsar large crowds were easy to deal with as people were
afraid to stand up to the Army in fear of being killed. In December 1906, an insurrection in
Moscow was crushed by the army, taking about 1200 rebel life's. Veterans were suppressed
along the route of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Field court-martial was used to deal with
terrorists and rural troublemakers. Pressure was added upon the unions to attack the bases of
radical politics, this showed the loyalty been given back to tsar securing his control and power
of Russia. In 1908, the number of political assassinations had dropped to 365, showing the
Tsar had effectively curbed his opponents and in doing so, securing his power. Despite its
unpopularity, the Tsarist regime had managed to survive the 1905 Revolution. The liberals
and peasants were willing to cooperate with government while other opponents were
suppressed. The Tsar had his power back but mainly because he still commanded the loyalty
of the army which formed a main source of his power.
The First World War and the February Revolution
1. How the First World War affected Russia/the tsar.
The impact of the First World War on Russia was immense. In the early stages of the
war the Russian army suffered huge losses at Tannenburg and at the Battle of the
Masurian Lakes. These losses resulted in unrest in the army and led to questions being
asked about the way in which the military was run. As a result of ongoing military
blunders, Tsar Nicholas II decided to take charge of the army himself. Whilst his
presence at the frontlines may have acted as a boost to troops in the short term, it created
a huge problem in the medium term. Firstly, as commander in chief of the army he would
have to shoulder the blame for any defeats himself. Secondly, as head of an autocratic
state he was required to make governmental decisions. How could be do this when
government was in St Petersburg, and he was several days journey away at the front? In
his absence many rumours about the Tsarina and the Holy man Rasputin spread. The
Tsarina was a German princess and she was an easy target for those who were
disgruntled. Rasputin was a strange figure. He was a Holy Man who had become very
close to the Imperial family. He had a calming influence over the Tsarina and was widely
believed to have mystical powers that would help the ill Tsarevich in his fight against
illness. With the Tsar away though, Rasputin's excesses became a major focus of
attention and his influence on the Imperial Family was viewed with suspicion by many.
In 1916, supporters of the Tsar murdered Rasputin.
2. The story of the February Revolution.
The revolution, confined to the capital and its vicinity and lasting less than a week,
involved mass demonstrations and armed clashes with police and gendarmes, the last
loyal forces of the Russian monarchy. In the last days mutinous Russian Army forces
sided with the revolutionaries. The immediate result of the revolution was the abdication
of Tsar Nicholas II, the end of the Romanov dynasty, and the end of the Russian Empire.
The Tsar was replaced by a Russian Provisional Government under Prince Georgy Lvov.
The Provisional Government was an alliance between liberals and socialists who wanted
political reform. They set up a democratically-elected executive and constituent
assembly. At the same time, socialists also formed the Petrograd Soviet, which ruled
alongside the Provisional Government, an arrangement termed Dual Power.
This revolution appeared to break out spontaneously, without any real leadership or
formal planning. Russia had been suffering from a number of economic and social
problems, which were compounded by the impact of World War I. Bread rioters and
industrial strikers were joined on the streets by disaffected soldiers from the city's
garrison. As more and more troops deserted, and with loyal troops away at the Front, the
city fell into a state of chaos, leading to the overthrow of the Tsar.
The February Revolution was followed in the same year by the October Revolution,
bringing Bolshevik rule and a change in Russia's social structure, and paving the way for
the USSR.
3. What were the short-term causes of the February Revolution of 1917?
The First World War placed an unbearable strain on Russia's weak government and
economy, resulting in mass shortages and hunger.
In the meantime, the mismanagement and failures of the war turned the people - and
importantly the soldiers - against the Tsar, whose decision to take personal command of the
army seemed to make him personally responsible for the defeats.
In March 1917, the Tsar lost control first of the streets, then of the soldiers, and finally
of the Duma, resulting in his forced abdication on 15 March 1917.
4. What did the tsar do to make a bad situation worse?
Nicholas made things worse by going to the front to lead the army. This made him responsible
for the defeats in most people's eyes. It also left the government in the hands of the tsar's
wife, the tsarina, and the monk, Rasputin.
5. How the First World War helped cause a revolution.
The war resulted in the dissolution of the Austrian, Ottoman, German, and Russian empires,
and bore immediate fruit in a wave of revolutions between 1917 and 1920. In Russia, military
setbacks, food shortages, popular unrest, and a crisis of political leadership brought about the
abdication of the tsar and the demise of the Romanov dynasty in February, 1917. Over the
next eight months, a Provisional Government struggled to establish itself as a legitimate
political authority, address long-standing social and economic grievances, and revive the
stalled war effort. Failure on all of these fronts enabled the revolutionary Bolshevik party to
come to power on a deceptively simple platform of "bread, land, and peace" in a second
revolution in October, 1917. The fact of this second revolution and its far reaching
consequences would be central to global politics throughout the twentieth century.
While war was clearly one cause of Russia's revolutionary crisis, this unit examines the many
factors informing the revolutionary upheavals of February and October 1917.