How important was LENIN compared with the
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT in causing the
Russian Revolution of 1917?
You must:
Compare the role of the individual,
Lenin, with the role of the PG and other
causes
Level 5 skills (44-50/50)
• Answer the question in 2000 words
• Have a clear structure that argues to a reasoned
conclusion
• Show that you understand the broad context (Russia and
its problems) and the specific people, events, concepts
(e.g. Lenin, Kornilov affair, weak legitimacy)
• Give wide ranging, precise factual support
• Use sources accurately to explain, give examples and
drive the analysis
• Wherever possible, and definitely in the conclusion,
show how the factors are linked
How important was LENIN compared with the
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT in causing the
Russian Revolution of 1917?
• Make a list of the
ways in which the PG
helped cause the
October Revolution
• Make a list of the
ways in which Lenin
helped cause the
October Revolution
How important was LENIN compared with the
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT in causing the
Russian Revolution of 1917?
•
Make a list of the ways in which the PG helped
cause the October Revolution
•
Make a list of the ways in which Lenin helped
cause the October Revolution
•
•
•
•
Failure of June Offensive
Failure to share out land
Failure to improve food supplies
Failed to keep the support of the
soviet
Acting repressively in the July Days
Kerensky armed the Bolsheviks to
put down the Kornilov revolt
Kerensky underestimated the threat
posed by the Bolsheviks
•
April Theses undermined the PG’s
position
He exploited (took advantage of) the
PG’s 3 failures:
Anti-war propaganda turned the
troops against the PG
Promised the peasants that they
could keep the land they had seized
Promised ‘Peace, Bread and
Freedom’
Worked to gain Bolshevik control of
the Soviet
Persuaded the Bolsheviks that the
time was right to revolt
Quickly established a repressive
government so that the Bolsheviks
stayed in power.
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Can you think of any factors, other than the
actions of Lenin and the Provisional
Government, that helped cause the
October Revolution?
Other causes of the October
revolution
•
The First World War. It had been going on for 3 and a 1/2 years when the PG took
over and had affected every section of the population. It caused and added to the
PG’s problems
•
The tsars’ autocratic system of government (even after 1905). This meant that
people were not used to democratic government
•
The Provisional Government emerged as a temporary unelected government – it
had weak legitimacy. It also had a potential rival, the Soviet.
•
The people of Russia’s unrealistic expectations of what the PG could achieve .
They believed that the removal of the autocratic Tsar Nicholas would lead to all of
their problems being solved
•
Leon Trotsky played an important role in the 1917 revolution. Could Lenin have
succeeded without him?
•
Your ideas: The existence of the Petrograd Soviet/ the Kornilov Revolt/ the ordinary
people
Basic structure
• Intro: Explain the 1917 revolution, the Provisional
Government, Lenin, how will you measure ‘more
important’
• Dev’t: Explain Lenin’s contribution and the Provisional
Government’s contribution. If possible, compare point for
point.
• Bring in other factors - tsar, war, people’s expectations,
Trotsky. (You have to decide where to fit these into the
essay)
• Conclusion: Answer the q and explain why one is more
important than the other.