Russia Pre-1917

Russia Pre-1917- Revolution History 12 Ms Leslie

Very very beginning  Russia has been around since the 10th century  Mostly made up of Ethnic Slavs who went north escaping the Turkish empire  These migrating Slavs clashed with Mongolians and Tartars

 15th century - Grand Duchy of Moscow established = creation of a strong Tsardom or Czardom  The first Tsars were the likes of Ivan the terrible and Ivan the Great  Took a lot of territory from the Tartars, Kazans and Crimeans

Imperial Russia 17-19th Century  A great time for Russia  Grew culturally and territorially  Rulers = Peter the great and Catherine the Great

 The people were mostly illiterate farmers  Feudal system  Czar Alexander II abolished slavery in 1861  Factories had horrid working conditions  Alex II assassinated in 1881 and replaced by this son

Alexander III 1881-1894  Authorities shifted attention from the failings of the government by creating scapegoats and encouraging pogroms  Pogroms -

 Was physically intimidating - a body builder to make up for his 5’6” height  Died of kidney failure from trauma from a train accident

Nicolas II  Started his reign in 1894  Autocratic and ineffective  Romanov family very wealthy  Population of 165 million  Secret police (OKHRANA)  Censorship of the press  Czar’s word was law

 Despite this, the people loved Nicolas II  Believed he was appointed by God  Kept pictures of him in their homes and worshipped him  Related to heads of Greece, UK, Denmark, Germany

What was Nicholas II like?

 Not very smart  Easily manipulated by his advisors  Relied on  His son,

 His allowed Rasputin to gain dangerous control of the government.

Population of the 1910’s  1910 1914  Only 40%  80%  Life expectancy = 40 years  Well educated middle class - had the most books per capital in 1913

 Most lived on communal farms called Obschina or Mir.  The Obschina organized taxes and allotted land to households  Peasants could not  Punishment =  Agricultural reforms had not caught on eg crop rotation

famine  Lots of famines  1891 - famine +cholera + typhus = 400,000 dead  1890 - 64% of conscripts declared unfit to serve

Revolutionary movement 1. Nihilists – 2. Populists –

3. Marxists 4. Liberals -

Problems with Industrialization  Far behind rest of Europe  Because of late start industry was modern and they lacked skilled workers  Relied heavily of foreign loans and taxes for growth  France owned 2/3rd  Germany owned  Britain owned

 Biggest problem - massive, abused proletariat

Industry  5th  Average hard labour work day  Child labour common. Start age 4  Kids worked in cotton mills. Injuries common, rickets, cotton lung  Unions Banned

Labour Problems  Industrial workers small in number  Exploited  Demanded

 Started to demand

Peasant Problem  3/4 of the population  Although no longer serfs, still had a separate administration and courts  Illiterate and superstitious  Excessively taxed - main source of tsarist revenue.

 1896 the people had enough and rioted in St Petersburg  1902 street demonstrations  1901-1907 arson in rural areas common  1904 a social revolutionary assassinated the minister of the interior

1905 Revolution causes 1. -

2. 3. 4. -

5. 6. Liberals organized the Constitutional Democratic Party (Cadet). Wanted democratic reform 7.

 Bolsheviks (Majority) –

 Mensheviks (minority) -

1905 Rebellion/Revolution  Jan 22/Jan 9  Workers under the leadership of Father Gapon marched on the Winter Palace  Wanted:

Bloody Sunday

Result  Showed tsar’s incompetence  Tsarist supporters changed their minds  creation of the ‘Shildlovski Commission’

Oct 1905  Oct 20-30 –

 First soviet formed in St Petersburg  Soviet (council) =

 The Tsar responded with the October Manifesto promising:

 Extremists not appeased, but moderates happy and a full revolution didn’t happen

The Duma  Russian Parliament

Long term impact 1905  Tsar used him powers to arrest and harrass opposition  1906-07, 4,400 deaths due to terrorism  Catch 22 -

Marxism  Came to Russia in the 1880s  Lenin knew revolution would happen in Russia first as it was the weakest capitalist state (contrary to Marxism)  1903 the Russian Marxist movement split in two

Bolsheviks  Professional revolutionaries  Majority

Mensheviks  Moderate  Feared Lenin would become a dictator  Minority

WWI and the revolutionary movement  Bolsheviks opposed the war from the start  Lenin exiled in Zurich, Switz.  Most Bolsheviks banished to Siberia

Home front  War meant more food shortages  1914  1915  This left the Tsarina in charge - she let Rasputin make decisions…

War stats       

15.5 million man army 1.65 million died 3.85 million wounded 2.41 million POWs 1917 1.5 million deserted Lack of medical attention Not enough equipment for soldiers. 1 in 3 didn’t have a gun

Beginning of the collapse  1917 Little transportation  February  Police joined rioters and a general strike formed

 Army called in and they shot the rioters  Fear of civil war causes Czar to resign and the provisional government is formed  But more on all that later

 The end