Factual Knowledge

• Nicholas II became Tsar of Russia in 1894.
• The wife of the Tsar, Alexandra, was known by the style of government practised by the Tsar as Autocracy.
• The secret police used by the Tsar was known as Okhrana.
• The mounted police force of the Tsar was known as Cossacks.
• The total population of Russia was 125m and 55m, with 84% being Russians and 1% being the nobility.
• The main difference between the peasants and the workers was that the former lived in the countryside, while the latter lived in towns.
• Three groups who were opposed to the Tsar and his rule were Liberals, Constitutional Democratic Party, Social Revolutionaries, Social Democrats, Bolsheviks, Mensheviks.
• Russia went to war with Japan in 1905.
• One piece of land which was lost as a result of Russia losing this war was Port Arthur or Korea.
• Bloody Sunday", when peaceful protestors were killed by soldiers, triggered off the 1905 Revolution.
• 200,000 people were out protesting in January 1905.
• The October Manifesto was signed by the Tsar to end the 1905 Revolution.
• The Duma was allowed by the Tsar after 1905 but had little power.
• The Fundamental Laws were the laws which enabled the Tsar to dismiss the Duma whenever he wanted.
• Karl Marx believed that capitalism made living conditions were for workers and the only way to change this was by revolution and then introduce communism.
• The First World War started in 1914.
• The Tsar took over control as commander in chief of the armies in 1915.
• Prices rose by 700% in three years due to the effect of the war.
• Three ways in which WWI made a revolution more likely were military defeats, poor leadership, lack of food, lack of weapons, Tsar went to the front, transport problems, overcrowding in towns as people fled the advancing Germans.
• Germany defeated Russia in the battle of Tanneberg or Maseurean Lakes during WWI.
• Rasputin acted as an advisor to the Russian royal family during WWI.
• The first 1917 Revolution started in March.
• The first 1917 Revolution started in the Putilov factory.
• The response of the Tsar to the upheaval was to get a train back to Petrograd, try to pass throne on to his brother, Grand Duke Michael, who refused it, and eventually abdicate.
• The Tsar abdicated on 15 March 1917.
• In October 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power through an armed uprising known as the "October Revolution."
• Lenin's ideas were based on Marxism-Leninism, which emphasized class struggle and the need for a dictatorship of the proletariat to achieve socialist revolution.
• The Russian Revolution was led by Vladimir Lenin, who founded the Bolshevik party.
• Stalin became leader of the Soviet Union following Lenin's death in 1924.
• Under Stalin's leadership, the Soviet Union experienced rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture, but also suffered from repression and purges.
• Under Stalin's leadership, the Soviet Union experienced rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture.
• The Russian Civil War lasted from 1918 to 1920 and involved various factions fighting for control over the country.
• The Provisional Government was led by Alexander Kerensky from July 1917.
• General Kornilov decided to seize control in September 1917.
• The Red Guards, a part of the Bolsheviks, assisted Lenin in the November 1917 Revolution in Russia.
• The battleship Aurora fired shells in the direction of the Winter Palace on 7th November 1917.
• Trotsky was the chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee.
• Pravda was the name of Lenin's Bolshevik newspaper.
• Lenin's slogan was "Peace, Bread, Land".
• The Bolsheviks were the name of Lenin's political party during the November 1917 Revolution.