History Theme 4

• Milyutin Plan (1864 - Repression)


  Hundreds of Polish nobles and gentry exiled to Siberia, with their estates being granted to the Russian officials who replaced them.
• Milyutin Plan (1864 - Administration)

  • local government resembling Zemstva introduced, actually more representative due to no property qualifications
• Milyutin Plan (1864 - Economy)

  Emancipation granted – better terms – property owners as well as peasants have to pay tax – led to Polish economy developing at a faster rate than Russia’s
• Milyutin Plan (1864 - Social/Cultural)


  Russia now the official language taught in schools + used in administration

  Now named the 'Vistula Region' (loss of national identity) Catholic Church cut off from the Vatican
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)


  Granted freedom to: Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia
• Poland in the Civil War (1920 - repression)


  Red Army used to attempt to reclaim Poland yet it fails. Poland gain some of western Ukraine and Western Belorussia in the peace terms.
• WW2 (Repression)


  Katyn Massacre (1940): 22,000 Polish officers killed by the NKVD. 4,000 found and publicised by Germany in 1943

  Warsaw Uprising (1944): Soviet troops positioned nearby don't intervene. Stalin weakening Poland for future intervention (embroyonic government in Lublin suggests this)
• WW2 (administration + social)

  Yalta + Postdam Conference (1945): Russia regain Poland + move it westward. Beginning of Polish Russification
• 1948 (Administrative + Economic)


  Poland officially become a one-party state (Stalin's Polish Workers Party), they initiate collectivisation.
• People's Republic of Poland 1952 (Administrative)


  Officially a satellite state of Russia, but also granted sovereign status.
• Gomulka (1956 - Administration)


  Khrushchev introduced him as leader of Poland, reducing Stalinist control.

  Peasants now allowed to leave collectives + Catholic Church allowed to reintegrate into education
• Finland (The Tsars)


  (Administration) - Granted own Diet (1863) + Constitution (1865)

  (Social/cultural) - Bobrikov abolished the Finnish army + made Russian the official language 1898
• Finland (The Communists)


  (repression) - Winter War (1939-40): Stalin bombed Helsinki 1939 after Finland refused to allow military bases - Finalnd forced to cede land to Russia, allowing them to use this land for military bases.
• The Baltics (The Tsars)


  (Social/Cultural): Increased trade links in the 19th century led to more Russian settlers leading to passive Russification, particularly regarding language.
• The Baltics (Communists)


  (Administration): Made part of the USSR by 1939 under the Nazi-Soviet Pact (secret terms)

  (Repression): Stalin enacts mass deportations following WW2 as punishment for being so welcoming of 'German liberators' in 1941
• Ukraine (Tsars)


  (Social/Cultural): Ukrainian banned in official publications (1876)
• Ukraine (Communists - Repression)


  reclaimed by force during the Civil War + Some Ukranians sympathetic to Germans WW2 = mass executions and deportations (1941 NKVD Prison Massacres: 10-40,000 prisoners killed, 70% of which believed to be Ukrainian)
• Ukraine (Communists Admin + Economy)


  Collectivisation Drive 1929+ = 1932-34 famine (5 million Ukranians dead, one of the most damaging examples of russification/sovietisation)

  Constitution (1936) - granted status as a republic (superficial change)
• The Caucasians (Tsars)


  (Social/Cultural): Low literacy rates + religious divisions = easy russification

  Georgian Mensheviks 1905 = self-defence militias against Russification (only real opposition)
• The Caucasians (Communists)


  (Repression): Georgia demanding republic as a status, Stalin sends Ordjonikdze, he attacks a georgian, leads to Georgian question.

  1936 Constitution: Granted republic status, but the change is meaningless.
• Jews (Tsars - Repression)


  A3 ordered the confinement of 5 million Jews to the Pale in 1882

  1903 Kishinev Pogrom - 49 Jews killed and a further 600 injured
• Jews (A3 bans)

  • ownership of land in prosperous areas
  • Medical and military positions
  • Representation in the zemstva
• Jews (Communists)

  • Ban placed upon Jewish books during WW2
  • Doctor's Plot (1952-3): Stalin found evidence than 9 doctors (7 Jewish) were plotting to undermine him. 15 Jewish leaders tried and executed.
  • Even Khrushchev executed some prominent Jewish leaders for 'Anti-Communist Activity'
• Central Asia (Tsars)

  • Russification avoided due to complex societies + poor transport
  • Steppes Statute (1891): Granted 40 acres of land to peasant settlers (didn't benefit natives)
  • Stolypin (1910): wanted to satiate 'land hunger', led to the taking of native's land (resentment)
• Central Asia (Communists)


  Virgin Lands (1953-56): Kazakhstan prominent region for it.

  300,000 Kosomol volunteers migrated. Natives swamped by immigrants.
• Meskhetian Turks


  November 1944: forced from Georgia (homeland) for "fortifying strategically vulnerable boarders". Within 24 hours, 100,000 exiled to Central Asian deserts.

  17,000 died within the first 4 months.
• Muslims

  • disallowed representation in the Duma
  • Conscription Revolt (1915-17): conscription begun during Ramadan + disrespectful judgements about military capabilities
• The Far East (Tsars)

  • China allow Chinese-Eastern Railway (1896) + Port Arthur Russian naval base (1897)
  • Chinese Boxer Rebellion (1899-1900): Boxers attack Eastern Railway --> Russia successfully invade Manchuria
• The Far East (Communists)


  Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance (1950): $300 million, 95% loans with high interest, 5% aid + 20,000 Russian 'experts' that China had to pay for + China forced to cede ports Dalian and Lushun in Manchuria.
• Tanu Tuva

  • 'Comisars Extraordinary' sent to Tuva (1930): Purged the Tuvan People's Revolutionary Party of 1/3 of its members
  • Push for Collectivisation
  • New Communist government purges of Bhuddists and Shamists (1929 = 4,000 Lammas + S --> 1931 15 L + 725 S
  • 1944 - Tanu Tuva annexed to Russia
• Yugoslavia

  • Expelled from Cominform 1948
  • Turn to America for Financial Aid ($400 million received)
• Czechoslovakia

  • Post WW2 38% Communist government, coalition (PM = Gottwald + President Bennes + Finance Minister Masaryk)
  • Communist Coup (1948): Stalin makes Communists kick all non-Communists from government (Bennes stepped down + Masaryk 'fell out of a window'
  • Rigged election = Communist Victory
• Hungary


  Uprising 1956 = 30,000 Russian troops sent, Nagy appointed as concession

  Nagy hints at leaving the Warsaw Pact = Troops sent in November (Nagy removed + 2-3,000 killed

  Nagy replaced by Kadar, killed Nagy + Reinforced Collectivisation + repressed any opposition
• East Berlin 


  West German Constitution (1949): Russia officially claim East Germany

  Berlin Wall (1961): 'anti-fascist protection barrier'. Likely preventing people fleeing from the east (207,000 first 6 months of 1961 did so)
• Romania

  • 615,000 Soviet troops occupying region 1946
  • Unsurprisingly led to Communist government 1946 (rigged election)
  • One-party state by 1947, officially became a satellite of the USSR
• Bulgaria


  90% Communist government by November 1945 as opposition parties coerced into submission
• Albania


  Little need to Sovietise as there was little opposition to Communist rule + one of the founding member of the 1955 Warsaw Pact.
• Greece


  Exception to Sovietisation success (ceded to Britain in 1944 Percentages Agreement, as already under heavy British influence)