Topic Three

• Background and outcomes of the crimean war (3) - Many residents in the balkern states were slavs, russian christains now under islamic control, the tsar claimed to protect all slavs in europe, using this to capitalise on the ottoman empires weakness to gain access to mediterranean - In 1854 Nicholas I declared war on ottoman empire due to christain persecution in the balkernes and end up winning - Britain and france declared war on russia fearing their status as ruler of the waves and defeated the russians - War ended with treaty of paris
• Describe treaty of paris in terms of Background and outcomes of crimean war - Russia was to hand bessarabia to Moldavia, and lost its claim to protect christians in europe and they were prohibited from maintaining a fleet in the Black sea
• Assess the extent of political/governmental impact of the crimean war (2) - Introduction of Zemstva in 1864 - a form of democracy in an autocracy, emancipation had reduced nobilities political control and the zenstvos filled this gap by restricting the franchise to ensure the nobility dominated - However zemstvos had limited role and influence as only 30 out of 90 provinces had a zemstvo by 1914 and alexander didnt extend them nationally despite going to consider loris melikov constituition before assassination
• Assess the extent of the social impact of the crimean war (3) - Emancipation freed 30 million people overnight in 1861, as the war revealed russia to be backward in terms of transport, technology and communications with the root cause believed to be serfdom - However Alexander may have emancipated without the war as he had a liberal inner circle and wanted to preserve autocracy - It is likely the war acted as a catalyst to encourage industrialisation after the war
• Assess the extent of the economic impact of the crimean war (2) - War stimulated von reuterns economic reforms, including setting up of foreign investment like hughestown in Donetsk in 1870 and construction of railworks across russia - However the war prevented economic development as russia continued to be neglected from trade in the mediterranean
• Assess the extent of the military impact of the crimean war (2) - military made up of conscripted serfs who served for 25 years, milyutin pioneered a series of reforms reducing conscription to 6 years as well as universal concsription and military schools, modernising russias army - However while the army was more modern, the significanccce of the military impact is questioned by the fact russia loses the next two significant wars
• Background and outcomes of the 1877-78 Russo Turkish war (3) - Once again caused by turkish atrocities against christians in the Balkerns despite the treaty of paris - Russia defeated the turks and imposed the treaty of san stefano in march 1878, allowing russia to regain bessarabia and create a large bulgraria which russia would watch over - Resulted in the calling of the congress of Berlin by Britain, france and european powers
• Describe the congress of berlin in terms of the background and outcomes of the russo-turkish war - Russia would keep bessarabia, Britain would take cyprus and bulgaria would be made smaller ensuring russias access to the agean and consequently mediterranean was restricted, limiting the success of winning the war
• Assess the political/governmental impact of the russo turkish war - Led to levels of civil unrest domestically with some claiming the war had an impact on Alexander II's assassination, with the image of tsardom tarnished with the congress of berlin
• Assess the social impact of the russo turkish war (2) - Led to enhanced feelings of nationalism and panslavism, encouraging alexander III's policy of russification, driving strength into the tsarist regime - However this victory meant alexander III did not make the link between the failure in war and the need for further reform, contributing to his largely reactionary rule
• Assess economic impact of the russo-turkish war (2) - Led to a further increase in drive towards industrialisation, which increased further under Alexander III - Brought bout the collapse of the russian rouble, leading to a decline in foreign investment and essentially forced the state to retain control over industry
• Background and outcomes of the russo-japanese war (3) - Following congrss of Berlin russia turned towards the east especially following construction of transsiberian railway, it was leasing port arthur in modern day china and wanted to connect the railway to the port - This would enable russia to have permanent access to the warm water port, but japan also wanted an influence, and despite witte's warning nicholas of japans modern navy he insisted on war - Russian fleet was completely annihilated at the battle of Tsushima and the war ended with the treaty of portsmouth in 1905, russia had to gi...
• Assess how the defeat in the russo-japanese war was a turning point for tsarism in terms of political/governmental impacts (4) - Shattered the tsarist reputation, autocracy was based on military power, with the defeat weakening autocratic significance in russia, and could no longer be blamed on serfdom resulting in a demand of some form of power sharing - War superficially united various opposition groups, previously the opposition was weak and divided and squashed easily by land captains, however defeat enabled all groups to demand a form of power - Creation of the duma combined with the 1905...
• Assess the social impact of the russo japanese war - Sparked the 1905 revolution, with the war bringing poor conditions and food shortages to cities causing social unrest
• Assess the economic impact of the russo japanese war (2) - War exposed economic deficiencies with transsiberian railway, and could only transport 35,000 men a months and couldnt supply the upkeep of the army - Russia had to rebuild virtually all of its navy as a rsult of its catastrophic defeat at tsushima, this encouraged industrial drive and annual growth rate hit 6% in the years following the war
• Describe why the russo japanese war was more significant than the crimean and russo turkish war (3) - Russia had greater expectations for this war following a series of milyutins reforms, russia had also begun to industrialise, having its biggest fleet in its naval history comprised of steam and steel ships - Russian propaganda thanks to alexander III's russification made russians feel like a superior nation, therefore when russia lost the greater press coverage as a result of nicholas II's glasnost policy, covered the defeat, shattering his reputation - More opposition groups had emerged in t...
• Describe the background and outcomes of the first world war (2) - Russia could not allow austria hungary to control slavs in serbia following the slav based terrorists that assassinated franz ferdinand, the slavs looked to russia for protection - When austria hungary declared war on serbia, nicholas mobilised his troops and threatened the pact between austria hungary and germany
• Two main impacts of the first world war Abdication of the tsar Collapse of the provisional government
• Assess the impact of the abdication of the tsar in terms of the impacts of the first world war (2) - During the war the major food shortages triggered strikes and the february revolution - However if nicholas II managed the war better he may of survived, he failed to incorporate the duma into government suggesting war may not of been the predominant reason for the collapse of tsardom
• Assess the impact of the collapse of the provisional government in terms of the impacts of the first world war (3) - Duma essentially became provisional government following february revolution, taking the desicion to continue with the war as it was predominantly popular amongst russians - However the failure of the june offensive ended 'war fever' and led to the july days, a series of riots in petrograd opposing the war - Moreover, the weakness of the provisional government was the main reason for its collapse not the war, for example the kornilov affair revived the bolsheviks fortunes and t...
• Describe how the impact of the first world war could be perceived as greatly significant (3) - Tsarism had survived the 1905 revolution and defeats in crimea as well becoming economically structured as the worlds second largest oil exporter, so war destroyed this success, as the regime was adapting to its misfortunes through reformation - War resulted in political upheaval, nicholas left st petersburg leaving a power vacuum filled by rasputin leading to a scandal that tarnished tsardom - Food shortages and desparation caused the february revolution and the fall of the provisional government be...
• Describe how the impact of the first world war could be perceived as less significant (3) - Tsarism was already in a state of collapse, nicholas undermined the duma with the 1906 fundamental laws and dissolved the duma in 1906 and 07 - Russia had become ungovernable even prior to the war with mass strikes caused by working conditions as a result of the new work discipline, working class consciousness was created where the urban proletariat began rejecting capitalism - Hence the war only acted as a catalyst to speed up the dialectical process
• Assess as to whether alexander IIs introduction of the zemstvo be considered a turning point for autocratic rule (2) - Once he introduced a form of democracy into an autocracy it was impossible to revert back - However it may not of been a turning point as every tsar continued to reaffirm the fundamental laws upon succession
• Assess the impact of the Russian revolution (February to October 1917) (2) - Ended both autocracy and democracy with lenin promising a replacement in the form of a dictatorship of the proletariat - However the dictatorship of the proletariat was transformed into a situation where lenin dictated to the proletariat, therefore bolsheviks in power represents a similar autocratic rule, hence the revolution may of lacked significance
• What was the political/governmental impact of the russian civil war (3) - Centralisation of power under the politburo after its creation in 1919, becoming the main desicion making body as the war required centralised power - Increased use of repression and terror, with the red terror remaining a feature of the soviet system until khrushchev - Poland gained its independance from russia, with the 1920 treaty of riga declaring its succession following defeating the state
• Describe the social impact of the russian civil war (2) - Urban to rural reverse migration increased with the population of petrograd falling from 2.5 million in 1913 to 0.9 million - Encouraged lenin to introduced state capitalism and NEP to try and reverse the poor working conditions in cities
• Describe economic impact of the Russian civil war (3) - Imposition of war communism contributed to the tambor famine of 1921 as a result of the requisitioning of grain, with 5 million dying as a consequence - Introduction of the NEP benefitted the economy in the short term, but did result in the 1923 scissor crisis, in which the difference in industrial and agricultural prices increased significantly - Total industrial output fell to 20% of its pre war levels as a result of outward migration from the cities encouraged by supply issues from the war
• Describe the background and outcomes of the great patriotic war (1941-45) (3) - German invasion of poland alarmed stalin, as a result he tried to persuade the baltic states to have soviet troops protect their territory also providing a buffer to leningrad - Finland denied causing the outbreak of the winter war between finland and the USSR, in which the USSR were losing at the beginning, portraying russia as weak and vulnerable - Germany failed to win the battle of britain in 1940 and diverted its attention towards the east, and with russia seeming vulnerable launched operation barbarossa in m...
• Describe the political/governmental impact of the Great patriotic war (3) - Ideologically - had little impact - The structure of government had little change with the politburo remaining the top desicion making body, but party membership did rise from 3.7 million in 1941 to 5.8 million in 1945 - In terms of repression the NKVD policed and deported national minorities and resumed purging the party, resolving the leningrad affair by purging 200 supporters of Zhdanov
• Describe the social impact of the great patriotic war (4) - No other war rivalled the social impact of this war with 27 million russians killed, 1.1 million at the battle of stalingrad alone, causing a shortage of labour - 5 million prisoners of war taken by germany, many of which switched sides and fought for germany, hence stalin treated prisoners of war as traitors when they returned - During the counter offensive march on berlin russian troops reportedly raped 2 million women - Led to a period of high stalinism and reconstruction in which working conditions declined significantly with peo...
• Describe the economic impact of the great patriotic war (2) - Reconstruction centred around the fourthe five year plan with consumer goods once again neglected - The goals were reached in just 3 of 5 years due to use of 4 million german prisoners of war, unilateral trade agreements and external financial aid from the UN and the war vindicating stalins economic policy encouraging russians to work long hours to reconstruct russia
• Describe the weaknesses of stalins post war economic strategy in terms of the economic impact of the great patriotic war (2) - Due to his vindicated economic policy stalin continued his gargantuan projects, ploughing vast amounts of capital into schemes like the volga-don canal with very little economic return - Agriculture suffered through neglect, war caused the collapse of collectives and when collectivisation was reintroduced it contributed to the 1947 famine
• Describe why the great patriotic war can be considered a turning point - It transformed the USSR into a superpower, being the only war russia wins, with soviet influence and territory expanded which would have been impossible during peacetime
• How can the great patriotic war not be considered a turning point - Like world war one the GPW only acted as a catalyst rather than a turning point as the infrastructure of the USSR to succeed was already in place prior to the war and continued after the war, like the command economy
• Describe the political/governmental impact of the cold war (3) - Ideologically it led to destalinisation and the 'khrushchev thaw' with khrushchev wanting the USSR to become a better place with the cold war shaping his ideology - The structure of government remained unchanged with the politburo as the main desicion making body - In terms of repression khrushchev developed a policy of glasnost, released 8-9 million prisoners from the gulag as per the new criminal code in 1958 and entered an era of glasnost, allowing publication of day in the life of ivan denisovich
• Describe the social impact of the cold war (1) - Led to a decline in consumer goods, but did lead to improvements in housing with 108 million moving into new khrushchyovkas
• Describe the economic impact of the cold war (2) - Khrushchevs obsession with the space and arms race led to distortion in the economy, misbalancing the already unstable economy, 20% of national income spent on military and space race compared to US's 10% - However the USSR did send the first satellite, and man into space, successfully demonstrating the USSR's technological advances
• Assess how the cold war can be considered a turning point (2) - As russia extended its influence over europe it adopted western liberal views - however it did lead to hostilities with the west, the war acted as a force of repression, for example the development of NATO vs the warsaw pact