Russia

• Reasons for Nicholas’ weakened authority

  • Personality
  • Alexandra and Rasputin
  • Nicholas and the State Duma
  • Nicholas and Russia’s problems
• Opposition to tsarism

  • Liberals
  • Social Revolutionaries
  • Social Democrats
• Liberals 


  Favoured reform and a constitutional monarchy

  Constitutional Democrats (Kadets), the Octobrists and the Progressives
• Social Revolutionaries 


  Founded in 1901

  Represented peasant interests, such as land reform

  Internal divisions - some extreme SRs believed in political assassination but moderate wing gained influence after 1905
• Social Democrats 


  Founded in 1898 as the All-Russian Social Democrat Labour Party

  Represented the proletariat

  Split in 1903 into Mensheviks and Bolsheviks, following arguments about how to apply Marxism to the Russian situation
• Russian war effort 1914:

  • Lack of weapons, ammunition, equipment and clothing for Russian troops contributed to numerous defeats
  • Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914 - around 300,000 Russians killed or wounded
  • Liberal Zemstva and others saw the government failures as a call to action and set up the ‘Union of Zemstva‘ to provide medical facilities
• Russian war effort 1915/16:

  • ‘Progressive bloc’ in August in the State Duma demanded that responsibility for the war effort be given to a civilian government - Nicholas refused
  • September 1915 - Nicholas took on role of Commander in Chief of Russia‘s armed forces
  • Nicholas effectively left Alexandra to govern in Petrograd - her reliance on Rasputin appalled the aristocracy
  • Prince Yusupov assassinated Rasputin in December 1916
• Tsars abdication

  • At the end of February, tsar tried to get back to Petrograd from his military headquarters but was forced to stop 200 miles south of his destination after his train was diverted
  • 1st March - his chief of general staff tried to convince him to abdicate
  • 2nd March - agreed to abdicate and him and his family were placed under house arrest along with most of his council of minsters
• Dual authority:

  Petrograd Soviet and Provisional Government

  Kerensky was a member of both
• Conflicts of dual authority:

  • Soviet order no 1 said soldiers and workers should obey prov govt but only if soviet agreed with the decision
  • Prov govt wanted to improve army discipline but Soviet encouraged soldiers, workers and peasants to defy authority and assert their rights
  • Soviet wanted to end war as long as they didn’t lose territory but prov govt wanted to win war
  • Soviet was reactive
  • Prov govt was committed to holding elections but SRs would win which the liberals were desperate to avoid
• Petrograd Soviet

  Executive committee made up of Socialist intellectuals - mainly Mensheviks and SRs

  Members of executive committee were elected

  Considered by workers, soldiers and peasants to be more democratic and less elitist than prov govt
• Prov Govt

  Headed by Prince Lvov

  Made up of former supporters of a constitutional monarchy

  Planned as a temporary govt until a constitutional assembly could be elected

  Supported by old tsarist civil service, army officers and the police
• Return of Bolshevik leaders

  Kamenev and Stalin return from exile in Siberia first

  Lenin returned on 3rd april with help from Germany from exile in Switzerland
• Lenins ideology

  April Theses - ‘Peace, bread and land‘ and ‘all power to the Soviets‘
• Lenin as leader 


  Lenin gained support through persuasion, compromise, threats of resignation and appeals to the rank and file

  He abandoned his call for an immediate overthrow of the Prov Govt

  Sought out supporters at Party and factory meetings

  Claimed credit for social changes already happening in Russia such as peasant land seizures
• July days

  • Sailors from Kronstadt naval base organised an armed demonstration that spread to the centre of Petrograd and workers and soldiers joined them
  • When the demonstration turned violent the Bolsheviks were blamed
  • Prov Govt brought in troops to crush the demonstrations and the Mensheviks and SRs of Petrograd Soviet supported the prov govt.
  • Bolshevik newspapers were shut down and Lenin and Stalin fled, other leaders, such as Trotsky, were put in prison
• Kornilov coup

  • June 1917 - increase in desertions from army
  • Kerensky appoints Kornilov as commander in chief
  • Petrograd soviet criticises Kornilovs discipline
  • August 1917 - Kornilov orders troops to March on Petrograd in an attempt to establish a military dictatorship
  • Kerensky allows the Bolsheviks to arm workers to halt Kornilov
  • Kornilov coup is stopped and leaders arrested
• Failures of the prov govt

  • Failed to improve food supplies to the cities and prices were far higher than wages
  • War was still continuing and Russias offensive in June 1917 had failed
  • Pushed back land redistribution
  • Kornilovs coup showed that revolution was under threat from the right
• Lenin's demands in mid-September


  Bolsheviks get ready to seize power
• Kamenev and Zinoviev


  Disagreed with Lenin's demands
• Trotsky


  Thought an armed uprising could be avoided if Bolsheviks became leading socialist party
• Lenin's actions on the 10th October

  Convinced the central committee to vote in his favour after all night of persuasion
• Trotsky - leader 


  Put in charge of organising the seizure of power
• Military Revolutionary Committee


  • Established on 16th October
  • Controlled 200,000 red guards
  • Controlled 60,000 Baltic sailors
  • Controlled 150,000 soldiers of the Petrograd garrison units