1917 russia

• condition

  • tsar nicholas convinced oh his divine right to rule
  • he was shy, easily bored and over cautious
  • autocratic gov
  • he was heavily influenced by his wife and rasputin
  • russian war effort saw loss in morale (poor equipment and experienced officers died)
  • made himself commander in chief in sep 1915
  • massive inflation
  • shortage of men in countryside so there were food shortages
  • the russian people lost confidence in tsar
• ww1

  • failures caused discontent
  • lack of weapons and equipment (2 rifles for every 3 soldiers, 2/3 shells per day, warm clothes and footwear)
  • numerous defeats
  • = BoTannenburg: aug 1914 saw 300,000 russian troops killed and spirits dampened with word of military incompetence spreading and it becoming clear war wouldn’t end in quick victory
  • = Brusilov offensive: june 1916 had a lack of experienced officers which led to heavy casualties and 1.5m deserted
  • link between rev and military failure grew
  • tsars failures provided propaganda opportunities for opposition (lenin’s april thesis)
• ww1

  • came at huge cost, had major economic and social impacts
  • food shortages in towns and cities with men no longer working in countryside, peasants hoarded grain
  • food supplies prioritised for the army so towns were undersupplied (railway systems turned over)
  • gov raised taxes to fund war (took out huge loans too), resulting in soaring cost of living due to inflation
• ww1

  • inflation was the result of food and manufactured products raising in price due to shortages
  • unemployment increased as non-military factories closed due to lack of supplies
  • death rate of workers increased
  • unrest led to strikes in moscow and petrograd
• political discontent

  • tsar, lvov and keresnky couldn’t command respect
  • revolutions were as much of a protest against failures of leadership and inadequate political system as about wartime issues
  • provisional gov weak after kornilov coup
  • = failed to improve food supplies to cities, prices still higher than wages, showed rev was under threat from the right, gave bolsheviks chance to be saviours by exploiting its weaknesses and promising what they couldn’t provide
• feb rev

  • bread rationing catalyst
  • 14th : 100,000 workers on strike in petrograd
  • news of bread rationing bringing queues and violence
  • 23rd: international women’s day, 90k workers on strike who joined traditional march for women = 240,000 on streets
  • 24th: overturning tsarist statues
  • petrograd at virtual standstill
  • 25th: soldiers ordered to open fire, some cossacks refused
  • 27th: 66,000 soldiers mutinied and armed protesters with 40,000 rifles
• armys action in rev

  • mutiny began when a soldier shit commanding officers in volysnksii regiment (military hqs)
  • this resulted in police hq being attacked and prisons being opened
  • same day the prov gov and petrograd soviet were set up, suggesting mutiny was impactful
• prov gov

  • under lvov
  • consisted of moderate socialists and kadets
  • temp fix until elections could be held
  • favoured constitutional monarchy
  • accepted as legitimate by old tsarist civil servant
• petrograd soviet

  • a democratic alternative for workers soldiers and peasants
  • consisted of radical socialists, mensheviks, SRs, small number of bolsheviks
  • lacked confidence
  • keresenky negotiated agreement where they’d work together in dual authority
• dual authority

  • many areas of conflict
  • soviet order no1 said soldiers and workers to obey PG only when PS agreed with its decision
  • PG wanted to improve discipline to reduce desertions but PS encouraged soldiers, peasants and workers to defy authority and assert their rights
  • PG wanted all out effort to win war, PS wanted to end russia involvement as quick as possible while not giving territory to G
  • PG committed to holding elections for constituent assembly but wanted to avoid SRs win
  • PS was reactive with its role being to protect workers rights and this was an obstacle to PG
• abdication of tsar

  • 26th: rodizianko, duma president, sent warning telegram
  • tsar ignored and dissolved duma
  • 28th: left military hq to come back to petrograd and sent R telegram offering shared leadership with duma but too late
  • train diverted to psvok and placed under pressure to resign
  • agreed and granted mikhial as tsar but he refused
  • tsar family under house arrest
  • romanov dynasty end march 2nd
• lenin’s return

  • exile in switzerland for 17 years
  • returned april 3rd 1917
  • events in feb shocked him
  • enlisted help of germans to enable return, they saw as chance to stir trouble
  • wanted to lead second rev but not enough class consciousness for full bourgeois rev
  • aimed for proletarian led rev
  • demanded peace, bread, land and power to soviets
  • ! out of touch, lacked control over party, in pay of germans, unrealistic ideas
  • through persuasion and threat he gained support
• july days

  • time following rev was great excitement to industrial workers
  • those in moscow and petrograd were more radical and organise, a danger for PG
  • after 586 factories closed, 100k jobs lost and poor harvest = 20,000 sailors from kronstadt naval base organised armed demonstration under bolshevik slogans that spread to petrograd
• july days

  • when it turned violent the bolsheviks were blamed despite leadership refusing to endorse the movement
  • PG crushed it w support from SRs and mensheviks
  • bolsheviks discredited, newspapers closed down, lenin labelled as german spy, stalin and lenin fled, trotsky in prison
• kornilov coup

  • after july days kerensky attempted to assert control over events, appointing general kornilov as commander in chief to bring discipline back in army after mass desertion
  • aug: he ordered troops to march on petrograd, an attempt to establish military dictatorship
  • keresenky panicked, allowing bolsheviks to arm workers to halt his advances
  • by sep, bolsheviks had majorities in both petrograd and moscow soviets
• bolshevik success

  • membership: 23k feb to 200k in oct
  • PG failed to improve food supplies and prices still higher than wages
  • war ongoing w russian offensive failing
  • PG pushed land redistribution until CA elected
  • kornilov coup showed rev under threat from right
  • bolsheviks promised end to food shortages, war and promised land to peasants
  • portray selves as saviours of rev
  • keresenky position was weakened
• oct/nov rev

  • 10th- lenin returned
  • MRC established on 16th
  • 23rd kersneky attempted to reduce powerr
  • 25th battleship aurora
  • 27th soviet of peoples commissars set up
• lenin’s decrees

  • on peace
  • establish cheka
  • social decrees banned opposition press and gave equal rights to women
  • on land
  • on workers rights - limited 8h days, employment benefits and control on factories