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BACKGROUND TO THE SOVIET REVOLUTION - Coggle Diagram
BACKGROUND TO THE SOVIET REVOLUTION
Tsarist Russia
At the beginning of the 20th century
Russian Empire had around 150 million inhabitants
population was very unevenly distributed
population consisted of a great diversity of
peoples
cultures
nationalities
The economy
based on agriculture
slowly beginning to develop industrially
general standard of living
was low
poverty was widespread
It was an autocratic monarchy
in which the tsar
exercised his power
as an absolute ruler
The sovereign was backed
by a feudal aristocracy
the Orthodox Church
a corrupt bureaucracy
political opposition to tsarism grew in Russia
it was tied to the cultural elite
based on the liberal European tradition
At the end of the 19th century
the Marxist-inspired
Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party (RSDWP)
This party felt
that the working class
should carry out a revolution
to eliminate injustice and inequality
In 1903 it split into 2 groups
Bolsheviks
defended the seizure of power
by a committed working-class minority
Their leader
was Vladimir Lenin
Mensheviks
were more moderate
favoured an alliance with reformist liberalism
Their leader
was Julius Martov
was also founded
From the revolution of 1905 to the great war
In the Far East
Russian and Japanese imperialism competed
for control of
Korea
Manchuria
This tension led
to the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)
in which Russia was defeated
the weakness of tsarist regime
was revealed
forces opposing tsarism
tried to take power through a revolution
tsarist army repressed
thousands of demonstrators
gathered in front of the
Winter Palace in St Petersburg
known as Bloody Sunday
the massacre of
men
women
children
culminated in a prerevolutionary situation the
workers’ strikes
Popular protests
peasant revolts
military uprisings
Political strikes
became the main weapon
To coordinate them
first Soviet was formed
in St. Petersburg
capital of the Empire
consisted of
peasants
soldiers
workers
In 1905
the revolutionaries did not succeed
in taking power
but they pressurised the tsar
into implementing some reforms
creation of the Duma
National Legislative Assembly
which in theory was
the equivalent of a parliament
but controlled by the tsar
start of an agrarian reform
with distribution of lands
that would serve to create a social base
of support for the liberal regime
project was cancelled
assassination of its promoter
Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin
establishment of
limited individual and citizens’ liberties
In the summer of 1914
World War I began
produced the demoralisation of
people
army
which generated conditions
for a new revolutionary outburst
After the initial Russian defeats
Tsar Nicholas II took direct control
of the army in 1915
but could not prevent the collapse
of the front
or the breakdown of civil power
The Russian Empire in 1914
covered an immense territory
made up one sixth
of the Earth’s surface
from the Western Empire
to the Pacific Ocean
from the Arctic
to Afghanistan
Trans-Siberian Railroad
inaugurated in 1904
managed to connect
the European part
with the most remote regions
of the Russian Empire
