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04 BACKGROUND TO THE SOVIET REVOLUTION - Coggle Diagram
04 BACKGROUND TO THE SOVIET REVOLUTION
Tsarist Russia
beginning of the 20th century
Russian Empire had around 150 million
inhabitants
population was very unevenly distributed and consisted of a great diversity of nationalities, peoples and cultures.
economy
based on agriculture, slowly beginning to develop industrially
The general standard of living was low and poverty was widespread
autocratic monarchy
in which the tsar exercised his power (established by divine right) as an absolute ruler
The sovereign was backed by a feudal aristocracy, the Orthodox Church and a corrupt bureaucracy
political opposition to tsarism grew in Russia
This opposition was tied to the cultural elite, which was based on the liberal European tradition
end of the 19th
Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party (RSDWP) was founded
This party felt that the working class should carry out a revolution to eliminate injustice and inequality
1903, the RSDWP split into two groups
Bolsheviks
defended the seizure of power by a committed working-class minority
leader, Vladimir Lenin.
Mensheviks
leader, Julius Martov.
were more moderate and favoured an alliance with reformist liberalism
Grigori Rasputin (1869–1916)
In an atmosphere of crisis and the breakdown of the tsarist regime
Grigori Rasputin emerged as a symbol of declining Russian autocracy
Rasputin was a mystic called to the palace to cure the tsar’s eldest son, Alexei
After Alexei recovered, Rasputin came to have a big religious influence on the tsarina
He was accused of
manipulating the appointment of government positions
of being a German spy
of influencing the tsarina in favour of the Germans, as she was of German ancestry
He was assassinated in 1916
From the revolution of 1905 to the grat war
In the Far East, Russian and Japanese imperialism competed for control of Korea and Manchuria
tension led to the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)
Russia was defeated and the weakness of the tsarist regime was revealed
this defeat was added to a serious economic, political and social crisis that led to many strikes
forces opposing tsarism tried to take power through a revolution
The trigger was the ruthless repression of a peaceful demonstration where the people begged the tsar for improved living conditions.
The tsarist army repressed thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg
The massacre of men, women and children, known as Bloody Sunday
this unleashed a wave of popular outrage and marked the final rupture between the people and the tsar
the first Soviet was formed in St. Petersburg, capital of the Empire
The Soviet consisted of workers, peasants and soldiers that would later play a fundamental role in the revolution
1905
revolutionaries did not succeed in taking power
but they pressurised the tsar into implementing some reforms
an agrarian reform
distribution of lands that would serve to create a social base of support for the liberal regime
The project was cancelled because of the assassination of its promoter, Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, in 1911
the establishment of limited individual and citizens’ liberties
creation of the Duma or National Legislative Assembly
in theory was the equivalent of a parliament, but was controlled by the tsar
summer of 1914 World War I began
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 war worsened the serious economic and social situation due to increasingly poor living conditions
war also produced the demoralisation of the army and the people
generated conditions for a new revolutionary outburst
Russian Empire in 1914
covered an immense territory that made up one sixth of the Earth’s surface
Western Empire to the Pacific Ocean and from the Arctic to Afghanistan
The Trans-Siberian Railroad, inaugurated in 1904
managed to connect the European part with the most remote regions of the Russian Empire
