Consolidation 1918-1924

Question 1

Problems the Bolsheviks faced upon taking power

Answer 1

Strikes from civil servants
War with Germany
Limited countryside support
Banks refused to supply Bolsheviks with  financial support
Food shortages in cities
Strikes from workers in cities

Question 2

What did bolsheviks call themselves?
what did the sovnarkom establish in 1917?
what was set up in 1919?

Answer 2

Peoples Commissars
Cheka
politburo

Question 3

How many employees of the Cheka 1917-1921

how many people had the cheka killed in 1918

Answer 3

120-143,000

50,000

Question 4

When was the constituent assembly?(month)
what % of the votes did the Bs get? Who were they outvoted by?
What did Lenin demand? What was the response?
What did lenin do instead?when?

Answer 4

November
24%
Socialist revolutionaries
demanded the constituent assembly be subservient to the sovnarkom and the soviets. This was rejected 237-137
ordered the red guard to surround the building where they met on 5th january 1918 and never allowed anyone to enter- ending the ca

Question 5

why did lenin want to end the war?

Answer 5

war was unpopular
ending the war would give a good chance for the economy to recover
it would give him preparation time in case of a civil war
Russia’s military was exhausted

Question 6

Name of german russian peace treaty?
When was peace with germany signed?
what did it concede to germany?

Answer 6

treaty of Brest-Litovsk
2nd december 1918
Ukraine
parts of poland
32% of arable land
75% of its coal and iron ore mines
baltic states

Question 7

consequences of the treaty

Answer 7

left socialist revolutionaries resigned from government in protest to the treaty

Question 8

when was the civil war?

what fraction of Russia did the red army occupy?

Answer 8

1918-1921

1/5

Question 9

geographical advantages of the red army

Answer 9

occupied most densely populated areas- 70 million people- could recruit workers and soldiers
occupied russias most industrialised regions
had control of russias main railway lines-could transport goods and equipment

Question 10

geographical disadvantages of the whites

Answer 10

20 million people
few factories
forces divided-general yudenich of estonia and admiral kolchak in the north of russia

Question 11

Role of trotsky

Answer 11

strict discipline and used political officers in the army to maintain loyalty
used an armoured train to visit and support areas under threat

Question 12

When was the tsar and his family executed?
where?
why?

Answer 12

17 July 1918
cheka detachment in yakaterinburg
they were a source of hope for the nationalists

Question 13

red strengths overall:
how many soldiers by 1920?
who's leadership was crucial?
how was loyalty ensured?
what areas did the reds control?

Answer 13

5 million by 1920
trotsky’s leadership
present war as an ideological conflict and propaganda
most industrialised areas, most railways, most densely populated

Question 14

weaknesses of white army overall:
whos support dried up as ww1 ended?
what did the army lack?
geographical problems?
ideological problems?

Answer 14

allies support dried up as there was little need to change the russian government decision to reopen the eastern front
lacked discipline and had mass desertions
separated- problematic communication
did not have a common goal

Question 15

what was lenins economic policy in 1918?

who were the national industries run by? what did they do?

Answer 15

state capitalism
vesenkha-
re-establishing worker discipline by offering higher pay to more productive workers
ensuring factories were properly managed by putting them under control of well paid specialists
co ordinate economic production to meet the needs of the new society

Question 16

when was war communism introduced ?why? what was it?

Answer 16

1918
food prices soared, industrial production shrank, value of the rouble collapsed
included: grain requisitioning-cheka squads take grain without paying
-rationing- workers and soldiers had most rations
-abolition of money, gov printed money to create hyper inflation, destroying its
value
- abolition trade
- complete nationalisation
- conscription- either fought in army or worked in factory

Question 17

When was there an assassination attempt on lenin?
what did this cause?
how many people were killed by the cheka during this period- official records v actual?

Answer 17

30 august 1918
the red terror
13,000 v500,000

Question 18

what was the first revolt against the bolsheviks?
when?
who was it led by?
what was their motivation?
how many anti communist fighters?
what did they attack?

Answer 18

tambov revolt
1920
alksander antov
against cheka brutality and grain requisitioning
50,000
grain stores across the volga canal

Question 19

what uprising was there?

what did they demand?

Answer 19

kronstadt rising

reforms to turn russia into a soviet democracy

Question 20

NEP: date?
what was it:
what was reintroduced?
peasants could do what?
what happened to grain requisitioning?
what happened to small factories?
what happened to major industries?

Answer 20

1921

• buy and sell and produce freely
• money
• grain requ was replaced by a tax
• small factories were denationalised and allowed to trade freely, some even returned to their former owners
• large factories and major industries remained nationalised

Question 21

Effects of NEP on agriculture:
was it popular?
what did it encourage?
grain production 1913/1921/1922

Answer 21

very popular
free trade encouraged peasants to grow more- ended the famine and farming revived.
1913: 80 million tonnes
1921: 37.61 million tonnes
1922: 50.3 million tonnes

Question 22

Effects of NEP on industry:
what campaign did lenin authorise?
what was the problem with industry?
1913/1921/1926 industrial production

Answer 22

electrification campaign which revived a dead industry
industry took extremely long to recover
-10 million roubles
-2 million
-11 million

Question 23

Political effects of NEP:
what did lenin couple NEP with?
what 2 things did he introduce?

Answer 23

tighter political control
introduced a ban on factions within the communist party
supported democratic centrism: all other political parties were banned and the decisions made by lenin and the politburo had to be supported by all communists

Question 24

Foreign relations:

what was established to encourage world wide revolution? what date?

Answer 24

comintern march 1919

Question 25

russio polish war:
why did the russians invade?
when did they invade?
why did it fail?

Answer 25

they expected the polish working class to support revolt against the government
1920
polish resisted- saw it as traditional russian expansionist threat

Question 26

what treaty did the russians do with germany?
date?
main terms of agreement?
what did this treaty develop into?

Answer 26

rapallo treaty
1922
cooperation in helping meet the economic needs of both countries
russia provided germany with military training grounds
russia would be allowed special trading rights with germany
treaty of berlin 1926-non aggression pact

Question 27

english soviet treaty date and name

zinoviev letter date and events

Answer 27

anglo soviet trade agreement march 1921
1924
letter allegedly from zinoviev urged the communist party of britain to infiltrate the labour party to extend leninism
zinoviev claimed the letter to be fake
conservatives won election, were much more hostile to soviet relations

Question 28

when did lenin die

Answer 28

january 1924