U3AOS1 INTERPRETATIONS

Question 1

S + L

Institutional weaknesses in Tsarist Russia

Answer 1

“The Russian Empire was deeply fissured” (Service)

Nobility’s “first thought was their own convenience and advantage” (Lynch)

Question 2

1832 “Collected Laws of the Russian Empire”

Answer 2

Tsar = “autocratic and unlimited monarch” + “ God himself ordains that all must bow to his supreme power”

Question 3

S + H + Pipes

Impact of economic weaknesses on the fall of the monarchy

Answer 3

“The collapse of the autocracy was rooted in a crisis of modernisation” (Smith)

WC’s poverty inc their sympathy to radical ideals (Harcave)

“While the collapse of tsarism was not inevitable, it was made likely by deep-seated cultural and political flaws that prevented the tsarist regime from adjusting to the economic and cultural growth of the country” (Pipes)

Question 4

Herzen 1868

Nobility

Answer 4

“a civil priesthood, sucking the blood of the people with 1000s of greedy, unclean mouths”

Question 5

Description of Bloody Sunday

Answer 5

“like a peaceful protest”

Question 6

Ramsay MacDonald (British politician)

Condemnation of Tsar after Bloody Sunday

Answer 6

“blood-stained creature”

Question 7

People’s name for the tsar

Answer 7

“Little Father” → “Bloody Nicholas”

Question 8

S

Severity of 1905 Revolution by October

Answer 8

“the monarchy’s fate hung by a thread” (Service)

Question 9

Lenin

Significance of the 1905 Revolution

Answer 9

“a dress rehearsal for 1905”

Question 10

Russian army

Answer 10

“peasantry in uniform”

Question 11

T

Economic impact of WWI on the elite

Answer 11

“A continual shower of gold came from above” (Trotsky)

Question 12

Progressive Bloc

Goal for reform of pol/admin leadership

Answer 12

“establish a government of public confidence”

Question 13

F + W

Significance of Bolshevik strategy

Answer 13

“The Bolsheviks’ strength was that they were the only party uncompromised by association with the bourgeois February regime and the party most firmly identified with ideas of workers’ power and armed uprising” (Fitzpatrick)

“a political alternative for the disenchanted and disappointed” (Wade)

Question 14

F + L + C

Impact of Tsar Nicholas II on the development of revolution

Answer 14

“Nicholas was the source of all problems” (Figes)

“The danger Russia faced… would probably have destroyed any man who sat on the throne” (Lieven)

“Nicolas was ideologically incapable of accomodating to the new middle class let alone a more demanding peasantry and working class” (Corin)

Question 15

SR view of the October Manifesto

Answer 15

“A fraud of the people, a trick of the Tsar”

Question 16

Liberal view of the October Manifesto

Answer 16

“Thank God for the tsar, who has saved us from the people”

Question 17

F + P + S + T

Significance of the October Manifesto

Answer 17

“The political outcome of the 1905 Revolution was ambiguous and in some ways unsatisfying to all involved” (Fitzpatrick)

“Russia gained nothing more than a momentary breathing spell” (Pipes)

“That the autocracy came out of the Revolution unscathed had little to do with tactics” (Smith)

1905 Rev left T regime “alive and strong” (Trotsky)

Question 18

Witte + Tsar

Monarchy’s view of October Manifesto

Answer 18

“I have a constitution in my head, but as to my heart, I spit on it” (Witte)

“I created the Duma, not to be directed by it, but to be advised” (Tsar)

Question 19

Stolypin

Approach to reform

Answer 19

“Suppression first and then, and only then, reform”

Question 20

T + P
Dumas/Fundamental Laws

Answer 20

“A constitution is given, but autocracy remains. Everything is given, and nothing is given.” (Trotsky)

“It was an opportunity missed and tensions continued to mount” (Perfect)

Question 21

L + T + F

Rasputin

Answer 21

R’s behaviour = “symptom of the fatal disease affecting the tsarist regime” (Lynch)

”Rasputin’s proximity to the Tsar’s family proved fatal to the dynasty” (Tyrkov)

“But the point of rumours is not their truth or untruth: it was their power to mobilise the angry public against the monarchy” (Figes)

Question 22

Fr ambassador + Grand Duke Nikolai

Disdain for monarchy under leadership of Alexandra + Rasputin

Answer 22

“the Russian Empire is now run by lunatics” (Fr ambassador)

“It is now in chaos” (Grand Duke Nikolai)

Question 23

Purishvekich (Duma member + Rasputin’s murderer)

Rasputin’s control of the administration

Answer 23

T’s ministers = “marionettes whose threads have been taken firmly in hand by Rasputin”

Question 24

Rodzianko

Concern for Tsar’s decision to appoint himself CinC

Answer 24

“Your decision will appear to the people to be a confession of the hopelessness of the situation and the chaos that has invaded the administration”

Question 25

F + Hill

Role of WWI in contributing to the outbreak of the Feb Rev

Answer 25

“hard to imagine that it could have survived long even without the war” (Fitzpatrick)

“War accelerated the development of the revolutionary crisis” (Hill)

Question 26

K + G

Limitations of the Provisional Government

Answer 26

“The Soviet had power without authority, the Provisional Government had authority without power” (Kerensky)

“the PG exists only so long as it is permitted by the Soviets” (Guchkov)

Question 27

P

Initial reforms by the PG

Answer 27

“a dazzling series of reforms” (Pipes)

Question 28

R + F + L

Impact of the Bolshevik’s political strategy

Answer 28

“Tailoring the Bolshevik programme so that it would reflect popular aspirations was one of Lenin’s most important contributions to the revolution” (Rabinowitch)

“The Bolsheviks’ strength was that they were the only party uncompromised by association with the bourgeois February regime and the party most firmly identified with ideas of workers’ power and armed uprising” (Fitzpatrick)

“he [Trostky at 2nd All-R C of Sov] charged the socialists with having sold out to the bourgeoisie” (Lynch)

Question 29

Trotsky

Impact of Lenin’s AT

Answer 29

“A rearming of the Bolshevik ranks”

Question 30

Zinoviev

Outcome of July Days for the Bolsheviks

Answer 30

“these were dark and difficult days”

Question 31

W

Significance of the July Days for the Bolsheviks

Answer 31

“The experience of July, though traumatic, was highly instructive. It showed in particular that in order to take power they would have to have the assurance of at least the neutrality of Petrograd garrison” (White)

Question 32

Demands from crowd at Tauride Palace on 4 July 1917

Answer 32

“Take power… when its been given to you!”

Question 33

Trotsky + Lenin

Significance of the Kornilov Affair

Answer 33

“The army that rose against Kornilov was the army-to-be of the October Revolution” (Trotsky)

“Either a Soviet government or Kornilovism. There is no middle course” (Lenin - opening of 3rd Coalition Government)

Question 34

L

Significance of the MRC

Answer 34

”the soviet decision to create the MRC had sounded the death-knell for the PG” (Lynch)

Question 35

L

Lenin’s contribution to the revolution

Answer 35

“Lenin’s presence stiffened Bolshevik resolve but did produce absolute unity” (Lynch)

Question 36

L

Reason for Kerensky’s actions in October 1917

Answer 36

“The Provisional Government, incapable of solving the war and land problems, was becoming increasingly reactionary” (Lynch)

Question 37

Trotsky

Speech at 2nd All-Russian Congress of the Soviets

Answer 37

”No compromise is possible… You are miserable bankrupts…” → “into the dustbin of history”

Question 38

L

Reasons for Oct Rev

Answer 38

PG simply “Lacked the ruthlessness the situation demanded”
+
“The Bolsheviks did not seize power, it fell into their hands”

(Lynch)