# data[].attributes.body
What were the problems before WWI?

# data[].attributes.headline
1. Threats to Tsarist regime: What were the problems before WWI?

# data[].attributes.subject
1. Threats to Tsarist regime: What were the problems before WWI?

# data[].attributes.body
Natalie:
There was a very distinct class divide with the vast majority of Russia's population (125 million people) were peasants who led very hard lives and lived in poor living conditions. The top minority which consisted of the royal family and the clergy were extremely rich and lived lavishly. As a result, there was a long term discontent with the tsar

Nicole : Before World War I, Russia was already facing several problems. Tsar Nicholas II was inadequate in making decisions for Russia and ignorant of the nature and extent of opposition to the sarist rule. He was an incompetent leader politically, and this made him prone to manipulation by Rasputin. Besides, the vast gap between social classes was

Serene:
Before World War I, Tsar Nicholas was already an ineffective ruler due to his ignorance of politics. Thus he was unable to rule the country adequately. Additionally, a majority of the population, the peasants, was unhappy with the Tsar as they lived in poor conditions and agriculture was equally poor. Their lives were in stark contrast to the luxurious lives led by the 1% thus they felt discontent. The industrialisation also led to poor working conditions which further sowed discontentment.

Carine:
Unfortunately, Tsar Nicholas II was an ruler who was ignorant to politics and was ineffective in handling matters regarding the state. He was unable to settle the unfairness in class divide and this affected the people, particularly the peasants, greatly. Although only 1% of the population composed of the elites, the peasants needed to work very hard but gained very little in order to meet the demands for the elites who owned the land that they worked on.

Raeanne:
Tsar Nicholas II was inadequate in making decisions for Russia and was ignorant of the nature and extent of opposition to tsarist rule. He never wanted to become the tsar in the first place. The aristocrats just made up 1% of the entire population an owned almost 1 quarter of all the land whereas the majority of the population were peasants which formed 80% of the
population. Their lives were very hard and they lived in very poor conditions. The tsar did nothing to help their conditions and with no efforts to bridge the huge gap between the wealthy and the poor led to further discontentment with the tsar. Furthermore, there were economic problems due to industrialisation.

Jia Qian:
There was a big social divide between the different classes of people in Russia. The poor lived in very poor conditions while the rich could live lavishly. The roads and railway systems in Russia were undeveloped for industrialisation. There were poor communications with people across the empire. There was growing discontent towards Tsar and more people opposed to tsarist rule.

Caitlin:

Eunice: There was a large social divide between the distinct classes of people, with the majority being poor and only a minority being rich. Tsar Nicholas was also inadequate as a leader, causing discontent amongst the people and a growing opposition against tsarist rule.

Rui Yi:
When Tsar Nicholas II took over control of the Russian Empire, he was only 26 years old and was very inexperienced dealing with the many domestic problems that the country faced. He even ignored the extent of the opposition to tsarist rule which eventually led to the loss of power. Russia in the past also faced many social problems, such as the widespread division between the social classes (ruling elites and peasants).

Janelle:
Tsar Nicholas II was an incompetent ruler who did not have good decision making skills, causing people to suffer and displeased many. This eventually led to his downfall.

Rae: The majority of the population were peasants and were extremely poor and lived difficult lives. Attempts at modernising Russia did stimulate industrial growth but rapid industrial growth, in turn, lead to even worse living and working conditions for workers, causing much discontent amongst the people.

Steve: The people were divided into different class and societies. Most of the people are very poor and struggle to get food. People lived in poor conditions and the agriculture is poor from their outdated methods of farming.

Li Xuan:  The Russian society was divided into different classes and groups. There were  poor peasants and only a minority of the rich such as the Tsar. This formed a big class divide and caused the peasants to push for a change in the way Russia was governed.

# data[].attributes.headline
1905 REVOLUTION & DUMA - Why was the Duma ineffective? 

# data[].attributes.subject
1905 REVOLUTION & DUMA - Why was the Duma ineffective? 

# data[].attributes.headline
2. 1905 REVOLUTION & DUMA - Why was the Duma ineffective?

# data[].attributes.subject
2. 1905 REVOLUTION & DUMA - Why was the Duma ineffective?

# data[].attributes.body
Serene:
It did not address the needs of the people who wanted democracy and no longer a Tsardom (Duma had little power as the Tsar refused to share power with the Duma and had the power to dissolve it.)

Yizhen: Russia at that time had no real tradition of democracy, and in fact had only recently emerged from feudalism. After the two 1917 revolutions, the Duma inspired no extensive following among the Russian people, and pitifully inept leaders did nothing to inspire respect.

Natalie: The peasants and majority still did not have a say in the governing of Russia as only one chamber was elected by the Russian people and the other chamber, which was appointed by the Tsar, had the right to reject any actions of the other chamber.

Carine:
Before the Duma was instated, there was only one dictatorial ruler who governed the state and that was the Tsar, an elite. With the instalment of the Duma, the government was still made up of only elites and they were unable to understand the hardships of the peasants. With the elites on board as their government, they will not help the cause of the peasants who were starving and suffering under poor working conditions. The elites would want to stay in power and would not consider the perspective of the peasants.

Eunice:

Jia Qian:
Tsar was unwilling to give up his power and hence only provided the Duma with limited power. The problems of the peasants were not addressed.

Raeanne:
The tsar retained 'Supreme Autocratic Power' and had the most control over the Duma. The people's want for democracy were also not addressed.

Rui Yi:
The Duma was created in 1905 in a desperate attempt by the Tsar to divide the opposition during an uprising. This meant that the Duma isn't as effective as it was supposed to be as the Tsar was forced to create the Duma and since he still has a lot of power, he can change how the legislation will work in the Duma and prevent others from taking control.

Rae:  There was a frequent changes of ministers as capable ministers from the duma were frequently dismissed by the Tsarina on Rasputin's advice and hence the duma was replaced by incompetent leaders. The duma was also ineffective as they had no proper organisation of food, fuel and other supplies to the cities.

Li Xuan: Capable ministers were often changed for incompetent ministers just because they were Rasputin's friends, making government very unstable and incapable of ruling Russia.

# data[].attributes.body
By Robert Wilde

The Duma ("Assembly" in Russian) was an elected semi-representative body in Russia from 1906 to 1917. It was created by the leader of the ruling Tsarist regime Tsar Nicholas II in 1905 when the government was desperate to divide the opposition during an uprising. The creation of the assembly was very much against his will, but he had promised to create an elected, national, legislative assembly.

After the announcement, hopes were high that the Duma would bring democracy, but it was soon revealed that the Duma would have two chambers, only one of which was elected by the Russian people. The Tsar appointed the other, and that house held a veto over any actions of the other. Also, the Tsar retained ‘Supreme Autocratic Power.’ In effect, the Duma was neutered right from the start, and people knew it.

There were four Dumas during the institution’s lifetime: 1906, 1907, 1907–12 and 1912–17; each had several hundred members made up of a mix of peasants and ruling classes, professional men and workers alike.

# data[].attributes.body
What were the political, economic & social effects of the war?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Campaigns and crises: 1914-1916

In 1914, Russia was hardly prepared for war. Just nine years earlier she had been defeated in a war with tiny Japan. The Revolution of 1905, when revolts and uprisings had forced the Tsar to concede civil rights and a parliament to the Russian people, had also shaken the empire.

The subsequent reforms and rebuilding were far from complete, but as workers and land-hungry peasants rallied to the Russian flag and marched off to fight against the Central Powers, the initial auguries for both war and national unity were not bad.

National unity, however, could only be built on victory and, in that regard, Russia's hopes were dashed early in the Great War. At Tannenberg and the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes, in 1914, Russia lost two entire armies (over 250,000 men).

This failed Russian advance into East Prussia did disrupt Germany's Schlieffen Plan and thus probably prevented the fall of Paris, but it also signalled the beginning of an unrelenting Russian retreat on the northern sector of the Eastern Front. By the middle of 1915 all of Russian Poland and Lithuania, and most of Latvia, were overrun by the German army.

Fortunately for the Russians, they did better in 1916. The supply of rifles and artillery shells to the Eastern Front was vastly improved, and in the Brusilov Offensive of June 1916, Russia achieved significant victories over the Austrians - capturing Galicia and the Bukovina - and she was also more than holding her own in Transcaucasia, against Turkey.

However, the country's political and economic problems were greatly exacerbated by the war. Many factors - including the militarisation of industry and crises in food supply - threatened disaster on the home front.

Added to this cocktail were rumours that the tsarina, Alexandra, and her favourite, the infamous Rasputin, were German spies. The rumours were unfounded, but by November 1916 influential critics of the regime were asking whether Russia's misfortunes - including 1,700,000 military dead and 5,000,000 wounded - were a consequence of 'stupidity or treason'.

This was a rabble-rousing exaggeration, but certainly the outdated strategies of Russia's General Staff had cost hundreds of thousands of lives, while the regime seemed careless of such appalling losses.

1917: From February to October

Food riots, demonstrations and a mutiny at the Petrograd Garrison in February 1917 forced Nicholas II to abdicate as war still continued. A Provisional Government led by liberals and moderate socialists was proclaimed, and its leaders hoped now to pursue the war more effectively.

Real power in Russia after the February Revolution, however, lay with the socialist leaders of the Petrograd (later All-Russian) Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, who were elected by popular mandate (unlike the ministers of the Provisional Government).

The Soviet leaders rather half-heartedly supported a defensive war, but were more committed to an unrealistic programme of ending the conflict, through a general peace 'without annexations or indemnities' - a formula that neither the Allies nor Germany would ever accept.

Against this background, the war minister (later Prime Minister) Kerensky of the Provisional Government hoped to strengthen Russia's hand with a new Russian offensive on the Eastern Front in June. But by then the ability of Russia's officers to induce their men to obey had been entirely negated by the hopes of social transformation and an end to the war that the February Revolution had unleashed in the trenches - leading to what historian Alan Wildman has termed 'trench bolshevism'.

Anarchist and Bolshevik agitators played their own part in destroying the Russian Army's ability to fight. Many anti-war radicals, along with the Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, were ferried home from exile in Switzerland in April 1917, courtesy of the German General Staff (which had spent roughly 30 million marks trying to foment disorder in Russia by the end of 1917).

The summer offensive was a disaster. Peasant soldiers deserted en masse to join the revolution, and fraternisation with the enemy became common. Meanwhile, in an attempt to restore order and resist the German counter-offensive, most of the generals and forces of the political right threw their weight behind a plan for a military coup, under the Russian Army's commander-in-chief, General Kornilov.

The coup failed, but had two important consequences: on the one hand, the generals and the conservatives who had backed Kornilov felt betrayed by Kerensky (who arrested Kornilov after having appeared to have been in agreement with him) and would no longer defend the government; on the other, Kerensky's reputation with the moderate left and with the population at large plummeted when it became clear that he had initially supported Kornilov's plans for the restoration of the death penalty and for the dissolution of soldiers' revolutionary committees.

The only winners were the Bolsheviks, with Lenin at their head, who were able to topple Kerensky and take power in the October Revolution of 1917- without significant resistance from either the government or the army.

Brest-Litovsk and its consequences

After taking power, the Bolsheviks promised to deliver 'Peace, Bread and Land' to the beleaguered people of Russia. With regard to the first of these, a 'Decree on Peace' (26 October 1917) was dashed off by Lenin, calling upon all belligerents to end the slaughter of World War One.

Not that Lenin was a pacifist: rather, his hope was to transform the world war into an international civil war, when the 'imperialist' powers refused to cease fighting and thereby revealed their rapacious ambitions.

However, the Central Powers responded to the Bolsheviks' appeal by agreeing to an armistice on the Eastern Front, and Lenin's lieutenant, Trotsky, found himself in the uncomfortable position, during the winter of 1917-18, of negotiating a separate peace treaty with Imperial Germany and her allies at the Polish town of Brest-Litovsk.

Trotsky tried to delay matters and to inculcate revolution in central Europe by refusing the harsh terms presented to him. When Germany, however, merely resumed its invasion of Russia on the Eastern Front, pushing further east in five days of February 1918 than it had in the previous three years (the German soldiers, to Trotsky's consternation, continued to obey their officers), the Bolsheviks were forced to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918.

This punitive treaty effectively handed over Finland, Poland, the Baltic provinces, Ukraine and Transcaucasia to the Central Powers, together with one-third of the old empire's population, one-third of its agricultural land and three-quarters of its industries.

Outraged by this, the anti-Bolshevik Russians who had remained loyal to the Allies now took up arms in earnest against the Bolsheviks. They were actively assisted by Allied forces in Russia, who hoped to rebuild the Eastern Front. Notable in this regard was the Czechoslovak Legion, a 40,000-strong army made up of former POWs, who in 1918 seized the entire Trans-Siberian Railway, from the Volga to Vladivostok.

Civil War: Whites v Reds

During the civil war thus unleashed by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk the Bolsheviks (Reds), who controlled Petrograd, Moscow and the central Russian heartland, soon found themselves surrounded by hostile forces (Whites) - made up of the more conservative elements in Russia - who launched a series of campaigns in 1919 that threatened to crush the revolution.

During these campaigns Admiral Kolchak, the 'Supreme Ruler' of the Whites, attacked across the Urals from Siberia; General Denikin advanced on a broad front up the Volga, into Ukraine and to the town of Orel (within 250 miles of Moscow); and General Iudenich's North West Russian Army, based in Estonia, twice reached the outskirts of Petrograd.

The Reds, however, rebuffed these attacks, and survived, and by late 1920 had driven the Whites back into the Black Sea, the Baltic and the Pacific - causing hundreds of thousands of White soldiers and civilians to emigrate.

The Reds were able to take advantage of internal lines of communication and could utilise the railways, arsenals and the economy of the most populous provinces of the former empire. In this way they managed to arm, man and manoeuvre an army that by 1921 had grown to almost five million soldiers.

The Whites, in contrast, never commanded forces totalling more than 250,000 men at one time, were separated from each other by huge distances, and were based around the less developed peripheries of Russia. Also, crucially, the Whites underestimated the Bolsheviks' capacity to resist.

It still seems surprising that Trotsky was able to fashion a Red Army more effective than that of the experienced White generals ranged against him. He, however, enjoyed the material advantages mentioned, and he also introduced some revolutionary innovations: notably the network of Political Commissars - devout Bolsheviks who offered political guidance to the Red Army and who watched over the loyalty of the 50,000 imperial army officers the Reds employed to help command their forces. He also used terror most ruthlessly.

The White armies, in contrast, exhibited only brutality, venality, disorder and a lack of political and military direction. Even their most effective fighters, the Cossacks, were more interested in booty and in securing their own regional autonomy than in driving Lenin from the Kremlin.

Allied intervention

Despite their strength in Russia itself, the Reds were internationally isolated, but neither did the Whites enjoy unlimited Allied support. The liberal British leader Lloyd George, the socialist French prime minister Clemenceau and the American Democratic president Woodrow Wilson were no friends of Lenin - but neither were they particularly enamoured of the White generals, whom they suspected of reactionary aims.

In fact, although anti-Bolshevik sentiments were not altogether absent from Allied leaders' minds when they made the decision to intervene in Russia in 1918, their main interest was in the Great War, not the Russian civil war, and their desire was to try and reconstitute the Eastern Front, to ease the pressure on the Western Front. That motivation disappeared on 11 November 1918.

Moreover, none of the western powers had any great interest in helping to build a united Russia - they preferred to keep that huge country weak - and in any case, they had enough on their plates in 1919. With domestic war weariness, the Paris Peace Conference, the division of the German and Ottoman Empires, and the economic crises of central Europe to contend with, they had no wish to sink further into the Russian quagmire. The only power with the capacity to intervene effectively in Russia was Japan, but with memories of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 still fresh, her intervention was unlikely to be welcomed by the Russians.

Consequently, although the matériel the Allies sent to Russia was crucial in allowing the Whites to mount the campaigns they did in 1919 (the British alone sent one hundred million pounds-worth of equipment to Kolchak and Denikin), only a few thousand British, French and American troops ever set foot in Russia, and few of them saw action. And after the armistice, most Allied efforts were directed towards finding an honourable way out of Russia, rather than a means of more forcefully intervening.

Nevertheless, the Red Army's victory over what became characterised under Stalin as 'The Three Campaigns of the Entente' (a loaded reference to the efforts of Kolchak, Denikin and Iudenich, who were portrayed as being 'puppets' of western capitalism), in a civil war that cost perhaps ten million lives, assumed a hallowed place in Soviet and Russian history.

It was this victory that helped forge post-tsarist Russia's self-image as a strong country that had stood up to the bullying of the west, and that lay at the root of the Cold War. Even Gorbachev, often seen as a friend of the west, was prone to mentioning it; and it cannot be far from President Putin's mind as events unfold in the Middle East.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
War and Revolution in Russia 1914 - 1921

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1914, Russia was hardly prepared for war. Just nine years earlier she had been defeated in a war with tiny Japan. The Revolution of 1905, when revolts and uprisings had forced the Tsar to concede civil rights and a parliament to the Russian people, had also shaken the empire.

# data[].attributes.headline
3. Impact of WW1: What were the political, economic and social effects of the war?

# data[].attributes.subject
3. Impact of WW1: What were the political, economic and social effects of the war?

# data[].attributes.body
Natalie:
There was a shortage of food and people had to queue up in the cold for long hours to get bread.

Carine:
Social-unhappiness with the government for their continued losses in the war
Economical-to accommodate for the frontline, there was not enough food to go around to feed the peasants
Political-due to unhappiness of the people, many were considering to revolt

Serene:
There was inflation increased, a lack of workers, and unemployment as well as factory closage. This led to further discontentment with the government as there was also a food and fuel shortage. The country was left in the hands of rasputin and the government became ineffective as the people employed were not capable nor experienced.

Steve: The shortage of food caused by WW1 resulted in people queuing in the extreme cold for long hours. The government was extremely corrupted with Tsarina frequently dismissing capable ministers from the Duma, replacing their place with incompetent friends. There were closure of factories causing unemployment and loss of jobs and WW1 also worsened

Jia Qian:
Social - Shortage of foods for the people as food was given to the people fighting the war
Economic - Factories were closed and people became unemployed, which results in poverty among the people.
Political - More people were unhappy with the government and wanted a change.

Rui Yi:
Social - Food shortages, food riots, strikes, etc. Due to World War 1, much of the food produced by Russia were shipped to feed the troops on the frontlines. There were also poor distribution of supplies, leaidng to many cities unable to receive sufficient food. This resulted in widespread strikes and food riots and increased discontentment among the people.
Political - With the Russian Empire losing almost every battle with the Germans, many people began to oppose Tsarist rule as they see the Tsar as an incapable leader to lead them through the war. This eventually contributed to the February and October revolution of 1917.

Rae: Worsened shortage of food as most of the food sources were channelled to the external war being fought.

Raeanne
Social: Shortage of food
Political: People were unhappy with the government and wanted change
Economic: Many people were jobless and industries were unable to carry on with lack of materials

Li Xuan: Slowed down the development of Russia as a country as many workers were sent off to war.

# data[].attributes.body
Why were the peasants & workers unhappy?

# data[].attributes.headline
4a. TRIGGERS FOR THE 1917 FEB REVOLUTION: Why were the peasants & workers unhappy?

# data[].attributes.subject
4a. TRIGGERS FOR THE 1917 FEB REVOLUTION: Why were the peasants & workers unhappy?

# data[].attributes.body
Rui Yi:
The impacts of the war were causing severe impacts domestically in Russia. Crippling wartime shortages forced women to wait for hours in line for food. Empty stomachs, rather than political philosophy, launched the onset of the Russian Revolution. In the ensuing days, the protests grew in size and turned violent as the imperial forces tried to maintain order. Moreover, there were strikes as people demanded food and the number of people involved in those strikes quickly increased from 200,000 to 300,000 in late February.

Natalie:
There was a shortage of food and the long term discontent with the government due to poor living and working conditions made the peasants and workers unhappy with the royal family and triggered them to start a revolution.

Serene:
There was long term discontentment with the government as a majority of the population had poor working and living conditions while the aristocracy enjoyed luxuries and the government failed to care for those needs.  The incompetent government led the people to be hungry and poor so they revolted

Beatrix:
People were unsatisfied with the lives and were facing poverty with the food shortage while the richer 1% of Russia enjoyed luxuries. People did not want to continue under the government that brought them deeper into poverty.

Jia Qian: Unemployment was one of the reasons to why the peasants and worker are unhappy. Without jobs, they were unable to make ends meet and had to live under poverty. The working conditions for those with jobs were also very poor. They only received little money for working. Food shortage is another problem the peasants and workers were unhappy with.

Raeanne
Crippling wartime shortages forced women to wait for hours in line for food since most of the food supply was used for ww1. People begin to demand for food and were unhappy and dissatisfied that the government was not providing them the necessities such as food and failed to care for their needs

Li Xuan: The peasants and workers were unhappy because a cold winter had fell just last month, and along with all the empty stomachs and cases of starvation, the people were tired of their suffering and wanted to see a change in their life.

# data[].attributes.headline
Weaknesses of the Provisional Government

# data[].attributes.subject
Weaknesses of the Provisional Government

# data[].attributes.body
Write about continuation of WWI, July Days & Kornilov revolt

# data[].attributes.headline
4b. Weaknesses of the Provisional Government (Write about continuation of WWI, July Days & Kornilov revolt)

# data[].attributes.subject
4b. Weaknesses of the Provisional Government (Write about continuation of WWI, July Days & Kornilov revolt)

# data[].attributes.body
.Natalie:
The Provisional Government decided to continue the war and help the allies, but when they suffered defeat after defeat, it made them unpopular among the people, thus weakening their power.

Serene:
The Provisional Government continued the war efforts and kept on suffering defeats, making them unpopular and appearing ineffective.  Furthermore they appeared worse next to the Bolsheviks who tackled the Kornilov affair well and gained support of the people

Jia Qian:
The Provisional Government decided to continuing the war until Germany surrenders. However, they suffered further defeats, resulting in decreased popularity among the people and them losing their power eventually.

Raeanne
Provisional government made the wrong decision to continue the war was fatal for
the Provisional Government as further defeats served only
to increase its unpopularity, weakening it further. It shows that they were incapable of making decisions that are effective.

Li Xuan: The government was the one who made the decision to continue the war, however that was a detrimental decision as further defeats in the war caused a decrease in popularity of the government. With little support from the people, the government could not easily enforce laws, and this was a weakness for the provisional government as it could not truly govern the country.

# data[].attributes.body
Why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power in October 1917?

# data[].attributes.headline
5. Lenin & the Bolsheviks seizure of power: Why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power in October 1917? 

# data[].attributes.subject
5. Lenin & the Bolsheviks seizure of power: Why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power in October 1917? 

# data[].attributes.body
Natalie:
The Prime Minister Kerensky turned to the Bolsheviks to help defend against Kornilov's troops and the Bolsheviks' role in suppressing the Kornilov Affair greatly increased their popularity and the people supported them because they saw them as saviors of the city and the true defenders of the Revolution.

Serene:
The Bolsheviks became very popular after they defended the city during the Kornilov affair  therefore there was little to no resistance from the people when they took over by force

Beatrix:
Bolsheviks were popular with the people of Russia and were supported by the people. They were easily able to seize the power when they took over the state by force e.g. Red Guards and October Revolution

Jia Qian:
The Bolsheviks had support from many people, with a high popularity and status among the people. With most people being supportive towards the Bolsheviks being in control, they could seize power very easily.

Raeanne
Lenin returned to Russia.  He wanted the Bolsheviks to gain control of the Petrograd Soviet & end the co-operation with the
Provisional Government. Furthermore, Bolshevik’s role in suppressing the Kornilov Affair
helped increase their popularity.
The Bolsheviks rode on a wave of popular support as
the saviours of the city, the true defenders of the
Revolution.

Li Xuan: The Bolsheviks were able to seize power as they had the masses' support and thus there was little resistance when capturing key buildings as their role in suppressing the Kornilov Affair had helped gain them popularity and thus support.

# data[].attributes.body
1 thing I have I have learnt

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How did the Bolsheviks consolidate power

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brest-Litovsk Treaty The Cheka were brutal and merciless in their killing for example 800 people were arrested in the spring of 1918 in Petrograd and shot without having been put on trial. When an attempted assassination attempt failed on Lenin the Cheka began the “Red Terror” it

# data[].attributes.headline
6. Bolshevik's Consolidation of Power: 1 thing I have learnt

# data[].attributes.subject
6. Bolshevik's Consolidation of Power: 1 thing I have learnt

# data[].attributes.body
Beatrix:
Bolsheviks made used of the Red Guards and manipulated the fear in the people to control them.

Natalie:
The Bolshevik was not popular among the peasants, thus Lenin gave them land to gain their support.

Ashlynn:
The bolshevik used force and terror to remove any opposition to the bolshevik regime

Serene:
The bolsheviks used violence and terror to remove any opposition from other parties and the people

Amabel:
Through the red guards, the Bolsheviks used violence and force to defeat their opponents and control the people

Rui Yi:
I learnt that even though not everyone supported the Bolsheviks, the Bolsheviks used the Red Guards and other means of violence to eradicate their opponents and suppress the people.

Jia Qian:
The Bolsheviks used force and violence to create fear among the people to make the people support them.

Raeanne:
Controlling the economy was crucial to maintain Bolsheviks power. Thus in order to do so, through war communism, they nationalised the banks and took control of factories. Strikes were no longer allowed and food was strictly rationed. This allowed them to keep in control as it helped them with the goal of  winning the war against the white army.

Li Xuan: 1 thing that i have learnt is that the Bolsheviks use fear to control the people and did not let the opposition have any chance to overthrow them. I have also learnt that they make use of opportunities such as the October Revolution and the unrest to gain their power.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Lenin (April 22, 1870 - January 21, 1924). Russian communist leader. His real name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, he was born in Simbirsk, his family is full of intellectuals. His father, during his life, was devoted to popular education, shared the ideas of the revolutionary democrats of the time. On the other hand, his mother, Maria Alexandrovna Blank, a woman of extensive culture, a follower of music and supported the school activities of her children. She was always very aware of Lenin, her fourth son, affectionately called Volodia. When he was young his family went through a tragic moment. His older brother, Alexander, was executed for being a participant in the preparations to attempt against Tsar Alexander III. His animosity against the tsarist regime was exacerbated by this painful event.

After having completed with honors his studies of a bachelor. In 1887 Lenin entered the University of Kazan to study law, during his studies he had a revolutionary attitude and exercised his anti-establishment activities. He was arrested on one occasion for suspicion against him, this also led to the expulsion by the University.

His desire to study did not vanish, so he entered the University of St. Petersburg. It was linked to Marxist circles and the nascent proletarian movement of this city, his contribution to the growth of proletarian groups was strong. He published in 1894 an essay that elucidated the struggle of the people against the Social Democrats, an argumentative criticism of the populists. His reformist spirit never ceased, was linked in the newly founded Union for the emancipation of the working class, again stopped him.

"The truth is always revolutionary." Lenin

His activism against the Tsarist autocracy led him to meet the revolutionary Russian leader, Georgy Plekhanov. Under his influence and support, he helped to found in Saint Petersburg the Combat League for the Liberation of the Working Class, the embryo of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party headed by Plekhanov.

The Russian government persecuted Lenin incessantly, was arrested and deported to Siberia, this episode was taken by him in his favor, he devoted himself to the systematic study of the works of Karl Marx and Engels and drafted his first work which was an inquiry into the application of Marxist thought to the Russian country. After his liberation he founded the Iskra newspaper in Geneva with the faithful help of Plekhanov; in this, he spread the ideal to make a socialist revolution triumph in Russia led by professional revolutionaries decided and organized as an army.

In 1905 Lenin returned to St. Petersburg to participate in the revolution that had broken out in Russia as a result of the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War; Although the tsarist regime overcame the crisis, Lenin considered that movement as a good start of the socialist revolution. The fiasco of that revolution forced him to exile again in 1907.

The outbreak of the First World War was the culminating and decisive moment to put his postulates on the table, in this case: it defined the dispute as fruit of the contradictions of the capitalist and imperialist system, in the name of proletarian internationalism, invited the socialist movement world to use the World War to produce a generalized civil war, but this did not have great impact.

In February 1917 the revolution broke out and the government of Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown, Kerensky seized power, Lenin hurried back to Russia with the help of the German army. In the first days of November of 1917, Trotsky commanded the coup d'etat and finally, the October Revolution triumphed. Lenin left his refuge in Finland and returned immediately to preside over the Council of People's Commissaries.

He became the undisputed leader of the Communist Party, undertook the construction of the first socialist state in history. He fulfilled his initial promises of the expropriation of large estates to landlords to move to divide them among the peasants. He took a radical attitude, repudiated the democratic tradition of Western socialism and welcomed a violent one-party dictatorship, using repressive methods, an example of which was the creation of a police force to persecute the dissidents. However, to fulfill these purposes he had the help of Trotsky in regard to the organization of the Red Army, with which he managed to resist the attack of the white armies and foreign intervention during the Civil War.

"If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem, act!" Lenin

Lenin was a man of insatiable and ambitious spirit, following his clear ideological convictions, he imputed a policy of socialist cut to the economy, nationalizing the main means of production and submitting the economic activities to an arduous central intervention. These drastic changes in the life of a country caused the cataclysm of production and a general disorganization of the Russian economy.

His last moments of life he spent suffering from a serious illness, which made him withdraw from the political leadership little by little. At that moment there was a quarrel between Trotsky and Stalin for power. In short, the emotional concerns were physical, he frequently expressed his concern about the progressive bureaucratization of the Party and the State, and he was not very convinced of the role of Stalin if he became the leader of the Party. It was indeed Stalin who succeeded him after his death.

The communist movement, founded on the Marxist-Leninist ideology, spread throughout the world, inspired revolutions and political regimes as important as those instituted in Central and Eastern Europe, China, Cuba or Vietnam. The figure of Lenin was the object of a sacred or mythical cult under the Soviet regime. Such was that his body was embalmed and exposed in a mausoleum on the Red Square in Moscow; in his honor, his city of origin was renamed Ulyanovsk and the capital where he developed his political struggle changed his name to Leningrad.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lenin (April 22, 1870 - January 21, 1924). Russian communist leader. His real name was Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, he was born in Simbirsk, his family is full of intellectuals. His father, during his life, was devoted to popular education, shared the ideas of the revolutionary democrats of the time.

# data[].attributes.body
Threats to Tsarist regime: What were the problems before WWI?

Underdeveloped systems of roads and railways-Poor communication across the empire

Tsar was inadequate in making decisions for Russia and was ignorant of the nature and extent of opposition to Tsarist rule

Rasputin’s control over the royal family

Rapid industrialisation resulted in poor living and working conditions for the workers. Millions of workers moved to the cities in search of work and job opportunities. This led to an increase in social tensions and instability which led to growing discontent and opposition against the Tsar.

1905 Revolution & Duma: Why was the Duma ineffective?

Tsar Nicholas only provided the Duma with limited legislative power (could not elect the people in the Duma). The fundamental laws issued by the Tsar also gave him the exclusive right to overrule anything passed by the Duma. Besides that, the Duma also did not inspire an extensive following amongst the Russian people and had weak leaders.

Impact of WW1: What were the political, economic &; social effects of the war?
Economic and social impact:

Increase in inflation

Shortage of workers in industries and agriculture

Closure of factories led unemployment and greater poverty

Problem was worsened by fuel and food shortage

Less food produced due to shortage of labour and horses

Political impact:

Tsar made a mistake by taking command of the army and moving it to the front

Left the running of the country to Rasputin and the tsarina

Tsarina dismissed capable ministers and replaced them with Rasputin’s incapable friends

The frequent change in ministers led to no proper organisation of food, fuel and other supplies to the cities

Triggers for the 1917 Feb Revolution: Why were the peasants &; workers unhappy?
Weaknesses of the Provisional Government: Write about continuation of WWI, July Crisis, Kornilov revolt

Workers were unhappy due to a lack of food

The Petrograd Soviet wanted to continue with WW1. However, their many losses made them unpopular.

The July crisis occurred because the soldiers and some bolsheviks staged armed demonstrations against the Provisional Government in Petrograd. Resulted in political chaos, 400 deaths and the capture of some of the members of the Bolshevik

The Kornilov revolt occurred because Kornilov did not want to end the war. He threatened to seize power in Petrograd which led to Kerensky turning to the Bolsheviks for help. He released many of the bolshevik leaders from jail and armed the red guard with weapons. The red guard persuaded many of Kornilov’s troops to desert and the revolt failed.

Lenin &; the Bolsheviks seizure of power: Why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power?

Bolshevik's popularity soared after the Kornilov revolt as the people felt that they were the defenders of the revolution. They were able to appeal to the masses due to them promising to provide bread, land and peace. Thus, they were able to capture key locations and roads, when launching a coup. They were also met with little resistance from the people due to their popularity.

Bolshevik’s consolidation of power: 1 thing I have learnt
By taking swift action and appealing to the masses, Lenin was able to rally the people behind him and seize power although the Bolsheviks were the minority.