Hey I remember you posting something here on tumblr about your notes being available in for example history. I have a history paper 3 to do next week on the HL option 5 (Imperial Russia, revolutions, emergence of Soviet state 1853-1924) and I was wondering if you had any notes on that? Our teacher divided this into two courses and the previous course is one we did in pre-IB (AGES AGO) so I can't really recall any info at all. (I can't remember if you did this option or not :D sorry)
basically i procrastinated a lot on history and did not end up getting around to writing notes on much
so i have the background of the revolution but not the actual revolution… and it’s mainly only in the 20th century since that’s where we started
but also i did my IA on how the 1905 revolution contributed to the 1917 revolutions so i can send you that if you want
BACKGROUND OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
— Emperor Nicholas II – absolute ruler. In charge of everything. Appointed & dismissed ministers, head of the Orthodox Church, etc.
— Sergei Witte – finance minister (super-duper great)
— Pyotr Stolypin – Prime Minister & Minister of the Interior. Assassinated in 1911. “Intelligent conservatism passed away with Pyotr Stolypin.” –Service. Strict repressive measures, executed approximately 4,000 people over three years.
— Rapid industrialization in Russia from 1880s on. Railroads became a big thing, especially the Trans-Siberian line.
— Sergei Witte performed well as finance minister
— Russia had the largest state-run economic system in the world
— many large factories gave rise to worker’s movements, 4/5 of population were peasants
— In January 1904, Nicholas stupidly declared war on Japan. Resulted in a humiliating defeat for Russia. Led to some dissent amongst the people, who were dissatisfied. A general revulsion towards the tsar was felt by many factory workers and industrialists, and for example authors wrote about it. “It is impossible to live like this.” –Lev Tolstoy (oppression of peasants by nobility, ‘for the good of the Russian people’.)
— In the early parts of the 20th century, Russia was making agreements on trade and security with Central European countries (France, Germany, UK) to minimize the danger they posed.
— Russia was just too damn big to govern effectively
— Lots of foreign investment, became world’s greatest grain exporter
— Failed revolution in 1905. Unarmed petitioners marched on the Winter Palace, where the Imperial Guard fired upon them. Great Strike. Countless smaller strikes, demonstrations, skirmishes all over Russia, especially where Finland and Poland are today. Strikes mainly by workers, given approval by industrialists. Press began to criticise authorities. Basically a revolution, but lacked central leadership & organisation and thus failed to actually achieve much.
— Illegal Russia political parties began to emerge. The Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) began to develop in Switzerland in 1898. By 1903 it was split into Bolsheviks (Lenin&co, majority) and Mensheviks (minority). RSDLP socialists who wanted urban working class to lead the struggle against the monarchy. Another important party is Social Revolutionaries (SRs, 1901) who were agrarian socialists appealing to workers but mainly putting their faith in the peasantry. (Liberal) Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets) established in October 1905. All wanted overthrow of Romanov dynasty.
— Workers formed strike committees
— A mutiny happened in the Black Sea and a battleship took off for Romania (???)
— Troops returning from the losing war against Japan rebelled all along the Trans-Siberian railway
— September 1905: Soviet of Workers’ Deputies founded by St Petersburg Marxists. Elected by locals, it became an organ of revolutionary local self-government.
— Nicholas II took Sergei Witte’s advice & issued the October Manifesto (which Witte wrote). The manifesto promised “civil liberty on principles of true inviolability of person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly, and association.” Also established the formation of a Duma or government and universal male suffrage for it. Duma would have to consent to laws and stuff, which took some of the autocracy away from Nicky boy.
— Soon after there was the Basic Law which among other things introduced qualifications to October Manifesto. Nicky could dissolve it on a whim and rule by emergency decree.
— The elections weren’t actually democratic since the system was rigged so that richer people got more votes basically.
— First Duma: 1906. Far-reaching demands – confiscation of large estates, a genuinely democratic electoral system, right of Duma to approve Tsar’s ministers, right to strike, abolition of death penalty. Far too liberal for Nicholas, who had it disbanded after only ten weeks. Kadet leaders so angry that they went to Vyborg in Finland and called for people to not pay taxes until actual government was established. Nicholas held new elections.
— Second Duma: assembled in March 1907. Also radical, also disbanded.
— Third Duma: no longer democratically elected at all, since peasants and urban workers lost the right to vote. Much more conservative, lasted from 1907 until 1912.
— Fourth Duma: also conservative. Nothing special really. 1912 to 1917 when REVOLUTION! happened. Like Third Duma, had little real power since Tsar controlled the ministers and the secret police.
— This is where Stolypin kinda comes in yo. He was the Tsar’s Chief Minister (aka Prime Minister basically) from 1906 until he died in 1911 and he wanted to break the mirs aka small agricultural organisations and instead create a strong class of Kulaks (rich-ish farmers) by abandoning redemption payments and encouraging land purchases. Stolypin hated leftists, and had over 4,000 people executed. Limited autonomy of e.g. Finland & Poland, and strengthened emphasis of Russian language teaching and Russia as the heartland of the empire. He believed that 20 years of peace would mean no more danger of revolution, but he was assassinated by an SR in Kiev in 1911 before he could see if that happened. Ultimately his land reforms failed because the peasant population grew too fast.
— Also a problem was Rasputin. People believed he was the queen’s lover and he believed he was magical, and most people suspected him of having too much influence on the Tsar. He was also an alcoholic.
— More demonstrations and strikes. One wave was set off by the shooting of 270 strikers on the Lena goldfields in April 1912. The regime was super repressive, which obviously didn’t help anything. The government basically alienated the three most important sections – peasants, industrial workers, intelligentsia.
— The political parties began to emerge in earnest around 1912 as well.
then world war I happens and fucks a lot of shit up.
— Nicholas puts himself in charge, which is dumb because he doesn’t know much
— Brusilov offensive was successful, but Nick basically fucked up the advantage gained by it
— most materials, food etc. channelled to the frontiers, which made people hungry and unhappy and thus stirred revolutionary feeling.
— soldiers also discontent.
