Ir 345 Midterm

Front 1

Kievan Rus

Back 1

First Russian state

Made of Nordic Viking principalities

Kiev was the center and strongest

relatively democratic nature

weak, decentralized, vulnerable

Mongol invasion in 1240-1480

pinned the states against one another

gained territory in Russia by doing so

Front 2

Ivan the Terrible

Back 2

Part of the rise of Muscovy

Kiev no longer center but Moscow now

Had to become like the Mongols to survive

abandon democratic principalities for autocracy

Ivan the Great is the first leader of this

Created first secret police (oprichniva)

Felt it was his duty to dispose of Boyar nobility challenges

Front 3

Peter the Great

Back 3

Known for the Europeanization of Russia through culture, but disliked their parliament system

Front 4

1812

Back 4

French Revolution

Catherine II (the great) and Alexander I (Liberator

ditches liberal outlook for more conservative

Front 5

Intelligentsia

Back 5

Later 19th century saw the split between slavophiles and westernizers

Front 6

Great Refroms

Back 6

Influenced by the Crimean War, Alexander II pursued a series of sweeping reforms.

Modern judicial system

Overhaul of military

Liberation of Serfs (end of force-labor econ)

Russian army was dependent on serfs

poorly trained, no reserves like the West

Alexander is non-approving of reservist system b/c of threat of rebellion by trained serf troops

Front 7

Russo-Japanese War

Back 7

Led to the 1905 revolution and brought about the first quasi-democratic institutions in this period. Broke out partially because of the devastating loss to Japanese, Russian fleet was ambushed and sunk, humiliated. Huge drain on treasury. Lack of transportation on the one rail system they had to get troops back from war.

Out of this chaos, Nicholas the II agreed to the DUMA (the first national legislative body)

DUMA had small restraints on Tsarist power

Discussed, debated, and approved budgetary outlays

Political Parties are permitted for the first time

*Emergence of SOVIETS (labor unions) in all sectors

Front 8

NEP

Back 8

After the Russian Civil war between the Red and Whites, and the Kronstat mutiny, Lenin introduced a partial return to capitalism

Private enterprise, trade, and small scale manufacturing

Bolsheviks controlled commanding heights of banking, military and government etc.

Front 9

Show Trials

Back 9

Part of Stalin's "The Great Terror"

): Political and personal attacks upon upper echelons of the party and then the population en masse. People accused of being spies, Trotskyites, etc. NKVD used heavily. Extraction of false confessions through torture. Bukharin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, and so on all executed through show trials. In the last phases of these trials Stalin tackled the top generals in the military and eliminated 3 out of 5 marshalls (top rank), all 8 generals, wipes out the officer corps, etc. Hugely disruptive to development, military, etc. Explanation is that Stalin believed in an iron grip, as well as paranoia and bitterness towards those who had mocked him prior to his rise to power.

Front 10

Munich Conference

Back 10

Soviet response: In 1938 there had been the Munich Conference, where Hitler presented his demands for the Sudetenland (Czech territory) which ultimately turned into an annexation that was permitted by Neville Chamberlain (British PM) as a policy of appeasement. Stalin argued that the Western powers had fueled Hitler and attempted to turn his appetite towards the East. On these grounds, the Munich Conference represented a betrayal by the West, to which the USSR responded in 1939.

Did Stalin expect an eventual German attack? Yes, but thought that the pact would buy him some extra time while Germany was bogged down fighting in the West. Did not anticipate how quickly Germany would take the West. Stalin did not expect the French to collapse and surrender within a few weeks. Britain came under siege by the Lufftewaffe (German airforce).

Front 11

June 22, 1941

Back 11

German attack on USSR. German had not defeated UK yet, but used it as a screen for their intentions, such that USSR thought that conquering Britain was the German priority. Stalin only had a year, rather than the expected two to prepare for war.

Operation Barbarossa by Germans

4million soldiers, 600k vehicles – largest mechanized invasion in history. They found 40% of key Soviet forces. They destroyed 90% of Soviet tanks, and within 3 days had destroyed 4,000+ Soviet aircraft. Germans attacked on three axes – North upwards towards Leningrad through the newly acquired territories; Center towards Moscow; South across the Volga towards the Soviet oil fields in the Baltic region.

Stalin gave an order for “no retreat” – this ruled out the option for tactical retreat. Troops were slaughtered by Germans, while more were killed by NKVD troops when they tried to fall back. Another order was that if you were taken prisoner as a Soviet soldier, you were automatically guilty of treason – and Stalin did in fact punish them after the war.

Front 12

Khrushcheb

Back 12

Secret Speech (denounced Stalin)

Sincere Revulsion of Stalin

Economic Motivation

Political Expediency

Mind behind the building of the Berlin Wall

Front 13

The Prague Spring (Brezhnev)

Back 13

Peaceful movement in Czechoslovakia (no violence)

Brezhnev sent tanks and the army in anyways

Told the Communist party in Czech that by calling fore reform, they were undermining the entire Communist System.

Front 14

INF Treaty (Gorbachev)

Back 14

1987 INF Treaty: Nuclear disarmament treaty – USSR gave up much more than US per usual, but Gorbachev was not really concerned about proportionality. It was a new era for Soviet Union – détente, involvement in peace operations abroad, stopped supporting Cuba, withdrew troops from Afghanistan etc. Problem was the rise of ethno-nationalism.

Front 15

Glasnost & New Thinking (Gorbachev)

Back 15

Glasnost: ending of censorship domestically. Publications of foreign literature and prohibited writings. This led to an influx of new literature criticizing Soviet foreign policy, domestic problems i.e. alcoholism, etc.

New Thinking: Forget about ideology. Gorbachev spoke about deideolization in talk to the UN. Spoke about common human values. This paved way for wave of arms talks, treaties, and negotiations and ultimately end of Cold War

Front 16

Karabakh

Back 16

Armenia-Azerbaijan. Border dispute over large Karabakh territory that had been made Azerbaihani territory, but was predominantly Armenian. Conflict broke into full-scale war

Front 17

Perestroika

Back 17

Most importantly, Khrushchev inspired the “Children of the 20th Party Congress,” who would be a strong impetus of support for Gorbachev and Glasnost/Perestroika.