Russia In 1917

Front 1

1. How much bigger was the Russian Empire in 1917 compared to Britain?

Back 1

It was 92 times bigger

Front 2

2. Where did it stretch?

Back 2

It stretched from Europe in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east and from the Arctic Ocean in the north to Afghanistan in the south.

Front 3

3. How many km^2 did it cover?

Back 3

It covered about 22.3 million square kilometers, about a sixth of all the land in the world

Front 4

4. What did the size make it hard to do?

Back 4

Its size made it very hard to govern

Front 5

5. How was it hard to govern?

Back 5

1. communications were difficult

2. roads were unpaved and slow, thick with mud for much of the year in some places

3. new railways only connected a fraction of the country

Front 6

6. How else were communications difficult?

Back 6

In 1897, when its only census was taken, Russia had over 125.6 million people.

Front 7

7. How many of these people spoe Russian?

Back 7

Only 55 million people could speak Russian

Front 8

8. What happened despite this?

Back 8

Russian was the language of government and people were expected to conform to Russian ways, in a process called 'Russification'.

Front 9

9. Talk about the nationalities?

Back 9

There were hundreds of different nationalities, living in very different ways in climates that ranged from desert to permanent ice.

Front 10

10. What did they all have in common?

Back 10

They were all PEASANTS

Front 11

11. What did the 1897 census show?

Back 11

It showed terrible social inequality in Russia

Front 12

12. What key facts were discovered?

Back 12

1. over half of the peasants had no land or homes of their own

2. much of the farmland was of poor quality and farmed with old fashioned methods

3. thee population was rising and more people were moving to towns, so more food was needed and food shortages were common

Front 13

13. Who did most of the land belong to?

Back 13

Most of the land, most of the wealth and all of the power belonged to about 1 million of the 125.6 million people. These people did no go hungry when there were food shortages

Front 14

14. What were more and more peasants doing?

Back 14

They were moving to towns and cities to look for work in factories.

Front 15

15. Talk about Moscow?

Back 15

Moscow, with a total population of 1.8 million, was the most industrialized city; just under 50% of all factory workers worked there.

Front 16

16. How was the life in towns?

Back 16

Life in towns was not easy. Work was difficult to find. The hours were long, the pay was low and the work was hard and dangerous - accidents were common.

Front 17

17. Where did factory workers live?

Back 17

They lived in the worst part of town, it was often ten to a room, taking it turns to sleep. However, many thought it was better than being a peasant

Front 18

18. How did factory owners live?

Back 18

They lived well. They made huge profits by paying low wages and they spent very little on improving living or working conditions for their workers

Front 19

19. What was Russia ruled by?

Back 19

It was ruled by a Tsar who made all the decisions, advised by a Council of Ministers chosen from his friends in the nobility

Front 20

20. What happened since 1613?

Back 20

The Tsar had always come from Romanov family.

Front 21

21. What did the Russian Orthodox Church support?

Back 21

It supported the Tsars and encouraged the belief that they were above criticism and chosen to rule by God; people should always obey the Tsar and his officials.

Front 22

22. Who became the Tsar in 1894?

Back 22

Nicholas II

Front 23

23. What type of man was he?

Back 23

He was an indecisive man who, when told he had become Tsar said 'I am not ready to be Tsar. I know nothing aabout the business of ruling'

Front 24

24. What did he think about the problems in Russia?

Back 24

He did not think enough about them. Books and newspapers were censored to make sure they were not hostile.

Front 25

25. What did a secret police do?

Back 25

A secret police, the Okhrana, looked for opponents of the Tsar. These people were usually exiled to Siberia, 3000 miles away in the icy north. Other critics left the country.

Front 26

26. What happened in 1905?

Back 26

There was a series of demonstrations and strikes against the way things were.

Front 27

27. What did Troops guarding the Tsar's Winter Palace in St Petersburg do?

Back 27

Troops guarding the Tsar's Winter Palace in St Petersburg fired into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators killing 130 and wounding many more.

Front 28

28. What did this produce?

Back 28

It produced more strikes and more unrest.

Front 29

29. What did the St Petersburg strikers form?

Back 29

They formed a soviet - a workers' council to organise strikes.

Front 30

30. What happened in the city?

Back 30

Work in the city stopped. Soviets were organised in more and more towns and cities. They took over in some places, replacing the Tsar's government

Front 31

31. What did Nicholas II set up survive?

Back 31

He set up a Duma, a parliament with two houses, one elected by the people, to advise him.

Front 32

32. What did he agree?

Back 32

He agreed people coul set up political parties and trade unions.

Front 33

33. What could people now do?

Back 33

They could now hold meetings and discuss politics openly

Front 34

34. Despite his promises, what did Nicholas not want?

Back 34

Nicholas did not want to share power. He believed in his right to rule alone. He changed the voting system to make sure the people elected to the system to the Duma would agree with him, not demand reforms.

Front 35

35. What could political parties do?

Back 35

They could meet, even if they had no real power in the Duma

Front 36

36. Who were monarchists?

Back 36

They supported the Tsar and wanted a return to the rule of the Tsar, advised by a few nobles.

Front 37

37. Who were constitutionalists?

Back 37

They wanted the Tsar's power limited by a constitution and some kind of parliament. The most important were the Constitutional Democratic Party, the Octobrists, and the Progressists, Most of the first Duma's came from these parties.

Front 38

38. What happened as time passed?

Back 38

The Tsar began to feel safe again, it became clear there was a huge difference between what he had promised in October 1905 and what he would really allow

Front 39

39. What did he reduce?

Back 39

He reduced the voting rights of the Duma, and then stopped calling it at all.

Front 40

40. What happened to political parties and trade unions?

Back 40

They were all legal, but the secret police often broke up their meetings. Their leaders often went to prison or exile in Siberia. The St Petersburg Soviet stopped meeting, although smaller soviets kept going.

Front 41

41. In Duma, how many socialists deputies didn't vote for extra taxes for the war?

Back 41

21

Front 42

42. What did the name of the capital change from?

Back 42

It changed from St Petersburg to Petrograd.

Front 43

43. Why was Russia at a disadvantage?

Back 43

Because of its size, poor transport systems and its inefficient industry and agriculture. The army was huge, but badly equipped. At its worst this meant some Russia soldiers took part in attacks with no rifle - they were told to pick up one dropped by a shot comrade before they got to the German trenches.

Front 44

44. What happened 1915?

Back 44

The Germans pushed the Russia army back. It lost over 2 million men, and large parts of four provinces, including a major coal mining district.

Front 45

45. What happened in September 1915?

Back 45

Because the war was going so badly, Tsar took personal command of the Army. This made his situation worse. The war went no better and Tsar was blamed. He left his wife, her mistakes by Tsar unpopular

Front 46

46. What happened by 1917?

Back 46

Over 15 million had joined the army - most because they were constripted.

Front 47

47. What did constripting millions of peasants and trained factory workers do?

Back 47

Made it harder to grow enough food and to keep industrial production up. The army also requisitioned horses from the farms, which made it hard to plough as well as causing transpart problems.

Front 48

48. What did the collapse of fertiliser production do?

Back 48

It made food shortages in the cities much worse, just as 6 million extra people went to live there to work in the new factories needed for the war effort.

Front 49

49. Why did the workers in the cities in the north suffer the most?

Back 49

Unlike the peasants, who might have some crops stored up, they had to buy food or not eat.

Front 50

50. What happened between 1914 and 1916?

Back 50

The amount of food people ate fell by at least 25% while infant mortality doubled.

Front 51

51. By 1917, how was the crime rate affected?

Back 51

It was three times as great in cities as in 1914.

Front 52

52. What were the leaders quick to do?

Back 52

The leaders of the soviets in these cities, often Bolsheviks or Mensheviks, were quick to repsond to the worsening conditions and the growing lack of government control.

Front 53

53. What did they hold?

Back 53

They held meetings about the shortages, the deaths at the front, government incompetence. They talked about revolution and the workers listened. People no longer gave the Tsar the automatic loyalty they once did - making excuses that he was ;badly advised' and that he loved his people

Front 54

54. What did the loyalty mean?

Back 54

It was one of the factors that had stopped people short of open revolt before. Now it was gone.