Chapter 14- Russian Revolution

White Army

Russians who opposed Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

Rasputin

Siberian peasant monk who was religious advisor in the court of Nicholas II. claimed to heal the sick and have prophecy. He had much influence over Tsarina Alexandra and she often went to him for advise on political issues.

provisional government

The government established in 1917 which replaced Tsar Nicholas II when he abdicated. The only mistake of this government was not getting Russia out of the brutal World War I.

Great Purge

The widespread arrests and executions of over 8 to 13 million people by Josef Stalin between 1936 and 1938. Stalin was attempting to eliminate all opposition to his rule of the Soviet Union.

reasons autocratic rule by Czar Alexander and Czar Nicholas led to revolution

censorship codes; monitored schools and universities; dissidents exiled to Siberia; enforced a uniform Russian culture

censorship

control of what people read or write or see or hear; efforts to prohibit free expression of ideas

Soviets

councils of workers and soldiers

outcome of Bolshevik revolution

weak & ineffective provisional government toppled; land redistribution from wealthy landowners to peasants; workers gain control of factories; treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Communist Party

A political party practicing the ideas of Karl Marx and Lenin originally the Russian Bolshevik

Red Army

Bolshevik military organization constructed under leadership of Leon Trotsky, Bolshevik follower of Lenin; made use of people of humble background

Joseph Stalin

Bolshevik revolutionary, head of the Soviet Communists after 1924, and dictator of the Soviet Union from 1928 to 1953. He led the Soviet Union with an iron fist, using Five-Year Plans to increase industrial production and terror to crush opposition

Karl Marx

German journalist and philosopher, founder of the Marxist branch of socialism. He is known for two books: The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital

Factors that contributed to the Russian revolution

Policies of the czar, industrialization & economic growth, Russo-Japanese War, Bloody Sunday, World War 1, The March Revolution

Factors that helped the Bolsheviks gain and maintain power

November 1917 revolution, civil war (1918 - 1920 White vs Red Army) and the organization of Russia into republics

Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of 1905

On January 22, 1905, about 200,000 workers surrounded the Czar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg(Leningrad under communist Russia) and demand better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. The Czar orders the crowd to be fired upon killing several hundred and wounding over a thousand.

New economic policy

Policy proclaimed by Vladimir Lenin in 1924 to encourage the revival of the Soviet economy by allowing small private enterprises. Joseph Stalin ended the N.E.P. in 1928 and replaced it with a series of Five-Year Plans. (See also Lenin, Vladimir.) (p. 766)

Bolsheviks

Radical Marxist political party founded by Vladimir Lenin in 1903. Under Lenin's leadership, the Bolsheviks seized power in November 1917 during the Russian Revolution.

Duma

Russia's first elected national legislature or parliament

5 year plan

Stalin's plan to reorganize the industry and agriculture to catch up with the industrialized west with collectivization of farms and unrealistic production quotas in factories

Gulag

System of Siberian prison camps and penal colonies set up during Stalin's dictatorship

Russian Orthodox Church

The church of Russia, branch of; supported the Tsar; There was a gap between poor parish peasants and rich bishops

Mensheviks

The party which opposed to the Bolsheviks. Started in 1903 by Martov, after dispute with Lenin. The Mensheviks wanted a democratic party with mass membership.

Russo-Japanese War

War between Russia and Japan over the lands of Manchuria and the Korean Peninsula in 1905. Japan wins the war. This was a humiliating defeat for Russia.

March Revolution

Workers and protestors take over St Petersburg. Czar abdicates; Duma creates a temporary government. Bolsheviks become the leaders of Russia.

Police State

a country in which the gov't has total control over people and uses secret police to find and punish people who rebel or protest

totalitarianism

a form of government in which the ruler is an absolute dictator (not restricted by a constitution or laws or opposition etc.)

czar (tsar)

a male king or emperor (especially of Russia prior to 1917)

communism

a political theory favoring collectivism in a classless society

Proletariat

a social class comprising those who do manual labor or work for wages in Russia

command economy

a system in which the central government makes all economic decisions

Lenin

founded the Bolshevik party which became the Communist Party in Russia and set up the world's first Communist Party dictatorship. He led the October Revolution of 1917, in which the Communists seized power in Russia. He then ruled the country until his death in 1924.

Propaganda

ideas or information designed and spread to influence opinion

Pravda

means truth. The Bolshevik party's newspaper whose offices were shut down by provisional government troops.

Red Terror

police state, concentration camps, executed the Czar and his family; White Army defeated; 13 million dead and 2 million emigrated to other countries

reasons industrialization in Russia led to revolution

poor working conditions, low wages, child labor, lagged behind Western Europe

police terror

refers to totalitarian dictators' use of terror and violence to force obedience and crush opposition

persecution

the abuse of a person or group because of their beliefs or appearance

indoctrination

totalitarian method of instruction in the government's beliefs to mold people's minds, by taking over control of the schools.