WW1 & the Revolutions of 1917

October/November Revolution
1. 10th October
  1. Lenin attendeda meeting of the Bolshevik Central Committee and his cal for a Bolshevik led revolution was agreed
2. 20th October
  1. The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet met for the first time
3. 24-25th October
  1. Armed workers & soldiers led by the Bolsheviks and organised by the Military Revolutionary Committee took over key buildings & communication centres in Petrograd
4. 25-27th October
  1. The remaining members of the Provisional Government were arrested by the Bolsheviks; the revolution was announced at the second Congress of Soviets - the Congress adopted Lenin's decree on peace and on land and appointed the first Soviet government, the Council of People's Commissars, with Lenin as chairman
Impact of WW1: collapse of Tsardom
1. Immediate impact of war
  1. Nicholas II took Russia to war in 1914 against all warnings
  2. Initial outpouring of popular enthusiasn & patriotism: Duma voted for war credits and Russian soldiers carried icons of the tsar
  3. Battle of Tanneburg in East Prussia left 300,000 dead/injured which damaged morale
  4. Economic strains & serious shortages of munitions
2. Economic & social costs
  1. Cost of war rose from 1,500 million roubles to 14,500 million
  2. Production was slumped; acute fuel shortages
  3. A 300% rise in the cost of living, rising death rates because of insanitary lodgings
3. Military problems
  1. Soldiers were fighting without appropriate provisions
4. Political impact
  1. People demanded for a constitutional monarch; N2 took on the role of Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army & Navy
  2. Set up 'military zones' in which civilian authority was suspended; opposed by the Zemstva so they established the Union of Zemstva to provide medical facilities
  3. Rasputin was meddling in policies/politics& rumours about N2's German wife
The February/March Revolution
1. February 14th
  1. 100,000 workers from 58 different factories: 'Tsar has to go'
2. January 1917
  1. 150,00 workers demonstrated in Petrograd; anniversary of Bloody Sunday
3. February 22nd - 27th
  1. 24-27th - crowds swelled; overturned tsarist statues; waved red flags; wore red rosettes
  2. 23rd - International Women's Day, the woman's march turned political, female drivers refused to move so blocked city streets - male drivers were forced to take the keys off them, almost 240,000 workers came out
  3. 22nd - a further 20,000 workers went on strike
4. February 25th
  1. 200,000 workers still on strike; Petrograd was at a standstill; some soldiers joined in
5. February 26th
  1. N2 ordered the Duma to close down - Duma refused, encouraged a formation of a new government. N2 ignored the message, sent a message to deal with it by military force
6. February 27th
  1. The Duma formed a speical committee to discuss Russia's future - set up the Provisional Committe of the Duma & demanded the Tsar's abdication
    1. Generals of the High Command, who ordered troops to march to the capital to restore order, told them to stop & support the Duma committee
      1. Petrograd Soviet took up residence in Tuaride Palace - dominated by members of the Mensheviks
7. February 28th
  1. N2 left his military headquarters and made his way to Petrograd but was diverted miles away
  2. Petrograd soviet agreed that each regiment should elect committes which would send representatives to the Soviet - soviet of workers; order no was issued
8. March 1st
  1. Chief of staff put N2 under pressure to resign; agreed that the Petrograd Soviet would reccognise a Provisional Government; suggested that he resign with his younger brother, Mikhail, as regent
9. March 2nd
  1. N2 agreed; Mikhail new tsar - N2 under house arrest
10. Order No 1
  1. All units to elect a soldier's committee and a deputy
  2. No honorific titles to be used for officials
Russia & the Provisional Government
1. Outside Petrograd
  1. Soviets set up in towns for wokers & in rural areas for peasants
  2. Provisional governorswere replaced by Commissars; Committees of Private Organisations formed from old Zemstvo personnel
  3. Ordered to wait for a constituent Assembly - only controlled Petrograd, Moscow & central European provinces
2. Provisional Government
  1. March 2nd - set upby the Duma Committee & Petrograd Soviet
  2. It was provisional as it was waiting for a consituent Assembley elected under an equal, direct & secret ballot to draw up the new constitution
  3. A committee of Commissars was appointed to replace the tsarist regime - composed of mainly liberals: Octobrists & Kadets
  4. The Petrograd Soviet had to support the new government as it controlled the factories, essential services & the military - the Soviet did not press for redistrubution of land & the prov gov. promised to carry out all the demands
  5. Power was shared - prov govt ruled & soviet watchdog - tsarist officials were imprisoned; secret police abandoned & an air of optimism
3. Soviet demands
  1. A promise of independent judges, trial by jury & abolition of capital punishment & exile
  2. Freedom of speech & civil liberties
  3. Abolition of all legal restrictions based on class, nationality & religion

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WW1 & the Revolutions of 1917

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