Russian rulers develop what kind of government

Go where you belong from now on — into the dustbin of history! These would be followed by the arrests of Socialist Revolutionary Party and Menshevik leaders.

All in all, the transfer of power was complex and replete with conflict within the revolutionaries. The Decree on Land ratified the actions of the peasants who throughout Russia seized private land and redistributed it among themselves.

The Bolsheviks viewed themselves as representing an alliance of workers and peasants and memorialized that understanding with the hammer and sickle on the flag and coat of arms of the Soviet Union. Other decrees:. The success of the October Revolution transformed the Russian state into a soviet republic. A coalition of anti-Bolshevik groups attempted to unseat the new government in the Russian Civil War from to The two largest combatant groups were the Red Army, fighting for the Bolshevik form of socialism, and the loosely allied forces known as the White Army, which included diverse interests respectively favoring monarchism, capitalism, and alternative forms of socialism, each with democratic and antidemocratic variants.

In addition, rival militant socialists and non-ideological Green armies fought against both the Bolsheviks and the Whites. The remains of the White forces commanded by Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel were beaten in Crimea and evacuated in late Lesser battles of the war continued on the periphery for two more years, and minor skirmishes with the remnants of the White forces in the Far East continued well into Armed national resistance in Central Asia was not completely crushed until There were an estimated million casualties during the war, mostly civilians.

The Russian Civil War has been described by some as the greatest national catastrophe that Europe had yet seen. Many pro-independence movements emerged after the break-up of the Russian Empire and fought in the war. Several parts of the former Russian Empire—Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland—were established as sovereign states, with their own civil wars and wars of independence. The rest of the former Russian Empire was consolidated into the Soviet Union shortly afterwards.

Political commissars were appointed to each unit of the army to maintain morale and ensure loyalty. In June , when it became apparent that a revolutionary army composed solely of workers would be far too small, Trotsky instituted mandatory conscription of the rural peasantry into the Red Army.

Opposition of rural Russians to Red Army conscription units was overcome by taking hostages and shooting them when necessary in order to force compliance, the same practices used by the White Army officers. While resistance to the Red Guard began on the day after the Bolshevik uprising, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the political ban became a catalyst for the formation of anti-Bolshevik groups both inside and outside Russia, pushing them into action against the new regime.

A loose confederation of anti-Bolshevik forces aligned against the Communist government, including landowners, republicans, conservatives, middle-class citizens, reactionaries, pro-monarchists, liberals, army generals, non-Bolshevik socialists who still had grievances, and democratic reformists voluntarily united only in their opposition to Bolshevik rule.

Their military forces, bolstered by forced conscriptions and terror and by foreign influence and led by Gen. Yudenich, Adm. Kolchak, and Gen. The Western Allies armed and supported opponents of the Bolsheviks. Hence, many of these countries expressed their support for the Whites, including the provision of troops and supplies.

After the treaty, it looked like much of that material would fall into the hands of the Germans. There were violent clashes with troops loyal to the Bolsheviks. The results of the civil war were momentous. Soviet demographer Boris Urlanis estimated the total number of men killed in action in the Civil War and Polish-Soviet War at , , in the Red Army, , White armies and Poles and the total number of military personnel dead from disease on both sides as , The droughts of and , as well as the famine, worsened the disaster still further.

Disease had reached pandemic proportions, with 3 million dying of typhus alone in Millions more also died of widespread starvation, wholesale massacres by both sides, and pogroms against Jews in Ukraine and southern Russia.

By there were at least 7 million street children in Russia as a result of nearly ten years of devastation from the Great War and the civil war. Wrangel—some through the Far East, others west into the newly independent Baltic countries. The Russian economy was devastated by the war, with factories and bridges destroyed, cattle and raw materials pillaged, mines flooded, and machines damaged. The industrial production value descended to one-seventh of the value of and agriculture to one-third.

War Communism saved the Soviet government during the Civil War, but much of the Russian economy had ground to a standstill. The peasants responded to requisitions by refusing to till the land. The government of the Soviet Union, formed in with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian republics, was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party Bolsheviks , who increasingly developed a totalitarian regime, especially during the reign of Joseph Stalin.

It was nominally a supranational union of national republics, but its government and economy were highly centralized in a state that was unitary in most respects. In , the communists Reds were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, and Byelorussian republics. The original ideology of the state was primarily based on the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Stalin suppressed all political opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism—Leninism which he created , and initiated a centrally planned command economy. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe.

Stalin also fomented political paranoia and conducted the Great Purge to remove opponents of his from the Communist Party through the mass arbitrary arrest of many people military leaders, Communist Party members, and ordinary citizens alike who were then sent to correctional labor camps gulags or sentenced to death. The same year, a Soviet Constitution was approved, legitimizing the December union.

An intensive restructuring of the economy, industry and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in A large part of this was done according to the Bolshevik Initial Decrees, government documents signed by Vladimir Lenin.

One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the GOELRO plan, which envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country. The plan was developed in and covered a to year period. It included construction of a network of 30 regional power stations, including ten large hydroelectric power plants and numerous electric-powered large industrial enterprises.

The plan became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans and was fulfilled by During the Civil War —21 , the Bolsheviks adopted war communism, which entailed the breakup of the landed estates and the forcible seizure of agricultural surpluses. Many city dwellers fled to the countryside, often to tend the land that the Bolshevik breakup of the landed estates had transferred to the peasants.

Strong opposition soon developed. The peasants wanted cash payments for their products and resented having to surrender their surplus grain to the government as a part of its civil war policies. The peasants were freed from wholesale levies of grain and allowed to sell their surplus produce in the open market. Commerce was stimulated by permitting private retail trading. The state continued to be responsible for banking, transportation, heavy industry, and public utilities. Although the left opposition among the Communists criticized the rich peasants, or kulaks, who benefited from the NEP, the program proved highly beneficial and the economy revived.

Lenin and Stalin : Toward the end of his life, Lenin became increasingly anxious about Stalin and began criticizing him and urging his removal as general secretary. Stalin reacted furiously and the Orgburo was retained, but Bukharin, Trotsky, and Zinoviev were added to the body.

By gradually consolidating his influence and isolating and outmaneuvering his rivals within the party, Stalin became the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union and, by the end of the s, established totalitarian rule. The Central Committee decided not to publish the testament.

In place of the internationalism expressed by Lenin throughout the Revolution, it aimed to build Socialism in One Country. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of industrialization. Famines ensued, causing millions of deaths; surviving kulaks were persecuted and many sent to Gulags to do forced labor.

Social upheaval continued in the mids. Over two years, that averages to over one thousand executions a day. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. The Interwar Period. Search for:. The Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution of The Russian Revolution of was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire, which included worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies.

Learning Objectives Outline the events of the Revolution, along with its successes and failures. When the procession reached the palace, Cossacks opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds. The Russian masses were so aroused over the massacre that a general strike was declared demanding a democratic republic, which marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution of Soviets councils of workers appeared in most cities to direct revolutionary activity.

In October , Tsar Nicholas reluctantly issued the famous October Manifesto, which conceded the creation of a national Duma legislature , as well as the right to vote, and affirmed that no law was to go into force without confirmation by the Duma. The moderate groups were satisfied, but the socialists rejected the concessions as insufficient and tried to organize new strikes.

Key Terms Russian Constitution of : A major revision of the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, which transformed the formerly absolutist state into one in which the emperor agreed for the first time to share his autocratic power with a parliament. It was enacted on May 6, , on the eve of the opening of the first State Duma. It convened four times between April and the collapse of the Empire in February Russification : A form of cultural assimilation during which non-Russian communities, voluntarily or not, give up their culture and language in favor of the Russian one.

In a historical sense, the term refers to both official and unofficial policies of Imperial Russia and the Soviet Union with respect to their national constituents and to national minorities in Russia, aimed at Russian domination.

Rising Discontent in Russia Under Tsar Nicholas II reigned — , the Russian Empire slowly industrialized amidst increased discontent and dissent among the lower classes. Learning Objectives Name a few reasons the Russian populace was discontented with its leadership. The Russian Revolution of was a major factor of the February Revolutions of , unleashing a steady current of worker unrest and increased political agitation.

They ultimately became the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. However, its activities were quickly repressed by the government. The model would later become central to the communists during the Revolution of His reign saw the fall of the Russian Empire from one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic and military collapse.

Due to the Khodynka Tragedy, anti-Semitic pogroms, Bloody Sunday, the violent suppression of the Revolution, the execution of political opponents, and his perceived responsibility for the Russo-Japanese War, he was given the nickname Nicholas the Bloody by his political adversaries. To fill the vacuum of authority, the Duma legislature declared a provisional government headed by Prince Lvov, collectively known as the Russian Republic. The Soviets initially permitted the provisional government to rule, but insisted on a prerogative to influence decisions and control various militias.

During this chaotic period there were frequent mutinies, protests, and strikes, such as the July Days. The period of competition for authority ended in late October when Bolsheviks routed the ministers of the Provisional Government in the events known as the October Revolution and placed power in the hands of the soviets, which had given their support to the Bolsheviks.

Large protests by Russian workers against the monarchy led to the Bloody Sunday massacre of The massacre sparked the Russian revolution of , during which angry workers responded with a series of crippling strikes throughout the country.

After the bloodshed of , Czar Nicholas II promised the formation of a series of representative assemblies, or Dumas, to work toward reform. Their involvement in the war would soon prove disastrous for the Russian Empire.

Militarily, imperial Russia was no match for industrialized Germany, and Russian casualties were greater than those sustained by any nation in any previous war.

Food and fuel shortages plagued Russia as inflation mounted. The economy was hopelessly disrupted by the costly war effort. Czar Nicholas left the Russian capital of Petrograd St. Petersburg in to take command of the Russian Army front. During this time, her controversial advisor, Grigory Rasputin , increased his influence over Russian politics and the royal Romanov family.

By then, most Russians had lost faith in the failed leadership of the czar. Government corruption was rampant, the Russian economy remained backward and Nicholas repeatedly dissolved the Duma , the toothless Russian parliament established after the revolution, when it opposed his will.

Demonstrators clamoring for bread took to the streets of Petrograd. Supported by huge crowds of striking industrial workers, the protesters clashed with police but refused to leave the streets. On March 11, the troops of the Petrograd army garrison were called out to quell the uprising.

In some encounters, the regiments opened fire, killing demonstrators, but the protesters kept to the streets and the troops began to waver. The Duma formed a provisional government on March A few days later, Czar Nicholas abdicated the throne, ending centuries of Russian Romanov rule. The leaders of the provisional government, including young Russian lawyer Alexander Kerensky, established a liberal program of rights such as freedom of speech, equality before the law, and the right of unions to organize and strike.

They opposed violent social revolution. As minister of war, Kerensky continued the Russian war effort, even though Russian involvement in World War I was enormously unpopular. Unrest continued to grow as peasants looted farms and food riots erupted in the cities. Lenin instead called for a Soviet government that would be ruled directly by councils of soldiers, peasants and workers. The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and other strategic locations in Petrograd, and soon formed a new government with Lenin as its head.

Civil War broke out in Russia in late after the Bolshevik Revolution. The warring factions included the Red and White Armies. The White Army represented a large group of loosely allied forces, including monarchists, capitalists and supporters of democratic socialism. The Tsarist state system had developed over a long period. The Tsar's authority was supported by several features. These are known as the 'Pillars of Autocracy'.

This vast, diverse Empire was ruled by a series of Tsars. They ran the country as autocrats. This meant that the Tsar, and only the Tsar, governed Russia:. Tsars believed that they had a divine right to rule Russia, their position and power had been given to them by God.

The nobility accounted for approximately 10 per cent of the population. This upper class owned all the land and was dependent on the Tsar.

They also dominated the army command and civil service:. The Tsarist legal system was designed to support autocracy and Tsarist authority. It was also intended to suppress opposition and increase fear among the population:.

A standard punishment for opponents of the Tsar was exile to the remote region of Siberia.