InNo+RyanC2013+10.19.2010

=Home Made Awesomeness!!!!!!!=



I made this graph to express what my understanding is of how much certain events affected the Revolution. I find that the most influential of these would have to be the support for the Petrograd, because with the support of the people and armies the revolutionaries were able to take action. Not all the influences of the second revolution are graphed, however all the ones which are important to the beginning of the revolution are.

=Borrowed Awesomeness=



When I read Chapter 7, I kept reading that Rasputin was a kind of evil man who was influencing the government in bad ways. His influence over the government was called the "dark forces". This immediately caused me to think of Voldemort. Voldemort like Rasputin influenced government officials or important figures (like the Malfoys), Voldemort was also the "dark forces" in Harry Potter. Disney also displays Rasputin as an evil guy, and his character in Disney's Anastasia, is able to control dark forces to attack the Princess. Rasputin's ability to live for so long was part of his curse he cast called the Romanov curse, another hint of his "dark force".

(Just to let anyone who's reading know, the pictures were order from large to small, but wiki tends to mess up format.)

=Chapter 7= toc

Intro

 * Russia went to war against Germany in August 1914.

Early Defeats

 * Russia sent two large armies to attack Germany in August 1914, however the Russians lost.The Russian soldiers were commanded and equipped badly.
 * Both Russian armies were destroyed in the battles of **Tannenberg** and **Masurian Lakes**.
 * By the end of 1914 the Russians were already down by 1 million.

Economy Collapses

 * The war in 1915 caused a lack of workers, as 15.5 million young men were recruited into the army, halving the number of workers.
 * Railways also became a problem as there were not enough trains to supply soldiers and people with food and other materials.
 * Thousands of rations rotted as they couldn’t be transported to the starving citizens and soldiers.
 * Coal also couldn’t be transported, which was large factor to the shutting down of factories.
 * Inflation also grew as food prices grew, which meant that wages people were paid couldn’t purchase as much food as before.
 * All the time the Russians were being defeated, and almost 3 million soldiers were out of action.

“German Agents”

 * In August 1915, Tsar Nicholas 2 personally took command of his armies, leaving Alexandra in charge of the government.
 * This was a fatal mistake as Alexandra was under the influence of Rasputin.
 * Alexandra did what she pleased, which included the sacking of ministers that were out of her and Rasputin’s favor.
 * Rasputin had many different minister which were being changed regularly bringing the government to a halt.
 * This caused supplies to war became rare.
 * In Petrograd (St. Petersburg) rumors were spreading that since Alexandra was German, then Alexandra and Rasputin must be German Agentssabotaging the government from the inside.
 * Close supporters of the Tsar said that there were ‘dark forces destroying the throne’.
 * Three nobles who were loyal to the Tsar murdered Rasputin to end the ‘dark forces’
 * At the news of Rasputin’s death people started to celebrate the end of the ‘dark forces’.
 * (…Voldemort)
 * Followed by Rasputin’s death came blizzards and low temperatures that froze railway engines and their boilers.
 * Food and other necessities were impossible to be transported.
 * Under these conditions people started to freeze and their homes, and ideas of a revolution began to thaw.

= Chapter 8 =

Wednesday 7 March

 * A giant steel factory shut down throwing 20,000 angry and tough steel workers out onto the streets, looking for trouble.
 * Workers in other factories supported these steel workers by going on strike.

Thursday 8 March

 * On International Women’s Day, 50 factories shut down which caused 90,000 workers to go workless.
 * Thousands of socialist women went onto the streets demonstrating.
 * Everyone was thinking about bread.

Friday 9 March

 * 200,00 workers were on strike.

Saturday 10 March

 * 250,000 workers went on strike as public transport and newspapers became no more, and food shortages grew.
 * Cossacks disobeyed orders and refused to attack strikers.

Sunday March 11

 * The President of the Duma, Michael Rodzianko, sent a telegram to the tsar telling him that a new government was needed to stop rebuild the country.
 * The Tsar responded by ordering a halt to Duma meetings.

Monday 12 March

 * A morning mutiny began in Volinsky’s army when a sergeant shot his commanding officer dead.Soldiers then marched out of their barracks and into the centre of Petrograd (St. Petersburg)
 * The Duma then held a meeting against the Tsar’s order.
 * T hey set up a tweleve man committee called the **Provisional Committee** to take control of the government.
 * During the evening revolutionaries set up a **Soviet**, or council, of workers and soldiers.
 * The Soviets planned to take over the government and reorganize food supplies.

Tuesday 13 March

 * Tsar Nicholas telegrammed the Duma, to tell them that he would share power with them.

Wednesday 14 March

 * Leading army generals telegrammed Nicholas, announcing that they no longer supported Nicholas.
 * Nicholas tried to return to Petrograd (St. Petersburg) to regain control over the situation.

Thursday 15 March

 * Nicholas’s train was halted by revolutionaries, and Nicholas then agreed to abdicate and hand his throne to Alexis.
 * When he realized Alexis was too ill, he gave the throne to his brother, Grand Duke Michael.
 * Grand Duke Michael feared he would be unpopular and he too adicated the throne.
 * Russia then became a republic, which is a government that had an elected leader.
 * The competition for government was started between Duma’s Provisional Committee and Petrograd Soviet.

= Chapter 9 =

Two New Governments

 * Russia’s new government consisted of the 12 men committee called the **Provisional Government** appointed by the Duma.
 * Provisional Government – government that would rule for a short time until elections were held.
 * The Provisional Government was the official government, however they had their rival the **Petrograd Soviet**.
 * Petrograd Soviet supported workers and soldiers.
 * Other Soviets were formed all over Russia, following the Petrograd Soviet’s every order, which gave Petrograd Soviet great power.
 * The first ordered the Petrograd Soviets ordered was issued to the army.
 * This order commanded the army to set up committees that would take control of weapons.
 * This order also required soldiers to discontinue saluting their officers and the addressing of them as “Your Excellency”.
 * It was now ‘Mister (Rank)’.
 * This order was carried out by the army, which showed its support for Petrograd Soviet.
 * The 2,500 deputies of the Petrograd soviets were all revolutionaries who wanted to return land to the peasants and factories to the workers.
 * They did not do so, and decided to co-operate with the Provisional Government.

Lenin and the April Theses

 * Lenin decided to come out of his exile to organize Russia for a second revolution.
 * The road back to Petrograd was blocked by Russia’s enemies Germany and Austria.
 * However the Germans knew Lenin would cause trouble, so they provided Lenin with transportation all the way across Germany safely.
 * Once he arrived in 16 April 1917, he made a speech to his fellow Bolsheviks.
 * His ideas during the speech became the **April** **Theses**:
 * 1) He demanded that there be an end to the German war.
 * 2) That all land be returned to the peasants.
 * 3) That the Bolsheviks be renamed “Communists” and that the Provisional Government should be given no support.
 * 4) Soviets should band together to form a new government.
 * The April Theses surprised many as they though a second revolution was not ripe yet.
 * They were right as Russia lost a major battle to Austria, and soldiers fled to Bolsheviks in Petrograd to demand and end to the Provisional Government, and the rising of the Bolsheviks.
 * The three days of rioting called the **July Days**, Alexander Kerensky the minster of war ordered loyal troops to break up the riots.
 * The troops killed and wounded 400 of the protesters.
 * Kerensky then claimed that the Bolsheviks were traitors paid by the German, and Lenin was the head German Agent
 * Lenin fled across the border, while leading Bolsheviks were arrested.

Kornilov Revolt

 * Kerensky became the new Prime Minister, and his rival was General Kornilov, Commander in Chief.
 * Kornilov believed he should be in charge.
 * He planned to get rid of the Petrograd Soviet, to arrest revolutionaries, and to take over the Provisional Government so he could continue to fight Germany.
 * Kornilov’s rebel were elite, they were the Savage Division from the Caucasus Mt. and the Cossacks.
 * When he sent them to Petrograd to take down the Provisional Government it looked like he would succeed as he was winning in numbers.
 * Kerensky allowed a defense force to be set up by the Bolsheviks called the **Red Guards**.
 * 25,000 Bolsheviks armed the streets.
 * Kornilov’s troops refused to fight fellow workers, and Kornilov himself was arrested.
 * The Bolsheviks redeemed themselves as loyal heroes for saving the Provisional Government.
 * They also became stronger as a fighting force.
 * Their position became stronger as they received majority elections from Petrograd Soviets and many Soviets in other big cities.
 * By October 1917 the Bolsheviks were powerful enough that they began considering a second revolution.

= Chapter 10 =

Russia’s status in September 1917

 * During the summer of 1917 ,on more than 2000 farms, peasants began to kill their landlords and take land, as they became impatient with the Provisional Government to give them land.
 * Kerensky tried to stop this by sending soldiers to punish the peasants, however his lack of loyal troops caused the violence between peasants and landlords to continue.
 * The violence delayed harvest resulting in food shortages, which made Russia’s food shortage even worse.
 * Armies started to lose discipline under the influence Petrograd Soviet Order No.1.
 * Soldiers began to desert their army to return to claim land.
 * The Bolsheviks supported the soldiers to stop fighting, which caused armies to go into even more chaos and violence.

November Revolution
>
 * In October 1917 Lenin returned to Petrograd to begin the revolution.
 * Bolsheviks leaders supported Lenin and put Leon Trotsky, chairmen of the Bolsheviks of Petrograd Soviet, to draw up plans in the **Smolny Institute** (disused school).
 * Trotsky had no reason to do his planning in secret as the Provisional Government and Kerensky could do nothing to stop him.
 * The army supported the Bolsheviks, even fortresses provided them with weapons.
 * By the night of 6 November the Red Guards, well armed, took control of bridge and government buildings in Petrograd.
 * The Provisional Government was based in the **Winter Palace**, guarded by army cadets and the Women Battalion.
 * Blank shells were fired at the Palace from the captured ship, **Aurora**, on November 7.
 * The Red Guards stormed the palace where the guards gave up and the ministers of the Provisional Government were arrested.
 * The Bolsheviks now controlled the capital of Russia.
 * Lenin announced the next day that he was setting up a new government.
 * Under a single day of rebellion the Bolsheviks were able to come to power with 18 people arrested and 2 people killed.

=Summary=

Russia's war with Germany in 1914 ended up with many loses and an economic fall in Russia's economy. King Nicholas 2 personally took over the armies as they were losing the war, this put Alexandra in charge, who was under the influence of Rasputin. Their rule was not tolerated and Rasputin was murdered. As riots and strikes grew King Nicholas tried to return to Petrograd to reclaim his rule, however he was stopped and was required to abdicate his rule. When nobody took up his rule the Provisional Government too up power. Petrograd Soviets didn't like these and slowly they gained power by defending the Provisional Government, and when they gained enough power they staged a second revolution, which ended quickly with the Bolsheviks (Communist) in command.

=Questions=


 * 1) What was the difference between Petrograd Soviets and the Provisional Government?
 * 2) Explain the major event that caused the Bolsheviks of the Petrograd Soviets to gain favor.
 * 3) What was the main reason for the Russians to lose against the Germans?
 * 4) Explain why the soldiers were starting to lose discipline.
 * 5) What is the importance of the discontinuing of saluting and addressing officers as "Your Excellency"? Explain.