The Russian Revolution Exam
Questions with Revised Answers
What was the role of Rasputin? - Answer-- One significant decline of the tsar's
reputation was his association with Grigori Rasputin: A self-professed healer, Rasputin
seemed able to calm the young tsarevich, Alexei, during the frequent periods of illness,
and this made him a great favorite of the tsar's wife in particular.
- Rasputin's lack of education and lowly origins meant he was despised by members of
the royal court, many grew concerned over the influence he seemed to have on tsar and
tsarina.
- Alexandra defended Rasputin fiercely: courtiers who were appalled at his crude
manners fell out of favor; critical ministers were dismissed.
- Before WW1, Rasputin's unpopularity was confined to the court and higher circles of
government. When Alexandra was left in control of the country, she sought Rasputin's
advice on many matters, which brought him to wider attention of the public, he proved to
be equally unpopular.
- He was murdered in 1916, not by political radicals striking a blow against the
monarchy, but by a group of conservative courtiers who wanted to save the tsar's
reputation.
Explain the importance of the war as a role of the Tsar's abdication - Answer-- Perhaps
the most crucial development in 1917 was a series of army mutinies. Conditions at the
front were unbearable and stories spread of hardships at home. Soldiers drifted back to
their homes in large numbers, afraid that their families would die if they did not return to
help them. They became a focal point of dissatisfaction in major cities.
- Sergei Khabalov, the governor of Petrograd, proclaimed martial law and ordered
soldiers to restore order.
- The soldiers refused and opened fire on officers, even the Cossacks- once the most
loyal of the Romanov's soldiers turned against Nicholas II.
Explain the abdication of the Tsar - Answer-- Without army support, Nicholas II
abdicated quietly in February 1917, unrealistic as ever he blamed "treason, cowardice
and deceit".
- After the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks in the remote town of Ekaterinburg
imprisoned Nicholas II, the Tsarina and their 5 children. They were executed in 1918;
the bodies of the royal family have recently been identified and buried with religious and
state honors in Russia.
,What were the consequences of Nicholas's abdication? - Answer-- Members of the
Duma, supported by middle-class liberals and nobles, wished for a government headed
by Prince Lvov, but he stood no chance of success.
- A member of the Duma and a liberal, Lvov was determined to continue the war, but he
had no clear ideas for reform.
- Power quickly passed to the Provisional Government, led by the liberal Alexander
Kerensky.
Who was Alexander Kerensky? - Answer-The leader of the Provisional Government:
- Kerensky, trained as a lawyer and became minister of justice and then prime minister
when the Provisional Government was established in Russia
- He was a popular leader and tried to hold together the different factions.
- He lacked Lenin's ruthlessness and was not able to deal with his country's problems.
- He decided to continue the war and postponed land reforms, while the economy got
worse.
- After the October Revolution, he moved to Western Europe and then to United States,
where he lived until his death in 1970.
Explain the installation of the Provisional Government - Answer-- In March 1917, when
the tsar's government collapsed, the Duma set the Provisional Government
- The Provisional Government never really ruled Russia. Right from the start, it had to
share power with the Petrograd Soviet, which had a rule (Order No.1) that its members
should only obey the Provisional Government if the Soviet agreed with it. For this
reason, March to November 1917 is sometimes called the period of Dual Government in
Russia.
What was the main problem with the Provisional Government? - Answer-- the
Provisional Government was only a temporary government, it did not really carry out
any major reforms. All it did was abolish the Okhrana and press censorship, and allow
political freedom.This gave the government's opponents - such as Lenin's Bolsheviks -
the freedom to attack the government for the problems it was not solving.
- The main problem of the Provisional Government was that it tried to continue the war.
In June 1917, it organized an attack on Austria. When the attack failed, people began to
turn against the government.
- Instead, they started to follow Lenin whose welcome message was: 'Peace, bread,
land'.
Who is Vladimir Ilyich Lenin? - Answer-- Lenin was born in 1870 to a lower middle class
family, his father was a minor government official and Lenin trained as a lawyer.
- He became a revolutionary when his brother was executed after being accused of
involvement in a plot to assassinate Alexander III.
- Lenin's life followed a similar course to that of many other Russian revolutionaries of
the era: internal exile in Siberia followed by voluntary exile abroad for much of the
period from 1900 to 1917.
- He eventually proved to be an effective organizer, although there was little evidence
for this before 1917.
, - Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks
What made Lenin a powerful leader? - Answer-- One of Lenin's greatest strengths was
his ability to be both idealistic and practical, and is government of Russia after 1917
showed willingness to compromise when necessary.
- His adaption of Marxism gave rise to a new political philosophy that became known as
"Marxist-Leninism".
- Lenin aimed to incite a revolution that would bring the tsarist autocracy, but ironically
he did not tolerate any challenges to his own leadership.
- He was a skilled orator- a fact that contributed to his success in 1917, but more
importantly in developing the Bolshevik movement, he was also a talented writer and
profound political thinker.
- Lenin reached two decisions that shaped the future of Russia; he appreciated the
importance of organization and discipline within a revolutionary party. The disorganized
and fragmented radical groups had achieved very little and spent a great deal of time
quarrelling amongst themselves.
What were Lenin's thoughts about the proletariat? - Answer-- Lenin recognized the
value of the industrial working classes in securing the success of any revolution. He
believed that the peasantry would not be able to mount a united challenge to the tsarist
regime.
- The proletariat worked in factories and lived in owns, as far as Lenin was concerned, it
was more likely that they could be shaped into an effective revolutionary weapon.
Who disagreed to Lenin's beliefs? - Answer-- Trotsky and Julius Martov- a Russian
politician who was exiled for his beliefs on reform- disagreed with these steps, believing
that revolutionary success depended on a wider rather than a more restricted
membership.
- They took the longer-term view of Marxism: that capitalism had to collapse from within
before communism could triumph.
What happened in the second congress of the Social Democrats? - Answer-- The
second congress of the Social Democrats met in London in 1903, Lenin was supported
by the Plekhanov, decided to restrict membership of the party to those who were active
in the cause of revolution and socialism. This would necessarily be a minority; Lenin
wanted a revolution in Russia to defeat Tsarism.
- The deciding vote was very close- Lenin's group won by two votes, they took the name
the Bolsheviks (meaning majority).
- Martov and Trotsky's group, the minority became the Menshevik's.
- Despite their victory, the Bolsheviks were not popular and many in the party feared
that Lenin would be a dictatorial leader.
Who was Nicholas II? - Answer-- Nicholas II was of the royal Romanov dynasty that had
ruled Russia for nearly 300 years.
- He had little education but could speak English, French, German, which he preferred
over Russian, believing it was the language of peasants.
