AS Level History
SESSION 4
Unit 4: Europe in an age of conflict and cooperation, 1890-1991
Mr A. Doughton
Sessions
Session 1 and 2 – International relations with A Morel
Session 3 and 4 - The impact of revolution in Russia 1905-1945 with A Doughton (Unit 1 Option 8 - EUROPE IN AN AGE OF CONFLICT AND CO-OPERATION c.1890-1991)
Live session - WEDNESDAY 7TH FEBRUARY
Sessions
Session 3 and 4 - The impact of revolution in Russia 1905-1945 with A Doughton (Unit 1 Option 8 - EUROPE IN AN AGE OF CONFLICT AND CO-OPERATION c.1890-1991)
Topic checklist
the main causes and effects of the 1905 revolution
The main causes of revolution 1917
Civil War and the Bolshevik consolidation of power 1917-1924
The impact of Stalin’s political, social and economic changes to 1945
Sessions
Session 3 and 4 - The impact of revolution in Russia 1905-1945 with A Doughton (Unit 1 Option 8 - EUROPE IN AN AGE OF CONFLICT AND CO-OPERATION c.1890-1991)
Session 3 – The impact of revolution in Russia 1905-1945 (part 1)
Session 4 – The impact of revolution in Russia 1905-1945 (part 2)
Answer one question from each section.
Possible questions on the impact of Russian Revolution
‘The most significant changes in Russia in the period between 1905 and 1945 came under Lenin.’ Discuss.
‘Stalin’s domestic policies had the most significant impact on Russia between 1905 and 1945.’ Discuss.
'The lives of the people of Russia were affected more by repression than by any other government action in the period 1905-1945.' Discuss.
‘The collectivisation of agriculture had the greatest impact on the lives of the Russian people in the period 1924-1945.’ Discuss.
How effectively did Russian governments deal with the challenges they faced in the period from 1905 to 1945?
Things to consider when answering an essay question:
‘Stalin’s domestic policies had the most significant impact on Russia between 1905 and 1945.’ Discuss.
Important
Other Carlam Cymru sessions
Wider reading
Class notes
WJEC resources
Civil War and the Bolshevik consolidation of power 1917-1924
After seizing control of Russia from the Provisional Government, the Bolsheviks had to safeguard their fragile grip on the reins of power. Lenin negotiated peace with Germany and therefore an end to Russia's role in World War One. However he could not avoid a civil war.
The Russian Civil War raged from 1918 until the start of 1921. During this time, the Bolsheviks faced massive opposition to their rule in the form of the White Armies, led by former officers of the Tsarist state, and also from intervention by the forces of foreign countries. Yet, by the start of 1921, the Bolsheviks had defeated their enemies and gained a complete victory
Civil War and the Bolshevik consolidation of power 1917-1924
Trotsky’s effective leadership of the Red Army, effective use of propaganda, use of Red Terror (Cheka), War Communism, control of key areas, weaknesses of the whites
Civil War and the Bolshevik consolidation of power 1917-1924
Lenin’s legacy
The state had no opposition, a powerful secret police, an all-powerful party and growing terror, the stage was set for a dictator who would take these to their extreme. This was to be Joseph Stalin.
The impact of Stalin’s political, social and economic changes to 1945
Stalin takes control
The impact of Stalin’s political, social and economic changes to 1945
Stalin’s’ economic policies
November 1927, Joseph Stalin launched his “revolution from above” by setting two extraordinary goals for Soviet domestic policy: rapid industrialisation and collectivisation of agriculture. He wanted to bring about economic, social and cultural transformation of Russia at a breakneck pace.
Why did Stalin introduce collectivisation?
1)To release the labourers needed for Russia to begin its industrial transformation
2)To gain control over food supply and distribution.
3)To increase control over the economy in line with Communist theory.
4) To increase his power.
Aims of collectivisation
– to take all land from the peasants and give it to the state.
- Small, inefficient, labour intensive and unproductive farm units would be replaced by large, efficient, mechanised and productive units.
How did Stalin carry out the policy of collectivisation?
Was there resistance?
How successful was Collectivisation?
Failures
Starvation in the countryside. Some starving resorted to eating their own children.
Peasants could receive 10 years in the gulag for stealing grain.
Approximately 4 mil died in the famine between 32 and 33.
Altogether, historians estimate that between 5 and 13 million peasants died as a result of collectivisation.
The scale of human suffering would not have been a matter of concern to Stalin, whose focus remained on the wider picture of economic reform and industrialisation
Stalin’s economic reforms – part 2: Industrialisation and the five-year plans.
The first Five Year Plan – 1928 to 1932
Concentrated on heavy industry such as coal, steel and iron to the exclusion of others.
Stalin justified this by stating that an industrial infrastructure of factories, plants and communications before other sectors could flourish.
An instant ‘hit’ of materials and workers, called ‘shock brigades’, could be sent into certain areas on orders of senior party officials to shore up production targets.
The second Five Year Plan – 1933 to 1937
The emphasis was on consolidating the achievements of the first Plan.
This plan did initially set higher targets for the production of consumer goods but the rise of Hitler changed the focus towards defence, which meant that heavy industry continued to receive priority.
The third Five Year Plan 1938-1941
Geared even more directly towards arms production in order to meet the threat of Germany
Why did Stalin introduce the Five – Year Plans?
Economic motives
Political motives
Defence motives
Processes of the five year plans
The First Five-Year Plan – 1928-1932
Concentrates on heavy industry such as coal and steel.
Shock brigades sent into certain areas on order of senior party officials to up production targets.
Successes – production of electricity, coal and iron doubled.
Steel production increases by a third.
Failures – Detailed planning not done. Although targets given, not told how these should be met.
Factory managers who did not meet targets were accused of sabotage and were deliberately trying to undermine the progress of the Communist Revolution.
The second Five Year Plan - 1933-37
The emphasis was on consolidating the achievements of the first Plan.
Plan initially set higher targets for the production of consumer goods but the rise of Hitler changed the focus towards defence, means that heavy industry continued to receive priority.
Success: New industry was concentrated in large centres. Magnitogorsk and Gorki examples of massive new industrial towns built.
Many prestige projects completed in this period.
Sheila Fitzpatrick described it as ‘Gigantomania. They included the Dnieper Dam and the Moscow-volga canal.
More detailed plans were provided for each industry.
Weaknesses: Lack of consumer goods.
Oil production experienced a slow growth.
The third Five Year Plan – 1938 to 1941]
Geared even more directly towards arms production.
Successes: Defence and armaments grew rapidly – key factor in Russia’s defeat of the Nazis.
Most heavy industry continues to grow.
Failures: Much less planning (chaotic again)
Fuel crisis not enough oil produced.
The Great Terror
The Purges
Key Questions
Why did Stalin undertake the Purges?
How did the Purges affect the people, the party and the armed forces?
The Purges is the name given to Stalin’s removal of people who he felt posed a real, or possible, threat to his leadership or control of Communist Russia.
Initially the purges consisted of expelling members from the Communist party.
Soon, however, this turned to physical extermination of those whom Stalin sought to destroy.
1928-36
The Party
1937-39
The people
1937-39
Armed forces
Early purges 1928-34
Expulsion of party members who may support one of Stalin’s opponents, e.g. the right wing Ryutin and his followers were tried and expelled from the party.
Centralisation of control 1933-34
Police, cheka, labour camps, border security and new military courts (outside of existing legal system) were all put under the control of a new body, the NKVD, led by Yagoda and answerable directly to Stalin.
Murder of Kirov 1934
Kirov, a leading light in the Politburo, and known opponent of the Five Year Plans, was perceived by many as a figure around which an anti-Stalin movement could form. He was assassinated, probably on Stalin’s orders, in 1934.
The Post-Kirov Purges 1934-36
Stalin claimed Kirov’s assassination was the work of left wing Trotskyists and launched a large scale purge of the party.
Thousands were expelled or executed, including leading figures such as Zinoviev and Kamenev.
Arrest and execution became the norm.
The Great Purge 1936-39
Despite the fact that Stalin’s supremacy over the party had been established the purges didn’t stop, in fact they increased in their intensity.
This period included public show trials and executions of former party heroes, e.g. Bukharin and Rykov.
Yagoda was perceived as being too lenient and was replaced as leader of the NKVD by Yezhov.
Purge of the armed forces 1937-39
Marshall Tukhachevsky, Chief of General Staff, and 7 other leading generals tried for treason and executed.
Over 35,000 leading members of the army, navy and airforce executed.
Purge of the people
The ‘Yezhovschina’
1937-39
One person in every eight of the population was arrested.
Introduction of the quota system for NKVD operatives.
Almost every family in the USSR suffered the loss of at least one of its members as a result of these purges.
An estimated 20 to 22 million Russian citizens were killed
Vital military manpower and expertise was lost on the eve of World War Two
Vital industrial and agricultural manpower and expertise was lost
All real or potential opponents of Stalin within the party were eliminated
Stalin’s power became absolute
Why did Stalin carry out the purges?
The Cult of Stalin
Achieved through art, propaganda messages, books, poems, plays.
The Great Patriotic War
Q – How far was Soviet Union prepared for war?
The human cost (social)
Economic impact of war