VCE Stuff > VCE History: Revolutions
VCE History Revolutions Question Thread
oJL8A99A:
Can someone explain Witte and Stolypin's roles in creating revolutionary tensions for AOS1 Russia please? :) :)
TheCommando:
--- Quote from: saraaburns on November 04, 2017, 01:12:16 pm ---Can someone explain Witte and Stolypin's roles in creating revolutionary tensions for AOS1 Russia please? :) :)
--- End quote ---
Witte was the minister of finance up until 1903. His task was to ensure Russia modernised in the most efficient and quickest ways possible. One of the ways he did this was through setting up factories in the cities and his trans siberian railway (21 july 1904). Witte attempted to modernise Russia through incentivising capital inflow from allied nations or foreign nations, this was achived by the low wages and long hours worked from the people. His modernisation created a growth in workers moving into the capital with the hope of improving their lives, the growth outmatched the cities ability to provide homes for the workers meaning the firms provided housing for the workers. This resulted in firms taking advantage of workers. A 1904 survey found that there were on average 16 people per aparetment with 6 people per room. Likewise the factory managers made workers work long days and week (12 hour days) in unsafe and unhygeninc conditions where people often got injured. This would hgrow a proletariat class suspectible to revolutionary ideas as their lives was a misery and they thoughtber their lives would improve but it only got worse
Stolypin was the finance minister who replaced Witte. He helped regain the tsar's power. The october manifesto (26 october 1905) saw the tsar agree to create a duma which would represent the nation as deputies within the duma would be elected by the people and no laws could be pass until approved by the duma. Along with Nicholas Stolypin was able to regain the tsars power by implenting the electoral laws (it was him not the tsar who created this law right??). What the electoral laws did was recude the ability of the ordianry poor like peasants and proleteriants to vote as they would obviously vote for the radcial deputies who challenged the tsars authority. (As was the case with the first duma who were dismissed bbecause of this) it now took 230 landowners' vote to elect one deputy where as it took 125000 industrial workers votes to elect one deputy
K888:
--- Quote from: TheCommando on November 04, 2017, 11:31:18 am ---Hey i was just wondering for the russian revolution, how did the provisional government have a middlclass parlimentary democracy and why do utalk about think when answering the question 'how did the formation of the provisional government in Feb 1917 contribute to the developmentt of the russian revolution'?
--- End quote ---
Alrighty, so, to answer the middle class stuff - all you have to do is look at the make-up of the PG. The core was drawn from a provisional committee of Duma deputies. It first had 12 ministers - seven Kadets (one of these being Miliukov), the first prime minister was Lvov (a wealthy landowner and also minor royal, I believe), and the only true socialist was Kerensky (an SR).
Now, compare this to the make-up of Russian society. The majority of people were not middle class - I think from here, you can probably explain yourself why this difference was an issue. :) Imagine being a Russian peasant, and hearing that the Tsar has been overthrown, only to hear that he's been replaced by people who are, to you, effectively the same.
Moving on to the second part of your question - I think, with the info I've given you, you can probably answer why the middle class make-up of the PG was important in creating a revolutionary situation. They didn't really represent the Russian people - leading to disenchantment, etc. and so on and so forth. :)
There was other stuff like the rise of the Petrograd Soviet, the fact that the Provisional Government was exactly that - provisional - so it didn't have a mandate, wasn't elected by the people and it was a temporary government (so their decrees weren't necessarily respected). Plus, the Bolsheviks outright objected to the PG.
Additionally, they had the issue of what to do with WWI - keep their promises to the Allies, or withdraw? Remember the economic situation in Russia at the time. But either way, Miliukov's telegram that committed Russia to the war was essentially a monumental fuck up.
I hope this has given you the info to go and have a crack at the question yourself. Just let me know if you need any further clarification :)
mindy.mcewen:
This is in the Study Design for AOS2...
How did the new regime consolidate its power?
I was wondering how you would answer this for the French Rev? Like through the Terror, Committees of Public Safety/General Security? That kind of thing or? ???
K888:
--- Quote from: mindy.mcewen on November 07, 2017, 03:17:44 pm ---This is in the Study Design for AOS2...
How did the new regime consolidate its power?
I was wondering how you would answer this for the French Rev? Like through the Terror, Committees of Public Safety/General Security? That kind of thing or? ???
--- End quote ---
Hey, I didn't do France, but I hope I can give some help regardless :)
Basically when you're answering that question, you need to think of the different ways the regime could consolidate its power, which generally falls into the categories of: political, social and military. I guess economic could also make its own category. I don't know the other revolutions, but there seems to the be theme that the new regime often resorted to violence, completely eliminating opposition and the like to consolidate power.
Ask yourself: how did they eliminate or address political opposition? How did they gain the support of the people - what social reforms were made to help them consolidate power? What other reforms did they make - did economic reforms help them stay in power? Did they violently suppress opposition, and if they did, how so?
From the limited knowledge I have of France (and from a quick google), what you've said seems to be pretty good :) Just think of the challenges that the regime faced, and how it addressed those challenges to stay in power.
To provide an example answer, in Russia - the Bolsheviks consolidated their power through Sovnarkom decrees that were to lead to social reform (gaining the support of the people), they eliminated political opposition by shutting down the Constituent Assembly, they instigated the Red Terror, and they used the Cheka.
All the best for the exam tomorrow! What other revolution are you doing? :)
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