IB History 1917 Revolutions Notes

Long-Term Causes of the 1917 Revolutions

1. Russia was ruled by an absolute autocracy. The Tsar held unlimited power with no elected parliament, no free press, and no legal political parties until 1905.
2. Russia's rapid industrialisation from the 1890s created a large urban working class concentrated in cities like Petrograd and Moscow, working in appalling conditions.
3. By 1914, Petrograd had over 400,000 factory workers, many working 11-hour shifts in unsafe, overcrowded factories with no trade union rights.
4. The 1905 Revolution forced Tsar Nicholas II to issue the October Manifesto, creating a parliament (Duma) and promising civil liberties. But the Tsar retained ultimate power and dissolved Dumas that challenged him.
5. Over 80% of Russia's population were peasants, many living in poverty. Land hunger was intense: a small number of nobles and the Church owned vast estates.
6. Prime Minister Stolypin's land reforms (1906-1911) aimed to create a loyal class of prosperous peasants, but progress was slow and Stolypin was assassinated in 1911.

The Impact of World War I

1. Russia suffered catastrophic military defeats, including at Tannenberg (August 1914) and the Masurian Lakes, losing over 300,000 men in the first months.
2. By 1917, Russia had suffered approximately 1.7 million killed, 5 million wounded, and 2.5 million captured. Morale among soldiers collapsed.
3. The war disrupted food supplies to cities. By early 1917, Petrograd was receiving only one-third of its required grain. Bread queues became a daily reality.
4. Nicholas II personally took command of the army in September 1915, making himself directly responsible for defeats and leaving the government in Petrograd under the influence of Tsarina Alexandra and Rasputin.
5. Rasputin's influence over ministerial appointments (the so-called "ministerial leapfrog") discredited the government. He was murdered by nobles in December 1916, but the damage was done.
6. Inflation soared: food prices rose by 300% between 1914 and 1916, while wages rose by only 100%. Workers and their families faced hunger and desperation.

The February Revolution (23 February - 3 March 1917)

1. On 23 February (8 March new calendar), International Women's Day, thousands of women textile workers in Petrograd went on strike, demanding bread.
2. Within days, over 200,000 workers joined the strike. Factories shut down across the city. Demonstrators chanted "Bread!" and "Down with the autocracy!"
3. On 26 February, troops fired on demonstrators, killing around 40. But the next day, soldiers of the Volynsky Regiment mutinied and joined the protesters.
4. By 28 February, the Petrograd garrison of 170,000 soldiers had largely gone over to the revolution. The Tsar's authority in the capital collapsed.
5. Nicholas II attempted to return to Petrograd but was stopped by railway workers. On 2 March 1917, he abdicated in favour of his brother Michael, who refused the throne.
6. The February Revolution was spontaneous, not planned by any political party. Neither the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, nor Socialist Revolutionaries led it; it came from below.

The Provisional Government and Dual Power (March - October 1917)

1. The Provisional Government was formed on 2 March 1917, led initially by Prince Lvov and dominated by liberal Kadets and Octobrists.
2. Simultaneously, the Petrograd Soviet reformed with over 3,000 elected deputies representing workers and soldiers. It controlled the railways, postal service, and the loyalty of the garrison.
3. The Soviet's Order No. 1 (1 March 1917) stated that soldiers should only obey the Provisional Government if the Soviet agreed. This fatally undermined the government's military authority.
4. The Provisional Government made critical errors: it continued the war (launching the disastrous June Offensive which cost 200,000 casualties), postponed land reform, and delayed elections to the Constituent Assembly.
5. In July 1917, Alexander Kerensky became Prime Minister. He was a moderate socialist but failed to address the key demands of peace, land, and bread.

Lenin's Return and the April Theses

1. Lenin returned to Petrograd on 3 April 1917 from exile in Switzerland, transported through Germany in a sealed train with German assistance (Germany hoped he would destabilise Russia).
2. He immediately issued his April Theses, calling for: no support for the Provisional Government, an end to the war, "All power to the Soviets", land to the peasants, and nationalisation of banks.
3. The slogan "Peace, Land, and Bread" became the Bolsheviks' most powerful rallying cry, directly addressing the three issues the Provisional Government had failed to resolve.
4. Many Bolsheviks, including Kamenev and Stalin, initially opposed the April Theses as too radical. But Lenin's force of personality and clarity of vision won the party over within weeks.
5. Bolshevik Party membership grew from around 24,000 in February to over 200,000 by October 1917, reflecting growing popular support for their radical programme.

The July Days and the Kornilov Affair

1. In early July 1917, soldiers and workers took to the streets of Petrograd demanding the Soviet take power. The July Days were semi-spontaneous but the Bolsheviks were associated with them.
2. The Provisional Government crushed the uprising, declared the Bolsheviks were German agents, and issued arrest warrants. Lenin fled to Finland; Trotsky was imprisoned.
3. In late August 1917, General Lavr Kornilov marched troops toward Petrograd, apparently to establish a military dictatorship.
4. Kerensky, desperate, turned to the Bolsheviks and the Soviet for help. Bolshevik Red Guards were armed; railway workers diverted Kornilov's trains; telegraph operators cut communications.
5. The Kornilov Affair was a turning point: the Bolsheviks gained weapons, prestige, and legitimacy as defenders of the revolution. Kerensky was fatally discredited for having initially appointed Kornilov.
6. By September 1917, the Bolsheviks won majorities in both the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets. Trotsky was elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet.

The October Revolution (25-26 October 1917)

1. From Finland, Lenin wrote to the Bolshevik Central Committee urging immediate insurrection. On 10 October, the committee voted 10 to 2 in favour of armed uprising (Kamenev and Zinoviev opposed).
2. Trotsky organised the takeover through the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) of the Petrograd Soviet, giving the seizure a veneer of Soviet (not purely Bolshevik) legitimacy.
3. On the night of 25 October, Red Guards and soldiers seized bridges, telephone exchanges, railway stations, and the State Bank with minimal resistance.
4. The cruiser Aurora fired a blank shell as a signal. Red Guards entered the Winter Palace and arrested the Provisional Government ministers. Kerensky had already fled.
5. Total casualties were remarkably low: only 5 people killed during the storming of the Winter Palace. The revolution was more a careful coup than a mass uprising.
6. Lenin announced the overthrow to the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets on 26 October. Mensheviks and right-SRs walked out in protest, leaving the Bolsheviks in control.

Bolshevik Consolidation of Power

1. The Decree on Peace (26 October) called for an immediate armistice without annexations or indemnities. Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918), losing vast territories.
2. The Decree on Land (26 October) abolished private land ownership and distributed noble and Church land to peasant communes, essentially legitimising seizures already underway.
3. The Constituent Assembly elections in November 1917 gave the Socialist Revolutionaries 40% and the Bolsheviks only 24%. When it met in January 1918, the Bolsheviks dissolved it after just one day.
4. The Cheka (secret police) was established in December 1917 under Felix Dzerzhinsky to suppress opposition, beginning a pattern of political repression.
5. Opposition newspapers were banned. By mid-1918, all non-Bolshevik parties were effectively suppressed, and Russia was heading toward one-party rule and civil war.

Historiographical Debate and Exam Preparation

Key Dates Timeline