Was the Bolsheviks seizure of power in October 1917 inevitable (Chapter 5) Flashcards

4155882755	What were the Bolsheviks seen as by summer 1917?	One of the only alternatives to the Prov Gov	0
4155883591	Who joined the Bolsheviks from the Mensheviks in summer 1917?	Trotsky	1
4155884703	What 3 things sparked the July Days?	- Failure of summer offensive - Workers anger at their economic plight - Petrograd Garrison believing that it was about to be sent to the front	2
4155887820	What happened on the 3rd of July?	People were marching in the streets, including armed groups and soldiers	3
4155888347	What happened on the 4th of July?	20,000 Kronstadt sailors arrived and people became increasingly violent	4
4155889917	What did the Kronstadt sailors do once they arrived in Petrograd?	Marched to the Tauride Palace and demanded that the Soviets take power	5
4155891726	What did Chernov do to try and diffuse the situation?	Went to go and calm the soldiers down but was seized and bundled into a car, with Trotsky having to rescue him	6
4155894951	What was Lenin's response to the July days?	He had been on holiday but rushed back and adopted a 'wait and see' policy, neither fully associating nor disassociating from it	7
4155899272	What did the Provisional Government leak to help discourage the revolt?	A document that showed that the Germans had helped Lenin return to Russia and suggested that he was there to hinder the Russian war effort	8
4155901097	What happened after the July Days?	Several senior Bolsheviks including Trotsky were arrested, Lenin had to flee to Finland and Bolshevik newspapers were closed down	9
4155903438	What had Kerensky decided by the end of August?	That he needed to restore law, order and discipline in both the army and the cities	10
4155905177	Who did Kerensky appoint as supreme commander of the Russian forces?	Kornilov	11
4155923438	When was the Kornilov affair?	26th-30th of August	12
4155905501	But what did Kornilov do?	Believed he had a chance to crush the radical socialists and sent troops marching towards Petrograd, beginning a military coup	13
4155907995	Why were most people terrified at the prospect of Kornilov launching a coup?	Because they thought it would mean the end of the revolution and all that they had worked so hard to achieve	14
4155909572	Why did the Petrograd Garrison not want a Kornilov Coup?	Because they thought they would get sent to the front and that they would lose the power that they had gained over their officers	15
4155911545	Who helped organise defence of the city and what was Kerensky's response to this?	The Bolsheviks, with the red guard starting to appear on the streets, Kerensky armed them with weapons	16
4155913010	What happened to Kornilov in the end?	His troops did not arrive as railway workers halted their trains and he was arrested	17
4155914164	What 5 key things happened as a result of the Kornilov affair?	- Kerensky's reputation was irretrievably damaged - The Menshevik's and SR's were discredited due to their association with Kerensky - the Kadets and Liberals were completely distrusted by the bulk of peope as agents of the bourgeoisie - Soldiers murdered hundreds of officers and officers felt that Kerensky had betrayed Kornilov - Bolsheviks gained huge support and were seen as saviours of the city	18
4155920962	What happened on the 9th of September 1917?	Bolsheviks gained overall control of the Petrograd Soviet	19
4155923002	What happened on the 25th September 1917?	Trotsky was elected as the soviet's president	20
4183035750	What 4 factors made Lenin decide that the time was right to return from Finland and launch a Bolshevik seizure of power?	- Bolsheviks had control of the Soviet - Bolshevik popularity was at an all time high and they had done very well in elections to soviets throughout Russia - The liberals and conservative forces were demoralised after the Kornilov affair - the Provisional Government was hopeless	21
4183035754	When did Lenin write to the BCC to say that 'history will not forgive us' if they did not take power	12th September	22
4183035755	What was the BCC's reaction to this?	They rejected his plans	23
4183035756	When did the BCC agree to his plans?	10th of October, when he arrived in Petrograd and spoke to them face to face	24
4183035757	Which 2 senior Bolsheviks strongly believed that the time was not right for revolution?	Zinoviev and Kamenev	25
4183035758	Why did these 2 believe that the time was not right?	Because they thought that it would lead to a civil war that the Bolsheviks would ultimately be defeated in	26
4183035759	When did Trotsky urge Lenin to wait until before launching a seizure of power?	26th October as that's when the Second Congress of All-Russian Soviets were meeting as he though that if it appeared that Soviets were behind the seizure then it would give it more legitimacy	27
4183035760	What was Kerensky's initial response to the growing crisis?	He attempted to send the radical army units out of the capital	28
4183035761	What did the Soviet do in response to this?	Set up the MRC to help defend them incase the was another attempted right-wing coup	29
4183035762	What 3 things did Kerensky do as a last ditch response to try and prevent the Bolsheviks from taking power?	- Tried to close down 2 Bolshevik newspapers - Tried to restrict power of the MRC - Tried to raise the bridge linking the working class districts to the centre of Petrograd	30
4183035765	What was the Bolshevik response to this?	They said that Kerensky was trying to launch an attack on the Soviet and Revolution, giving them the prefect excuse to attack, consequently Kerensky fled the city	31
4183035766	What was the Bolsheviks headquarters called?	the Smolney Institute	32
4183035767	What Happened on the night of 24th-25th of October?	Units of the red guard, soldiers and sailors were sent out to seize key points in the city such as bridges, railway stations and power stations	33
4183035768	What happened on the night of 25th-26th of October	the Bolsheviks decided to storm the palace and at 2AM entered and arrested what remained of the government	34
4183035769	Who was there to defend the palace from the Bolsheviks?	Cadets from a military school, 200 members of the Women's Death Battalion and 2 divisions of Cossacks	35
4183035770	How did the Bolsheviks manage to pass a majority for the revolution at the All-Russian Congress?	The other socialist parties stormed out, leaving only Bolsheviks and left-wing SRs	36
4183035771	What 3 things did Lenin announce upon arriving at the All-Russian Congress?	- Formation of a Bolshevik government - Immediate moves the end the war - Decree transferring land the peasants	37
4183035774	Did the Bolsheviks face much of a challenge upon immediately securing power?	Yes, faced 10 days of fighting in Moscow with Prov Gov troops and in other towns as well an attempt to reseize power by Kerensky and general Krasnov	38
4183035775	What was the Bolshevik party membership in Feb 1917 compared to October?	Feb: 10,000 October: 250,000	39
4183035777	What percentage of the votes did the SRs, Mensheviks, Kadets and Bolsheviks get in the Nov 1917 Constituent Assembly elections?	SRs: 53% Bolsheviks: 24% Kadets: 5% Mensheviks: 3%	40