Tsar Alexander Witte Essay

Despite starting his political journey as a supporter of the Menshevik wing (peaceful communism), Leon Trotsky became one of the paramount powers of the Bolshevik party, leading their Red Army to victory during the Russian civil war of 1918 to 1921; so

Politically, Russia was in a lot of danger as a result of the 1905 revolutions, and there were strong divisions. This put major stress of the government to stabilise and calm down strong revolutionary groups. One of the major ways in which this was done, was through the introduction of the ‘Dumas’s’ the first was in 1906. The problem with this was having elected

When Joseph Stalin was a young adult he decided to become an active member in the Bolsheviks. An organization started by Vladimir

Trotsky in 1918 became the war commissar and he created the red army, and was a major figure in the Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War 1918–20. He was a great public speaker and war tactician. However many Bolsheviks were afraid that he would become a military dictator such as Nicholas 2nd was. Also he had a reputation for being arrogant which made him unpopular within the party, also after Lenin died the triumvirate group established this group was made up of Kamenev, Zinoviev and Stalin their aim was not to get Stalin into power but to keep Trotsky out of reach of power.

Leon Trotsky was the chairman of the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. The organization was that, under Lenin’s direction, that shown the overthrow of the state which is called or known “The October Revolution”

The initial and fundamental mistake of the Tsar was his failure to comprehend that Russia had undergone major changes over the period of Tsarist rule.The Empire had expanded vastly, with populations rising over 160 million, and thus, the nation’s aspirations grew alongside it. Furthermore, as quoted by Sir George Buchanan in his memoir, My mission to Russia and Other Diplomatic Memories, Russia “...had witnessed the birth of industries, the consequent increase in

They were supported by the Sans Culottes. In Russia these radicals were the Bolsheviks, who started the Red Terror. They were supported by the working class who saw communism as the way to deal with the economic

The Russian Revolution is a widely studied and seemingly well understood time in modern, European history, boasting a vast wealth of texts and information from those of the likes of Robert Service, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Allan Bullock, Robert Conquest and Jonathan Reed, to name a few, but none is so widely sourced and so heavily relied upon than that of the account of Leon Trotsky, his book “History of the Russian Revolution” a somewhat firsthand account of the events leading up to the formation of the Soviet Union. There is no doubt that Trotsky’s book, among others, has played a pivotal role in shaping our understanding of the events of The Revolution; but have his personal predilections altered how he portrayed such paramount

The Russian Revolutionary war (1917 to 1920) was between the Red Bolshevik army and the White anti-Bolshevik forces. The Red army won the war and Joseph Stalin was appointed general secretary of the party’s Central Committee in 1922. Lenin didn’t like the way Stalin hungered for power and believed that all people should be equal. After the death of Vladimir Lenin, Stalin consolidated his power by suppressing criticism about him and expanding his roll in the current government. Stalin assured himself the leader of Russia by the late 1920’s and made himself “Premier” of the Soviet Union in 1941. He went unchallenged and made the Soviet Union into an Economic powerhouse among the world through Industrialization and Collectivization.

It included those working in the clerical capacity as government officials at central and provincial level but also merchants and entrepreneurs, as well as the Russian ‘intelligentsia’, those who were learned. They were under-privileged in a society where 90-95% of the population were still illiterate in 1850. They worked as doctors, experts, teachers and lawyers. They became increasingly critical of the regime, namely its restrictions of free speech and press, and its emphasis on birth and wealth. Later on many of them joined revolutionary groups that plotted to overthrow the

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was established in 1922 under Vladimir Lenin, and was governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Lenin’s successor, Joseph Stalin, solidified the Soviet

After leaving the Georgian Orthodox Church, Stalin joined up with the Bolshevik revolutionaries. They were an underground group that followed the communist writings of Karl Marx and were led by Vladimir Lenin. Stalin became a leader within the Bolsheviks. He led riots and strikes and raised money by robbing banks and other crimes. Stalin became one of Lenin 's top leaders.

First off, Leon Trotsky founded the Pravda. It had been aimed towards russian workers and talked of their interests of issues, although it had spend most of its time trying to reunite the party. However, at the start, the paper needed to be published abroad so it could avoid censorship, but had been smuggled into Russia anyways, and the first issue of the paper had been published in Vienna, Austria. Even with the rocky start that the paper had, it gained much attention because of its easy to read style.

They held that “Russia could achieve socialism only after developing a bourgeois society with as urban proletariat”. They also said that the working class could not be the basis of a socialist society which should be able to bypass the capitalist stage. In July 1903, in a second congress, the leaders argued about Lenin’s proposals for a party that was composed by “disciplined revolutionaries”. During the Russian Revolution in 1017, Bolsheviks and Mensheviks (components of the party) definitely broke their bonds. The party was then renamed, becoming the Russian Communist Party

Source 2 is an extract from the memoirs of Sergei Witte. He was the minister of finance from 1893-1903 and the minister of interior from 1905-1906. This means Witte was very close to Nicholas and was able to communicate with him very easily. Due to this alone we can tell that the provenacne of this source has potential value as Witte had contact to the Tsar frequently. However as Witte had been fired by the Tsar twice due to uncertain circumstances. In 1903 he was fired from Minister of Finance due to a conspiracy that Witte was in a jewish conspiracy, and again in April 1906; Witte may have a grudge towards the Tsar. We can see from the first sentence that Witte did write his opinion; this is because he proclaims from the start that Nicholas was a failure due to his “lack of willpower”. We know this because there are many accounts of Nicholas