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WC - Russian Reform
World Cultures - Ch. 10 & 15: Russian Reform/Revolution
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Serf | A person (typically a poor peasant) in a condition of servitude who is required to work for a "lord," commonly attached to the lord's land, and transferred with the land from 1 owner to another |
Czar | A male monarch or emperor who ruled Russia until the Russian Revolution of 1917 |
Bloody Sunday of 1905 | The name given to the events of Sunday, 1/22/1905, in St Petersburg, Russia, where unarmed demonstrators led by Father Georgy Gapon were fired upon by soldiers as they marched towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Czar Nicholas II of Russia. |
Communism | Form of socialism advocated by Karl Marx in which production and distribution of goods is controlled by the gov’t (private ownership is not allowed) and is shared equally among society - It is based on a classless society |
Capitalism | Economic and political system in which a country's trade and interests are controlled by private owners rather than by the state and where free enterprise is allowed |
Colossus | Giant - Russia was looked upon as a colossus because it is the largest nation in the world with many natural resources |
Zemstvo | Elected assembly of local government set up in Russia under Alexander II; responsible for road repair, schools, and agriculture (local self-government) |
Pogrom | Violent mob attack on a Jewish community |
Duma | Elected national legislature in Russia |
Proletariat | Working class of Russia; wage owners (peasants, factory workers, miners, railroad workers) |
Soviet | Council of workers and soldiers set up in the Soviet Union in 1917 |
Commissar | Communist party officials who taught Communist principles and practices |
Revolution | A forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system |
Totalitarian state | One-party dictatorship attempts to regulate every aspect of its citizens’ lives |
Atheism | Belief that there is no god |
Socialist realism | Artistic style whose goal was to promote socialism by showing Soviet life in a positive light |
Joseph Stalin | Lenin's successor of Russia; Under his leadership, Stalin pushed for increasing the Soviet Union's industrial output by developing heavy industry |
After taking over Russia, the Communists ended their involvement in which war? | WWI |
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) | New name for Russia after the Communists took over |
Leon Trotsky | Worked closely with Lenin to take over Russia and convert it to Communism. He competed against Stalin for leadership of Russia after Lenin died, but was killed by one of Stalin's agents because Stalin saw him as a threat |
Hemophilia | Disease that son of Czar Nicholas II had in which the blood is unable to clot |
Bolsheviks | Communist group led by Lenin. Together, they revolted against the Czar's dictatorship, overthrew the Russian government, and converted it to Communism |
Karl Marx | Created the theory of Communism |
Russo-Japanese War | War that Czar Nicholas I got Russia into in 1904 |
Treaty of Brest-litovsk | Document signed between Germany and Russia, which ended WWI for Russia. Russia had given up a huge chunk of its territory and population in order to ensure its peace with Germany |
Russian Revolution (March) 1917 | Revolution led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks that forced Czar Nicholas II to abdicate (give up his throne/power) |
Russification | The policy of having a non-Russian language and becoming a member of the Russian Orthodox Church |
Russian Revolution (November) 1917 | Revolution in which the (communist) Red Guards took over the government |
In which war, under Stalin, did Russia fight against Germany? | WWII |
The Great Purge | Reign of terror launched by Stalin in which millions (including Old Bolsheviks, army heroes, industrial managers, writers, and citizens) were either executed or sent to forced-labor camps |
Gregory Rasputin | Known as "the holy man" during Czar Nicholas II's reign who cured the czar's son of hemophilia. He died from drowning even though he was also poisoned, shot 2x, and beaten unconscious with a club |
Trans-Siberian Railroad | Transportation system built in the late 1800’s that linked European Russia to the Pacific Ocean and transported goods across Russia |
New Economic Policy (NEP) | Name of Lenin's economic policy, which allowed for some capitalist ventures . It also allowed peasants to own some small plots of land and freely sell their surplus crops |
What was Czar Nicholas I's motto and how did it relate to his goal to unify Russia? | Autocracy (loyalty to the czar and absolute power), Orthodoxy (Refers to strong ties between the Russian Orthodox church and the gov’t), and Nationalism (Involves respect for Russian traditions and suppression of non-Russian groups within the empire |
Kulaks | Wealthy peasants of Russia; opposed and resisted collectivization, so they were either executed, sent to forced-labor camps, exiled to Siberia, or were starved to death by Stalin's orders |
Collectives | Large farms owned and operated by peasants as a group |
Lenin | Real name is Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov; leader of the Bolsheviks who led a revolt to overthrow the czarist government and became the new leader of Russia |
Russian Civil War | War that occurred between the Reds (revolutionary supporters of the Bolsheviks) and Whites (counter-revolutionary supporters of the Czar) from 1918-1921. The Reds won. |
Czar Nicholas (Romanov) II | Last Czar of Russia who reigned from 1894-1917 until he was overthrown by Lenin and his revolutionary group of Bolsheviks. He and his entire family was later assassinated. |
Why did some Czars of Russia restrict the freedoms of the people while other Czars granted them more freedoms? | Czars resisted reforms that would undermine their absolute rule. Also, some czars, despite their openness to liberal ideas and realization that Russia was underdeveloped, feared losing the support of the nobles and weakening their own power |
Five Year Plan | Name of Stalin's economic plan which brought all economic and agricultural activity under government control to make the Soviet Union into a modern industrial power |
Benefits of Communism | Free education, healthcare, and childcare; inexpensive housing and public recreation; better technology; efficient/equal distribution of resources; stronger social communities; classless society |
Cons of Communism | Quality of the education, housing, and healthcare isn’t always great; resources are often limited; Communist countries are usually run by dictators; citizens have no freedoms and are punished if they speak out against the gov't; low standard of living |