Russian Revolution — reform, repression and the fall of the Tsar
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Question
What was the October Manifesto (1905)?
Answer
Nicholas II's promise of civil liberties and an elected Duma, issued to end the 1905 Revolution.
Question
How many Dumas were there 1906–1917, and what happened to the first two?
Answer
Four Dumas. The first two (1906, 1907) were dissolved quickly by the Tsar for being too critical/radical.
Question
What was the June 1907 'coup'?
Answer
Stolypin illegally changed the electoral law to reduce peasant/worker representation, producing a compliant Third Duma.
Question
What were Stolypin's two main reform aims?
Answer
Agrarian reform — let peasants leave the mir and own private land, creating a loyal 'class of proprietors'; and continued industrial growth.
Question
What was the Okhrana?
Answer
The Tsar's secret police, which infiltrated revolutionary groups, censored the press, and exiled or executed opponents.
Question
What were 'Stolypin's neckties'?
Answer
A nickname for the hangman's noose, referring to the field court-martials Stolypin used to execute suspected revolutionaries quickly.
Question
What was Dual Power (1917)?
Answer
After the February/March Revolution, the Provisional Government (formal authority) and the Petrograd Soviet (real power over workers/soldiers) governed side by side.
Question
What was Order No. 1?
Answer
A Petrograd Soviet decree telling soldiers to obey only orders that the Soviet also approved, undermining the Provisional Government's control of the army.
Question
Why did the Provisional Government lose support by autumn 1917?
Answer
It kept Russia in WWI, delayed land reform and elections, and could not fix food shortages — leaving peasants, soldiers and workers angrier by the month.
Question
What did Lenin's April Theses (1917) demand?
Answer
'Peace, Land, Bread' and 'All Power to the Soviets' — no cooperation with the Provisional Government, immediate peace and land redistribution.
Question
What was Trotsky's specific role in October 1917?
Answer
As chair of the Petrograd Soviet's Military Revolutionary Committee, he organised the armed seizure of key buildings that actually carried out the revolution.
Question
Compare the causes of the February/March and October/November 1917 revolutions.
Answer
February: spontaneous mass uprising (bread shortages, war exhaustion) that toppled the Tsar with no single leader. October: a planned Bolshevik-organised coup against the weak Provisional Government.
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Topic 13.7 hub
The Russian Revolution (1855–1924)
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