Topic 5 facts

Question 1

what was the role of Trotsky in the new Bolshevik govt?

Answer 1

commissar for foreign affairs

Question 2

what were the reasons for foreign intervention in the civil war?

Answer 2

• 1918 main motive was to keep Russia fighting in WW1 preventing more German forces on Western front
• after the German armistice in November 1918, intervention continued to support anti-Bolshevik forces
• divisions and muddled thinking with allied governments

Question 3

who were the foreign interventionists in the civil war?

Answer 3

• interventionists: Britain, France, Japan, US, Poland, Romania, Italy, Lithuania

Question 4

what was the impact of foreign intervention in the civil war?

Answer 4

• did not bring down the Bolshevik regime as intervention was on a small scale
• Bolshevik survival secured by military successes of Red Army under Trotsky and Tukhachevsky
• November 1920- British cabinet agreed to negotiate a trade agreement with Bolsheviks recognising them
• most allied troops only fought minor skirmishes

Question 5

when and what was the Russo-Polish war?

Answer 5

1919-21:

• Polish wished to regain territory taking advantage of chaos of Civil war
• The Reds were motivated by the failure of the allied intervention in the Civil War to make a push to invade Poland and spread communism
• Poland seen as geographical bridge to West to export revolution
• Reds pushed Polish back to Warsaw but stretched lines and lacked support- defeated by Polish troops under Pilsudski
• treaty of Riga 1921- Russia surrendered large areas and soviet morale down

Question 6

what and when was the comintern?

Answer 6

established 1919 and not abolished until 1943:

• first congress in Moscow in March 1919- 50 delegates
• chairman Zinoviev but largely influenced by Lenin
• great optimism for spread of revolution believing in inevitability of world revolution
• second congress July-august 1920. Some European delegations broke away from Comintern due to debate over Lenin 21 conditions
• by the third congress in summer 1921, realisation that world revolution was not close. little interest

Question 7

why was Russia diplomatically isolated by 1921?

Answer 7

• excluded from the league of nations and the post war arrangements for collective security in 1919
• cooperated economically with Germany who were also isolated. By 1932, 47% of total imports came from Germany

Question 8

what and when was the treaty of Rapallo?

Answer 8

signed between Germany and Russia in April 1922:

• reopened diplomatic relations
• commercial and economic relations
• compensation waived from war
• a further agreement in July authorised German military to train in USSR

Question 9

when did Britain give diplomatic recognition to USSR?

Answer 9

1924

Question 10

when and what was the Anglo-soviet trade treaty?

Answer 10

1921:

• Britain agreed to advance a 30mil loan to USSR
• soviet paid compensation for stolen British assets after the October 1917 revolution

Question 11

why were relations ruptured between Britain and USSR in 1926?

Answer 11

Soviet behaviour during the General Strike- soviet leadership saw it as the beginning of a proletarian revolution (which it wasn’t)

Question 12

what was the union of militant Godless?

Answer 12

formed in 1921 to attack the power of the church who the communists saw as a rival to their power

Question 13

what and when was the ban on factions?

Answer 13

1921- agreed that once party policy had been agreed by the central committee everybody must agree. Penalty was expulsion from the party

Question 14

how was political repression used to develop a centralised state?

Answer 14

• militant godless
• ban on factions
• Mensheviks and SRs outlawed as organisations in 1921
• revolts dealt with harshly (Tambov 1922 villages destroyed)
• Nomentklatura (5500 trusted people entitled to key posts)
• Cheka renamed GPU in 1922. Given more substantial role
• Glavlit censored and checked texts before being published

Question 15

what was the Politburo?

Answer 15

formed in 1919- top layer of the party, containing 7-9 members- overtook sovnarkom in decision making

Question 16

where was each foreign interventionist?

Answer 16

• north Russia: British and French forces
• the far East: 11k American troops
• Southern: Ukraine

Question 17

what was Glavlit?

Answer 17

the main administration for affairs of literature and publishing houses

Question 18

when was the Bolshevik party purged of undesirables?

Answer 18

end of 1919

Question 19

what percentage of party members were in the army by 1919?

Answer 19

39%

Question 20

what does USSR stand for?

Answer 20

united socialist soviet republics

Question 21

when was the USSR formally established?

Answer 21

end of 1922