History of Russia Lectures for technical students. Part 1. Учебное пособие

called to the royal palace. Gregoriy Rasputin was a monk with healing powers. He could stop bleeding and he became a member of the royal family because of it. Rasputin was killed by the group of nobles with Prince Usupov at the head in 1916.

Russian public blamed Nicolas II for his poor military decisions. During World War I Russian people experienced famine and economic collapse. Russian army had great loses: during this war 3.3 mln. people were killed. Army was demoralized and suffered severe military setbacks: many soldiers deserted from the front lines.

By February 1917 new Revolution began in Petrograd (SaintPetersburg was renamed to Petrograd when World War I started because first name had German origin). At that time tsar was away in Mogilev. When he tried to get to Petrograd, the Duma prevented him from boarding the train and sent special group for meeting with him. On March 5, 1917 Nicolas II abdicated the throne and after it his family with him was exiled to the Ural Mountains. They were placed under house arrest. In October 1917 power in Russia was seized by the Bolsheviks. On July 1918 Nicolas II and all his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks near Ekaterinburg. Many years later in the beginning of 2000 they were buried in Alexandro-Nevskiy Lavra, where all Russian Emperors were buried, with royal honors. Orthodox Church canonized family of the last Romanov and made them saints in 1981.

Nicolas II was a devoted family oriented man, focused on every day life of his beloved wife and children. But he was indecisive person and very poor statesman.

TASKS

1. Answer the following questions:

1.How can you describe Nicolas II as a person and Emperor?

2.What Nicolas II was famous for? Why he was known as the Bloody?

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3.What events took place under Nicolas II?

4.Why he became the last Russian Emperor and last Romanov on the throne?

5.What was the reason of his and his family tragedy?

6.What was the reason of two revolutions in Russia?

2.Watch video “History of Russian Empire” (Matteo Zilli, part

18-19 of 20) and summarize new information.

3.Topics for writing essay.

1.The tragedy of Nicolas II and his family.

2.The figure of P. Stolypin in Russian history.

3.Why Russian Empire had its end?

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LECTURE 11. VLADIMIR LENIN AND SOVIET RUSSIA

Part I

Vladimir Ulyanov – better known as Lenin (by the alias) was a Russian communist revolutionary, politician and political theorist.

Lenin’s father Ilya N. Ulyanov was from a family of serfs. From this lower class he had risen to the middle class by his activity. Ilya Ulyanov was studying at Kazan Imperial University and then teaching at Penza Institute for the Nobility. He married Maria Blank, well-educated young woman. Lenin’s mother was from a family with German-Swedish and Russian-Jewish origin. After that Ilya Ulyanov started to work in Nizhniy Novgorod and became a director of Primary Schools in the Simbirsk district after six years. Later he got a position of director of public schools for the province and founded 450 schools according to the governmental programme. He earned the Order of Saint Vladimir and status of hereditary nobleman.

There were six children in Ulyanovs’ family: Anna, Alexander, Olga, Dmitriy, Maria and Vladimir, two of them died in childhood. Lenin’s parents were monarchists and liberal conservatives after Great Reforms. Vladimir attended classes at Simbirsk Classical Gymnasium. His father died when Vladimir was 16. After this tragedy Lenin’s behavior changed very much. His elder brother Alexander was a student of Saint Petersburg University and took active part in political agitation against monarchy and he involved Vladimir in it. Alexander Ulyanov was one of the conspirators who tried to kill Emperor Alexander III and for this he was arrested and executed by hanging.

Lenin continued his studying despite of this tragedy and left school with gold medal. Then he entered Kazan University, law faculty. He took active part as a member of zemlyachestvo and demonstrations

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against government. He was arrested, expelled from the University and exiled to his family estate Kokushkino. After his return he joined to revolutionary circle and came under influence of Karl Marx. His mother bought an estate in Alakaevka in Samara region to make Vladimir manage it, but he had no interest in farming. Therefore in 1889 Ulyanovs moved to Samara. Lenin joined to discussion group of Alexey Sklyarenko. They translated the Communist Manifesto of K. Marx into Russian together.

Lenin took exams externally at Saint-Petersburg University and obtained a first class degree with honors. He worked in Samara as a legal assistant at regional court and then as a local lawyer. In 1893 Lenin moved to Saint-Petersburg. There he worked as a lawyer assistant too. He founded Social Democratic party. Also he hoped to have good connections with Russian Marxist group “Emancipation of Labour” in Switzerland. Lenin visited Switzerland for meeting with a leader of this group – Plekhanov. Then he travelled to Paris to introduce to K. Marx’s son-in-law and carry out research on Paris Commune. Lenin was financed by his mother. He had SPA procedures in Switzerland, after it he went to Berlin and studied in the library.

When Lenin returned to Russia he was arrested for a year for his illegal revolutionary activity. In February 1897 he was sent to exile for 3 years to Siberia. His mother and sisters went with him there. They lived in a village Shushenskoe under police supervision. Nadezhda Krupskaya came to exile to his place after she asked government to change a place for her exile.

In 1900 Lenin started preparing for publishing a newspaper “Iskra” (“Spark”). The party changed the name – Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. He became “Lenin” in 1901 probably it was connected with the river Lena in Siberia or because of the name in his new passport. After this Vladimir used this pseudonym till the death.

Lenin went to Germany again. Krupskaya became his personal secretary. The second congress of RSDLP splitted party into two parts:

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“minoritarians” (Martov’s supporters) and “majoritarians” (Lenin’s followers). The third congress of the party took place in London, April

1905 after “Bloody Sunday”. Social Democratic Party took active part in the first Russian revolution.

In 1910 Lenin went to Europe, attended the Eighth Congress of the Second International and spent time in France. He had a close friend there – Inessa Armand. In 1914 he faced the First World War when he was abroad, in Switzerland. He got a chance to come back Russia with his supporters. It is believed that German government helped them. Many historians thought that Lenin was sent to Russia by Germany to start revolution there and stop fighting against Germany.

Lenin arrived to Petrograd in April to Finland train station and gave speech to Bolsheviks. He asked to denounce Provisional Government as traitors. After demonstration in Petrograd Lenin was ordered to arrest. Provisional government proclaimed Lenin as German agent. After that he went to Razliv (a place near Finnish-Russian border). Lenin returned to Russia again in September only after Kornilov’s revolt.

At night of October 24 Bolsheviks captured Winter Palace, where provisional government had meeting. So they got power. Lenin became a leader of new government.

Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy which would end food confiscation from peasants. This policy was necessary to ensure the survival of the Communist Party and became a measure of economic improvement. Lenin suffered a series of strokes 1922-1923.

Vladimir Lenin died in January 1924 at the age of 53. His body was laying for a week. His body was embalmed and displayed in special mausoleum first in London then in Petrograd. Petrograd was renamed to Leningrad after him.

Part II

Soviet Russia refers to the few years after the abdication of the Crown of the Russian Empire by Tsar Nicolas II before the creation of the So-

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viet Union in 1922. The history of Soviet Russia and the USSR reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. The terms “Soviet Russia” and “Soviet Union” are synonyms in everyday vocabulary.

After February Revolution in 1917 the Mensheviks gained control of Russia and established a Provisional Government. But it lasted only until the Bolsheviks took power after October Revolution, also called the

Bolsheviks’ Revolution, one year later. To distinguish themselves from other social parties, the Bolsheviks’ Party was renamed to the Russian

Communist Party.

On October 25, 1917 the Sovnarkom was established as the administrative arm of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Russia was proclaimed as the Democratic federal Republic. During the years between 1917 and 1923 the Soviet Russia achieved peace with the Central Powers, their enemies in the World War I.

Russian society splitted into two parts: the White army and the Red army. The Cossaks were called the Green army. Foreign armies (English and French) took active part in Civil war in Russia supporting the White army and sponsoring it. The Civil war resulted in large territorial changes and Polish-Soviet War. The piece of Riga signed in early 1921, according this piece treaty the territory of Belarus, Ukrane were divided between Poland and Russia. After crushing all opponents Soviet Russia spread Soviet power quickly and established itself through Russia.

During the Civil War the Bolsheviks adopted the policy which was called “War Communism”. They argued such policy that ending money’s role as a transmitter of “value” was a sign of the rapidly approaching communist epoch. The Kronstadt’s rebellion signaled the growing unpopularity of such policy. After that it was decided to end War Communism and introduce the New Economic policy. During NEP the state allowed a limited market to exist, small private business were also allowed. Peasants could sell agricultural surplus. The Soviet NEP was essentially a period of “market socialism”. After this Soviet Russia became the world’s greatest producer of grain.

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On December 29, 1922 a conference of delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukraine SSR and the Belarussian SSR approved the treaty on the creation of the USSR and the declaration of the creation of the USSR forming the Union of Soviet Socialistic Republic.

Lenin was already very ill. He died on January, 1924. On May Lenin’s Testament was read at the Central Committee of the Party, it wasn’t published. Joseph Stalin, general Secretary of the Russian Communist

Party, became Lenin’s successor and was a leader of the Soviet Union until his death in 1953. Stalin started campaigns against other Lenin’s followers such as Trotskiy, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Bucharin. All of them were executed, only Trotskiy was sent to the international exile in 1928 firstly but then he was killed in Mexico.

TASKS

1. Answer the following questions:

1.How can you describe V. Lenin as a person and a politician?

2.How did Lenin become a leader of the party?

3.How could Lenin obtain a power in Russia?

4.Why did Civil War begin?

5.What did Lenin do for the state?

2.Watch video “History of Russian Empire” (Matteo Zilli, part

20 of 20) and summarize new information.

3.Topics for writing essay.

1.V. Lenin and A. Kerenskiy: similar and different features.

2.Why Lenin could obtain and save power?

3.Why Russia became Soviet republic?

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ЗАКЛЮЧЕНИЕ

Тематика данного пособия охватывает наиболее яркие периоды исторического развития России. Материал представлен с нескольких точек зрений. Данное пособие дает возможность обучающимся на основе известного им исторического материала усвоить наиболее часто употребляемые слова и выражения исторического и об- щественно-политического лексикона.

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REFERENCES

1.Колесникова, М.В. История России в IX-XX веках / М.В. Колесникова и др. – М.: Московский лицей, 1999.

2.Cambridge history of Russia. Volume I. From early Rus to 1689. – Cambridge University Press. – 2004.

3.Cambridge history of Russia. Volume II. Imperial Russia, 16891917. – Cambridge University Press. – 2005.

4.Cambridge history of Russia. Volume III. The twentieth century. – Cambridge University Press. – 2006.

5.Marquez, P. World civilizations. The Global experience. – PearsonLongman. – 2007. (http://wpscc.pearsoncmg.com/wps/media/objects/ 3135/3211162/Stearns5e_IM.pdf).

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Учебное издание

ВАСИЛЬЕВА Юлия Сергеевна

History of Russia:

Lectures for technical students. Part 1

Учебное пособие

Редактор, корректор А.А. Сыромятников Технический редактор Ю.И. Кобылянская

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