Helped me achieve A* in A Level History
| Front | Economic impact of war |
| Back | Alexander II:Alexander II:Tsar associated the lack of success in the war with the fact that Russia’s economic infrastructure was outdated compared to Britain and France so he emancipated the serfsDid not work that well with restrictions of movement continuing with the mirEncourages development of railways and other infrastructure - 20000km built with Reuterns's reformsEmancipation Edict allows peasants to move to cities and develop industriesAlexander III:NIcholas II:Russo JapEnd of redemption paymentsStolypin's land tenure reformsWW1Inflation Total cost was in the region of 3 billion roubles, which far exceeded levels of government expenditure during peacetimeBy 1917, prices had risen 400% women brought into workforceMass conscription produces labour shortages that weakens agricultural productionRailways overwhelmedShortagesPetrograd bread ration falling by 25% in first 3 months of 1916PG:High demand and low supply produces inflationDespite mass desertion to claim land PG refuses to engage in land reform. Rejects SR leader Chernov's plan to turn blind eye to land seizuresunable to end the war because economy is carried of the backs of loans from the allies like France, creating domestic problemsLenin:WW1Lenin initially allows workers to run the factories but it goes badly - absenteeism, theft, fall in production - has to reassert control through War CommunismCivil War led to War communism which caused significant unrest and after the civil war, Lenin replaced it with the NEPDiscontent with War Communism forces a 'tactical retreat' into NEPsociety. Industry had fallen in totality to some ten to twenty per cent of pre-war levels of capacity.Stalin:Germans occupied areas meant that in November 1941, industrial production was only 51.7% the output of October 1940The concentration on war production had become so great that they needed allies' help in the form of Land-Lease. Land Lease Act meant that the US provided Russia with supplies like 360,00 trucks which amounted to 5% of GDP. This was crucial in the balance of overall resources. - accepts help from the US and abolishes the Cominform, the idea of world revolutionThe USSR out-produced Germany in the second half of 1942 by making considerably more effective use of limited resources but still behind the advanced atomic technologies of the west.The T-34 tank underwent just one major wartime modification and the required number of man-hours to producer it fell from 8000 in 9141 to 3700 in 1943The countryside had been stripped of men, horses and machinery so by the end of the war carts and ploughs were increasingly pulled by human beings. In 1932, the total output was 38% of 1940 levelThe peasant’s private plot was vital for their survival as they ate off their own land and private trade was revived for the first time since the NEP and town inhabitants travelled to the countryside in search of food.‘Siege Economy’ continued after 1945spending on military rather than consumers goodsGarantuan projects like the Volga-Don Canal provided very little economic returnKhrushchev:CW creates pressure for industrial development, producing worker discontent e.g. Novocherkassk strikes Allows K to rebalance the economy somewhat towards consumer goods although agriculture and housing far behind targetsVirgins Lands scheme to try to cultivate land that was previously deemed unfarmable but failedRecovery was consistently slow, with production reaching 1940 levels only in 1952 |
| Front | Who was Alexei Stakhanov? |
| Back | Set a record for mining coal in a shift, utilising modern methods a mining drill rather than a pickStalin was showed the story before the ‘Stakhanov method’ appeared in the central party newspaper, the PravdaTries to encourage workers to work harder and be more productiveStakhanovite method was used as a propaganda |
| Front | Structure of government under Russia rulers |
| Back | Alexander II:For institutional reform, Alexander did minimal effort, he introduced the zemstvo to strengthen his rule, which was still under his autocracy.Local reform - zemstvo 1864 was a regional councilCentralised power as the president was not elected unlike the membershipHeavily weighted towards nobility as land qualifications needed to vote meant many peasants could not voteOnly trusted in areas part of the Great RussiaThere was an Imperial Council of State advisory body in 1810 but was powerlessAlexander III:Introduced 2000 Land Captains- They had overriding authority over the Zemstva and over the Mir.In 1890, the independence of the zemstva was reduced and control became more centralised. THe number of people eligible to vote in lections was cut drastically For instance, in Moscow and St.Petersburg only 0.7% of the population could voteNIcholas II: Created Duma but forced by the October ManifestoReverses this and recentralises with the fundamental law of 1906PG:Dual power system between the PG(members of Old Duma) and the Petrograd Soviets wanted to switch to democratic Constituent Assembly after warLenin:Lenin changes the democracy of the PG with Sonarvkom - government minsitersChanges from the ultimate ule of the Tsar’s and the democracy of the PG with a one party stateStalin:Created a personal dictatorship and liked the idea of a cult of personalityHighly bureaucratic and gave jobs as a form of patronage - built him support and loyaltyStalin keeps a similar set to Lenin with the Politburo at the topHowever his rule is more like the Tsars and ultimate and the Supreme Soviet is basically a puppet to approve Stalin's reformsKhrushchev:As part of destalinisation - khrushchev decentralised bureaucracy to make government more efficient as Stalin had a very large bureaucracy as he gave jobs through patronageHe created 105 regional economic councils across RussiaUnpopular as it meant a loss of jobs as well forcing bureaucrats to moveHis energetic leadership style meant that When policies failed, he appeared responsible in a way that a less energetic leader would not have beenThis can be seen with the Virgin lands scheme which he had been personally involved in by going to the countryside to meet farmers |