Home Learning: Russia and World War 1
Big question – Did World War One bring about the downfall of the Tsar in February 1917?
Deadline:
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1. How well did Russia perform militarily in the war?
* Initial patriotism.
At the beginning of the war, all forms of patriotic material emphasised caricatures of the enemy and heroic interpretations of Russian exploits.Wilhelm II with his distinctive moustache and inevitable spike helmet was the overwhelming favorite for abuse in all media. All Germans, led by their Kaiser, were gross beer-drinkers and sausage-eaters as well as rapacious aggressors. The other two enemies, Austria and even Russia's historic foe Turkey, usually appeared as contemptible puppets of the Germans. Hubertus Jahn in Patriotic Culture in Russia during World War I, "Russian patriotism quickly became more differentiated, simultaneously reflecting separate and even disparate loyalties within society". http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=488 * Early successes against Austro-Hungarian Empire battle of galicia- a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary during the early stages of World War I in 1914. In the course of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian armies were severely defeated and forced out of Galicia, while the Russians captured Lemberg and, for approximately nine months, ruled Eastern Galicia.
* Battle of Tannenberg
Allied with France and Britain, Grand Duke Nicholas, the Russian commander, agreed to help relieve the French, under attack from Germany, with an offensive in East Prussia. Two Russian armies invaded German East Prussia in August 1914. The plan began well at Gumbinnen on 20 August, when Rennenkampf's First Army defeated eight divisions of the German 8th Army on its eastern front. By this time Samsonov's forces had crossed the southern frontier of East Prussia to threaten the German rear, defended by only three divisions. The Germans then got lucky when they intercepted an uncoded Russian message indicating that Rennenkampf was in no hurry to advance. A Russian counter-attack from Soldau enabled two Russian army corps to escape south east before the
German pursuit continued. By nightfall on 29 August the Russian centre, amounting to three army corps, was surrounded by Germans and stuck in a forest with no means of escape. The Russians disintegrated and were taken prisoner by the thousands. Faced with total defeat, Samsonov shot himself. By the end of the month, the Germans had taken 92,000 prisoners and annihilated half of the Russian 2nd Army. fter being reinforced, the Germans turned on Rennenkampf's slowly advancing Army, attacking it in the first half of September and driving it from East Prussia. It was a crushing defeat for the Russians. In total, they lost around 250,000 men. the Russian action had diverted the Germans from their attack on France and allowed the French to counter-attack at the Marne. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/battle_tannenberg.shtml * Battle of Lodz (December 1914)
The Battle of Łódź took place from November 11 to December 6, 1914, near the city of Łódź in Poland. It was fought between the German Ninth Army and the Russian First, Second, and Fifth Armies, in appalling winter conditions. General Nikolai Ruzski had recently assumed command of the Russian Army Group defending Warsaw. Ruzski had under his command General Paul von Rennenkampf's Russian First Army which was positioned north of the Vistula River, with the exception of one corps that was on the south bank of the river. Ruzski also had the Russian Second Army under General Scheidemann, which was positioned directly in front of Łódź. The Russian Fifth Army, under Pavel Plehve, was ordered to abandon its Silesia offensive, and moved to help counter Hindenburg's new offensive. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_%C5%81%C3%B3d%C5%BA_(1914) * Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive - 1915 during World War I started as a minor German offensive to relieve Russian pressure on theAustro-Hungarians to their south on the Eastern Front, but resulted in the total collapse of the Russian lines and their retreat far into Russia. The continued series of actions lasted the majority of the campaigning season for 1915, starting in early May and only ending due to bad weather in October.
* Tsar becomes commander-in-chief (Sept 1915)
The Tsar's decision to assume command of the Russian Army was made in spite of virtually unanimous cabinet opposition; the latter correctly feared that any setbacks the Army suffered would necessarily reflect directly upon the Tsar himself. http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/russia_tsarincommand.htm * Brusilov Offensive (1916) also known as the June Advance, was theRussian Empire's greatest feat of arms during World War I, and among the most lethal offensives in world history. HistorianGraydon Tunstall called the Brusilov Offensive of 1916 the worst crisis of World War I for Austria-Hungary and the Triple Entente's greatest victory.
2. What was the impact of the war back home in Russia? (Home Front)
* Numbers of men involved in the war mobilized force: 12,000,000 killed: 1,700,000 wounded: 4,950,000 prisoners and missing: 2,500,000 total casualties: 9,150,000 http://www.pbs.org/greatwar/resources/casdeath_pop.html
* Impact on national budget and spending and loans
Russia: $22,293,950,000 http://hubpages.com/hub/World-War-1-The-Cost-of-War * Food production.
All of the powers in 1914 expected a short war; none had made any economic preparations for a long war, such as stockpiling food or critical raw materials. The longer the war went on, the more the advantages went to the Allies, with their larger, deeper, more versatile economies and better access to global supplies.
* Humiliation of military defeats
Military disasters at the Masurian Lakes and Tannenburg greatly weakened the Russian Army in the initial phases of the war. The growing influence of Gregory Rasputin over the Romanov’s did a great deal to damage the royal family and by the end of the spring of 1917, the Romanovs, who had ruled Russia for just over 300 years, were no longer in charge of a Russia that had been taken over by Kerensky and the Provisional Government. By the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks led by Lenin had taken power in the major cities of Russia and introduced communist rule in those areas it controlled. The transition in Russia over the space of four years was remarkable – the fall of an autocracy and the establishment of the world’s first communist government.
3. What was the political impact of the war?
* Union of zemstva a form of local government that was instituted during the great liberal reforms performed in Imperial Russia by Alexander II of Russia. The idea of the zemstvo was elaborated by Nikolay Milyutin, and the first zemstvo laws were put into effect in 1864. After the October Revolution of 1917, the zemstvo system was shut down and replaced by a system of workers' councils.
* Central War Industries Committee
The War Industries Committees, created in May 1915, were formed by Russia's leading captialists to help the tsarist regime with the war effort (manufacture of war materials, supplies, etc). The chairman of the Central War Industries Committee was the Octobrist leader and large capitalist A. I. Guchkov. Among its members were the manufacturer A. I. Konovalov and the banker and sugar manufacturer M. I. Tereshchenko. https://www.marxists.org/glossary/orgs/w/a.htm
* ZEMGOR
The Russian Zemstvo and Towns Relief Committee, Zemgor, which was the leading Russian aid agency in the inter-war period, imagined itself to be an apolitical organisation. In its own eyes it stood above parties and party conflict, and it saw its role exclusively as a provider of humanitarian aid to Russian émigrés, based on their need not their political stance. Aid, though, is never a purely humanitarian issue. It involves decisions regarding the allocation of resources, concerning who gets them and who does not. As such, whatever the aid providers may think, their activities are inherently political. Furthermore, when people are starving, impoverished, and homeless, they are dependent on those who supply the necessities of their lives. The providers of aid can choose to channel aid to those whom they favour, and withdraw it from those who displease them. They can use it to enforce obedience to their political platforms, to compel or induce others to follow them. In short, aid and power go together. http://www.cairn.info/revue-cahiers-du-monde-russe-2005-4-page-719.htm
* Progressive Bloc coalition of moderate conservatives and liberals in the fourth Russian Duma (elected legislative body) that tried to pressure the imperial government into adopting a series of reforms aimed at inspiring public confidence in the government and at improving the management of Russia’s effort in World War I. The bloc was formed in August 1915 under the leadership of Pavel N. Milyukov. On September 7 its members issued a program that called upon Emperor Nicholas II to appoint ministers who enjoyed the nation’s confidence and who would cooperate with the legislature. It urged that the government curtail its practices that discriminated against national and religious minority groups and that it cooperate with private organizations that had formed to promote the war effort. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/478326/Progressive-Bloc
* Impact of Rasputin
An unwashed sexually promiscuous peasant helped to bring down the empire of the Tsars in Russia. In the years before the Russian Revolution, Rasputin, who styled himself a holy man, became the confidant of the Tsar and Tsarina of Russia. His growing influence separated the Tsar from his people - his notorious affairs with aristocratic women, and rumors that he was having an affair with the Tsarina herself, convinced many that he was a disgrace to the court, and must go.
Nicholas and his wife had finally had a much beloved son and heir to the throne. Unfortunately, the young Tsarevich suffered from hemophilia, a painful malady which usually resulted in death at a young age at that time. When they heard of Rasputin the Tsarina called him in to heal the apparently dying Alexis. After Rasputin laid his hands on the boy, he began to improve and finally recovered. His influence with the royal family remained strong after that. In fact his growing influence, and the envy this caused, led to his death. he poor decisions that were made by the Tsar during the time of Rasputin's influence and the hatred that his presence inspired in the people probably contributed significantly to the fall of the Tsar in the last days of the dynasty. People lost confidence in their ruler at a time of grave crisis. Russia was fighting in World War I and losing badly. There were severe shortages of food and supplies at home. http://www.historywiz.com/historymakers/rasputin.htm 4. Complete some wider reading about Russia in World War 1 and record it in your wider reading log. http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/russia_and_world_war_one.htm http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwi/articles/russianarmy1914.aspx
http://russiasperiphery.blogs.wm.edu/general-2/world-war-one/