In: Civil Engineering
■ Who were the BOLSHEVIKS and the MENSHEVIKS and what were their disagreements?
■ How did LENIN make use of the SOVIETS in challenging the
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT in Russia after the fall of the tsar?
■ What policies did the BOLSHEVIKS follow after seizing power in
Russia?
■ What were WOODROW WILSON’S GOALS at the negotiations for the
Versailles Treaty?
What treatment did germany recieve undwr thebterms of the yreaty of versailles?
Question 1. Who were the BOLSHEVIKS and the MENSHEVIKS and what were their disagreements?
Answer: Bolsheviks and Mensheviks were the two main factions within the Russian Socialist movement at the beginning of the 20th century. In Russian, the term “Bolshevik” literally means “majority” whereas “Menshevik” means “minority”.
Bolsheviks and Mensheviks had a number of common features and beliefs:
The main differences between the two factions were:
Question 2. How did LENIN make use of the SOVIETS in challenging the PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT in Russia after the fall of the tsar?
Answer: By 1917, participation in World War I had resulted in disaster for the tsar’s armies and government. The nation’s casualties were much higher than those of any other country, and its economy was in a total chaos. On March 8, another revolution began when food shortages have made hundreds of women to riot in the streets of St. Petersburg, the empire’s capital and the violence spread to other cities and towns. Disheartened soldiers increasingly joined the revolt. In less than two weeks, Tsar Nicholas II had to give up his throne at the urging of the Duma, Russia’s parliament. Members of the Duma then set up a provisional, or temporary, government that shared power with councils of soldiers and workers, called “soviets.”
German authorities saw the upheaval in Russia as a chance to end the war in the east. They knew that Russian Communists known as Bolsheviks had long opposed the war and were eager to make peace. But the tsar had expelled their leaders, including Vladimir Lenin, years earlier. The Germans wishing that their return would undermine the Russian war effort and allowed Lenin and other Bolsheviks to return to Russia from exile in Switzerland.
Soon after his arrival in Russia, Lenin called for the removal of the provisional government by the soviets. But no one responded to his demand at that time. As a result, Lenin was once again forced into exile. Within a few months, however, starving Russians exhausted by the war had become impatient with the slow change under the provisional government. Lenin’s calls for “peace, land [for farm laborers and workers], and bread” now attracted more followers. By October, he was back in Russia, and by November 7, his Bolshevik-led army, the Red Guard, had forced out the provisional government and proclaimed government by the soviets.