ACTIVITIES
UNIT 7. THE OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR
Read
the following text :
The
Bolsheviks were a group who believed that a small number of revolutionaries
should lead a revolution to establish a socialist government. The leader of the
Bolsheviks was Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov, who is generally known as Lenin.
The
Bolsheviks also had a military force called the Red Guard, which consisted of
soldiers as well as armed factory workers. The Red Guard was led by Leon
Trotsky.
During
WWI, Lenin was in exile in Switzerland. After the February Revolution he
returned to Russia in a special train provided by the Germans. They hoped that
he would start another revolution and that Russia would withdraw from the war.
Lenin increased support for the
Bolsheviks using the slogan
« Peace !,Bread !,Land ! ». He promised to end the
war, give land to the peasants and give control of factories to the workers.
In October 1917 the Red Guards took
control of Petrograd, including the headquarters of the Provisional Government.
This is know as the October Revolution.
The Bolsheviks hoped that the
elections for the new Constituent Assembly would show everyone how popular they
were. Instead, they only won a small share of the vote.
Russian who opposed the Bolsheviks
formed White Armies to fight the Bolshevik´s Red Army. This led to a civil war.
The Bolsheviks held the Tsar and his family prisoner, and in 1918 they executed
them.
At the startof the war, the Reds
faced various problems:
-
The WWI Allies helped the Whites, because they were
worried about communism spreading to other countries, and the wanted Russia to
rejoin the war against Germany.
-
The Reds were surrounded by the Whites.
-
The White armies were led by professional soldiers.
However,
the Reds controlled Petrograd and most of the industrial areas and railways.
They were also better organised and more motivated. In 1921 they won the civil
war, after three years of brutal fighting.
QUESTIONS
1) Which positions
did Lenin and Trotsky hold ?
2) What was the
Red Guard?
3) Why did the
Germans help Lenin to return to Russia?
4) What was the
Bolsheviks´ slogan ?
5) Why did the
Allies help the Whites ?
6) What did the Red Army triumph?
WHAT DO THEY MEAN?
USSR.-
WWI.-
BOLSHEVIKS.-
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