The Kronstadt Rising

The Bolsheviks moved quickly to crush their opposition and to restrict political freedoms. This period was known as The Red Terror.

The Kronstadt Rising

Sailors of the Kronstadt naval base, who had traditionally supported and aided the Bolsheviks, rebelled in March 1921.
'War communism’ had taken its toll on sailors and soldiers, who were increasingly exploited by the Bolsheviks.

The sailors rebel

The rebellion showed how much support the Bolsheviks had lost as a result of the strict regime they imposed during the war.
The sailors felt that the Bolsheviks had abandoned the Russian worker.
The sailors called for:
- New elections.
- Freedom for left-wing parties.
- Free trade-unions.
- An end to grain requisitioning from peasants.

Response to the mutiny

The soldiers were denounced as ‘Whites’ and ‘counter-revolutionaries’ by Lenin.
- This was not an accurate description. Most sailors supported leftist parties.
The soldiers were not trying to overthrow the revolution. They were just asking for changes.
- But the Red Army still attacked the sailors at their base across the sea ice outside Petrograd.

Result

The sailors fought back but were defeated. Hundreds were killed.
- The episode influenced and changed Lenin’s way of thinking and ruling Russia.

1The End of Tsardom

1.1Russia's Economy & Society

1.1.1Industrialisation

1.1.2Living & Working Conditions

1.2Nicholas II's Autocracy & the Court

1.2.1Growth of Revolutionary Opposition

1.2.2The 1905 Revolution & the October Manifesto

1.2.3Reforming Russia Before 1914 - Stolypin

1.2.4The Duma & Political Stalemate

1.3The First World War

1.3.1The Impact of Military Defeats

1.3.2Social & Economic Effects of WW1

1.3.3Romanov Unpopularity

1.3.4The Tsar's Abdication

1.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - The End of Tsardom

2Lenin's New Society

2.1The Provisional Government

2.1.1The Failure of the Government

2.1.2Social & Economic Problems

2.1.3Lenin & Trotsky

2.1.4The Growth of the Bolsheviks

2.1.5The October / November Revolution

2.1.6Top Grade AO2/3 - The Provisional Government

2.2The Impact of Lenin's Dictatorship

2.2.1The End of the First World War

2.2.2The Cheka

2.2.3Red Terror & Centralisation

2.2.4The Civil War & The Red Army

2.2.5Propaganda

2.2.6Top Grade AO2/3 - Early Bolshevism & the Civil War

2.3Social & Economic Developments

2.3.1War Communism

2.3.2The Kronstadt Rising

2.3.3The New Economic Policy (NEP)

2.3.4The Achievements of Lenin & Trotsky

2.3.5Top Grade AO2/3 - Social & Economic Developments

3Stalin's USSR

3.1Stalin the Dictator

3.1.1The Power Struggle to Succeed Lenin

3.1.2The Communist Party & Government

3.1.3The Terror & the Purges

3.1.4The Secret Police

3.1.5Cult of Personality

3.1.6Propaganda & Censorship under Stalin

3.1.7Top Grade AO2/3 - Stalin's Dictatorship

3.2Stalin's Modernisation of the USSR

3.2.1Collectivisation

3.2.2Five Year Plans

3.2.3Social & Economic Consequences

3.2.4Social & Economic Consequences 2

3.2.5The Extent of Modernisation

3.3Impact of the Second World War

3.3.1Stalin's Wartime Leadership

3.3.2Political, Economic & Social Consequences of War

3.3.3Top Grade AO2/3 - Modernisation of the USSR

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