How far do Trotsky(TM)s own misjudgments account for his failure in the power struggle which followed Lenin(TM)s death?
"How far do Trotsky's own misjudgments account for his failure in the power struggle which followed Lenin's death?" Following Lenin's death in 1924, a power vacuum appeared for the leadership of the Communist Party in Russia. A collective leadership was proclaimed, however competition for individual authority between Trotsky, Stalin, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky led to a fierce struggle for power, ending in Stalin's triumph and the beginning of his tenure as the leader of the Communist Party. The strongest contenders in the power struggle were Stalin and Trotsky, however a number of unfortunate decisions and lack of support on Trotsky's part, coupled with Stalin's tactics and power base, led to Trotsky's defeat and exile. It was the latter of the two factors that contributed more to Trotsky's ultimate failure, due to the fact that Stalin's initial position was stronger, and his opportunism allowed him to take advantage of Trotsky's misjudgments, thereby allowing him to take power. However, it is worth noting that the term 'misjudgments' is relative to the historian, since a number of Trotsky's unsuccessful decisions were deliberately made to avoid certain outcomes, therefore cannot accurately be termed 'misjudgments'. Trotsky, although he had a limited power base made up of mostly radicals and students, was in a position of adequate leverage immediately
Compare and Contrast the Policies of Alexander II and Alexander III
Abhishek Puri History- HL 20/08/2009 Compare and Contrast the policies of Alexander II and Alexander III Tsar's Alexander II and his son, Alexander III had different an entirely different ideology when it came to the question of reform. On one hand, Alexander II was a liberalist, this reflects in his reforms which include the Emancipation of the Serfs in 1861- where twenty to thirty million serfs were emancipated on private estates and also domestic households and also the abolishment of capital punishment. Other reforms of Alexander II included the founding of the Zemstva- a system of local self-government. On the other hand, successor Alexander III had a conservative ideology. He believed in the doctrines of Nationalism, Eastern Orthodoxy and autocracy. Alexander III often questioned his father's reforms, which he thought were too liberal and diminish the power of autocratic leadership of the country. After his accession of the throne, Alexander III started a wave of "anti-reforms", as he reversed his father's liberal reforms. Tsars Alexander II and Alexander III differed on the level of Foreign policy, Judicial and Educational Reforms but they shared a sense of Russian Nationalism. Both Tsars Alexander II and Alexander III had different view points on Foreign Policy. Alexander II pushed for military conquests and urged annexation of the nearest countries to augment
To what extent was the alliance system responsible for the outbreak of World War One in 1914?
To what extent was the alliance system responsible for the outbreak of World War One in 1914? In the events after the end of WW1 much of the blame for the outbreak of the war fell on Germany and their aggression. However with hindsight we see that things were a lot more complex. The idea that many historians except nowadays that the alliance systems caused WW1, but none of them can agree to what extent they caused the war. Before the war began countries started to make bonds and promises between each other, this triggered a lot of factors that sparked the war. In 1914, when the First World War broke out, Europe was divided into two military alliance systems: the Triple Alliance including Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy, and the Triple Entente that included Britain, France and Russia. The intent of the alliance system was primarily to provide mutual defence in order to maintain the power balance in Europe, but the nations eventually came to rely on it for aggressive purposes. Frictions between the groups had brought Europe to the verge of war several times after 1900, and were indirectly influential in generating a world war out of the Balkan conflict between Serbia and Austria-Hungary. Although the alliance systems were intended to provide mutual defence, they encouraged war equally well by providing military support. In my opinion the most important alliance in the lead
Long term and short causes of the Russian Revolution of 1905.
Long term and short causes of the Russian Revolution of 1905. The Russian revolution of 1905 was the product of more than a century of discontent shown by the Russian people (http://www.thecorner.org/hist/russia/revo1905.htm). The revolution was a burst of anger bottled up by the people of Russia for over 50 years, starting with the rule of Alexander the II. I believe, all three Tsars' - Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II were the cause of the 1905 revolution. Alexander III was known to history as a liberal autocrat. He came to power only a year after the Crimean war, in which Great Britain, France, the kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire defeated Russia. This highlighted the backwardness of the Russian Empire; hence, Alexander II started liberal reforms all over Russia. The most important of those reforms was emancipation of the serfs - Alexander II thought he gave freedom to the Serfs (slaves). Although in reality, many of the serfs were upset because they could not longer share their land, or graze their animals on the same land. They didn't like it because they had to pay money to the government. Another reform that wasn't popular with the Russian people was the creation of the Zemstva. This is because they did not have enough power to do anything significant. Alexander III was known to history as a reactionary and conservative ruler. He had many
Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences Yalta Conference . Why Did Roosevelt and Churchill agree to allow the Soviet-sponsored Provisional Government to continue in power in Poland? Roosevelt was anxious to secure Soviet cooperation in the Pacific War against Japan, and was thus willing to concede Russian dominance in Poland. 2. Why did they want it reorganized to include democratic leaders and committed to "free and unfettered" elections? With a democratic institution with "free and unfettered" elections, Poland would become a legitimate democratic nation. Since the Soviet Union was communist and therefore not aligned with this form of government, it would enable Poland to stand in the way of Soviet foreign policy in Poland and also in the greater Eastern Europe, and this would also be instrumental in allowing Britain and the US to legitimately establish diplomatic relations with Poland. 3. What factors would make it possible for the Soviets to establish communist control in Poland, despite these provisions? Wording in the document such as: "the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity shall be pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible" enables the Soviets to control Poland until the time for democracy is necessary. This line is ambiguous and allows for multiple points of interpretation. Moreover, Roosevelt was anxious for Russian
To what extent did Alexander II succeed reforming Russian life and institutions?
To what extent did Alexander II succeed reforming Russian life and institutions? Tsar Alexander II came to power during the Crimean war in 1855 and ruled Russia until his assassination in 1881. Historians believe that he may have been the "best prepared heir-apparent ever to have ascended the Russian throne" as Alexander II had been heir for most of his boyhood and received a special education preparing him to rule Russia. As well prepared as he may have been he inherited a difficult position from his father, Nicholas I. His nation was isolated in Europe, on the verge of defeat, which made it dangerously weak. In terms of domestic policy, he was left and intact autocracy that repressed all western influenced political thinking and practices. Finally, as Russia's economic and social progress had been extremely limited under Nicholas I, particularly in comparison to the rapidly industrializing western European powers, Alexander II inherited a relatively "backwards" Russia. The new tsar was aware of Russia's weakness and recognized the necessity to introduce reforms to preserve his autocratic system of government. Alexander II is best known for his first reform, the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. There were two large obstacles that he had to overcome before he could complete this reform. Firstly the gentry and nobility were hostile to the destruction of serfdom, they
The Great Depression Notes
Unit 11- The Great Depression 1.1 The Causes of the Great Depression > Trade, Money, Loan, and Internal problems > Protective tariffs (taxes on imported goods) were put in place in order to protect domestic industry, but they were not high enough to obstruct the movement of goods > WW1 changed this because all belligerents (countries participating in war) overproduce, overdevelop their industrial sectors to provide enough goods for war > After the war, to protect the new industries, all countries instilled high tariffs (to keep the industries from going out of business) > 1922 the US began increasing tariffs > 1930- Hawley Smoot Tariff raised the country's tariffs to an all time high - taxes on imported goods was 32%-40% > It became hard to restore trade because the trade links were broken (uneven distribution of currencies) > A lot of European wealth had gone to US because convertible currency (currency accepted by any country) was in short supply > To stimulate trade, US, Britain, and France loaned and invested in poor countries, like Germany > World trade shrank > Allies still owe the US $10 billion from loans from the war > Allies point out that they lost more than the US and requested that the US saw the unpaid $10 billion as a contribution to the Allies > US says no, pay back all of the money plus interest > Germany had to pay $33 billion to the Allies
Adolf Hitler
WAS WORLD WAR 1 THE OUTCOME OF IMPERIALISM? From the year 1870 till 1914, countries across Europe and Americas were having a common disease called 'Imperialism'. Every single superpower was keen on expanding their empire and annexed maximum colonies as possible. This led to an immense tension between the countries and also caused insecurity within them. We are about to discuss whether or not, 'Was World War 1 the outcome of Imperialism?' Since the beginning of 1870 itself, British and the French have been wealthy nations. America had attained independence from the British. As the British were expanding their empire, tensions seemed to rise amongst the neighbors as well as other powerful countries. Annexation of countries became a competition, for more colonies, as it depicted more power. When France started taking up colonies in Africa, the British became insecure and started competing by taking over parts of Asian countries. As America was slowly emerging to be a superpower, by being victorious over Spanish, Japan was a powerful nation in Asia with a strong empire and colonies. Germany and USA began their imperialism almost during the same time. USA had defeated the Spanish and Germany had newly entered the imperialism list. USA chose to expand for domestic reasons as well as for economic issues. Businessmen and politicians suffered economic depression. The Panic of 1893
Manitoba School Act
History 6151-1 2 February 2009 French Catholics Required to Have Receptivity and Modesty Among a myriad of conflicts between Anglophone and Francophone since the British North America Act of 1867 which established Canada, the Manitoba school question represents the major discord between Anglophone and Francophone, Protestants and Catholics and provincial government and federal government in Canadian history. When Manitoba became the fifth province of Canada in 1870, John A. Macdonald cabinet legislated the Manitoba Act which guaranteed the equal rights for both English Protestant and French Catholic denominational schools. In 1890, however, Manitoba provincial government of Thomas Greenway passed the Manitoba Public Schools Act, integrating two religious school systems to one public school system by eliminating funds for denominational schools and acknowledging only English in courts and official documents. The furious Francophone went to courts; although French Canadians almost won the case in Supreme Court, they lost in Manitoba court and the British Privy Council in 1892. Sir. Wilfrid Laurier, the first Francophone Prime Minister, was elected in 1896 and successfully negotiated the Laurier-Greenway Compromise which allowed the limited religious education and use of French under certain conditions; this compromise was the most unbiased and efficient law that Laurier could
why did stalin, instead of trotsky, become the USSR leader?
History Essay Why did Stalin instead of Trotsky emerge as leader of the USSR by 1929? Vladimir Lenin, leader of the USSR, died on the 21st of January 1924. His death will bring a great power struggle among the main characters of the Bolshevik party. They were the members of the Politburo: Leon Trotsky, Gregory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Rykov, Mikhail Tomsky and Joseph Stalin. By 1924 the communist party was divided in left and right. On the left there were Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev, on the right Bukharin, Rykov, Tomsky, and Stalin was playing in the middle. Stalin plan was basically to look at his opponents destroying each other and jumping always in the majority, even if this might ask to change his views. In 1924, Stalin decided to make an unofficial Triumvirate with Kamenev and Zinoviev in order to destroy Trotsky. However Stalin decided not to be too obvious to attack Trotsky personally, so he let Kamenev and Zinoviev do the work. It looked like Trotsky being the main contender and Kamenev and Zinoviev being his rivals. So his underestimation played a major role for him, so Trotsky missed many opportunities to get rid of him because of it. For example he did not insisted to publish the Lenin's testament, where it was said to keep Stalin out of power, because he was too selfish and he did not think a lot about the party. Stalin gained the