Democratic Breakdown and Democratic Stability: A Comparison of Interwar Estonia and Finland

1999 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Siaroff
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Party System ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Democratic Breakdown ◽  
New States ◽  
Democratic Stability ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Interwar Europe

AbstractTwo of the new states of interwar Europe were Estonia and Finland. Both arose out of the Russian Empire and both were literate, Protestant nations. Yet democracy broke down in Estonia but survived in Finland. These outcomes would seem ironic, given that Finnish independence involved a brutal civil war and Finland was linguistically divided—factors not present in Estonia. This study, however, examines not just the nature of independence but also the constitutional structures, party politics and regime crises of these two neighbouring cases. In terms of the factors commonly cited as favouring stable democracy, the Estonian-Finnish contrast shows the particular explanatory importance of political culture, the speed of democratization, the views of elites and the nature of the party system. What happened in Finland also implies that a presidential, or at least a balanced semipresidential, system cannot be considered as inherently dangerous for democratic stability.

Pyrrhic Victories

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jörg Baberowski
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
New Economic Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Military Victory ◽  
The Military

This chapter examines the aftermath of the Bolsheviks' victory over both the Whites, or counterrevolutionaries, and all rival socialists. The Bolsheviks broke the military resistance of the Whites, crushed the unrest and strikes of the peasants, and even restored the multiethnic empire, which, in the early months of revolution, had largely fallen apart. In spring 1921, when the Red Army marched into Georgia, the Civil War was officially over. For the Bolsheviks, however, military victory was not the end but rather the beginning of a mission, not simply to shake the world but to transform it. Although weapons may have decided the war in favor of the revolutionaries they had not settled the question of power. This chapter considers Vladimir Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP) that would implement economic reforms, the Bolsheviks' failure to carry power into villages, and the dictatorship's lack of support from the proletariat. It also describes the nationalization of the Russian empire and Joseph Stalin's rise to power.

TwoArrests of Harlampiy Ermakov —prototype of the main character of the novel «And Quiet Flows the Don»

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
А.В. Венков
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Court Case ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Main Character ◽  
Russian Civil War ◽  
Soviet Government ◽  
The Russian Empire

Во время гражданской войны в России казаки, выступившие в большинстве против большевиков, казались представителям советской власти враждебной монолитной силой. Лишь небольшая часть казаков поддержала большевиков. Проводя против казаков репрессивную политику, представители власти в первую очередь старались показать, что карают белых казаков, которые убивали красных казаков. Случай, когда восставшие казаки казнили казаков, возглавлявших на Дону советское правительство, стал идеальным поводом для репрессий против казаков вообще. В статье рассматривается судебное дело, в котором уцелевшие после гражданской войны белые казаки преследуются именно по обвинению в убийстве лидеров красных казаков. Показано, как изменение политики власти по отношению к казачеству влияет на решение суда, как после изменения политики тех же людей и по тем же обвинениям не отпускают домой, а расстреливают. During the Russian Civil War the Cossacksstrongly acted against the Bolsheviks. Soviet government perceived them as a solid antagonistic force. Only a few Cossackssupported the Bolsheviks. The Bolshevik policy of systematic repressions against Cossacks of the Russian Empire was aimed at the White Cossacks who killed the Red ones. The case when rebel Cossacksexecuted those Cossacks supporting the Soviet Government, became the perfect trigger for launching repression against Cossacks in general. The article examines the court case in which the White Cossacks who survived the Civil War have been charged with the murder of Red Cossacks leaders. It is shown how politics affect the decisions of the court.

scholarly journals Meandry służby generała kawalerii Aleksieja Brusiłowa w Armii Czerwonej w latach 1920–1926

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-185
Author(s):  
Rafał Igielski
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Organizational Skills ◽  
Military Career ◽  
Active Service ◽  
Red Army ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Military Activity

The subject of the article is the last period of General Aleksei Brusilov’s military activity – during the civil war as well as active service in the Red Army. Focus has been placed mainly on the years 1923–1924, when he served in the Soviet forces as General Inspector of the Cavalry, contributing to its increasing professionalization. Due to the lack of any studies on Brusilov in Polish, the author considered it necessary to present an outline of the general’s military career in the army of the Russian Empire until 1914, which gave the paper a more comprehensive character and made it possible to critically assess his command and organizational skills. A brief discussion of the evolution of General Brusilov’s image in historiography and USSR and Russian propaganda has also been included.

scholarly journals Украина начала XX века глазами Константина Паустов- ского

2018 ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Antoni Bortnowski
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Russian Civil War ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Russian Empire

The beginning of 20th century was a very complicated period in the history of the Ukrainian territories. Konstantin Paustovsky spent his youth in the southern part of the Russian Empire and could observe all the historical processes happening to his country. In his autobiography Story of a life Paustovsky presents a very interesting view of Ukraine at the beginning of the 20th century and during the Russian Civil War. The author of this article analyzes Paustovsky’s perception of Ukraine and tries to give an answer to the question of how a descendant of Zaporozhian Cossacks and Polish intellectuals could become a Russian patriot.

scholarly journals The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and Its Policy Towards the Terek and Dagestan (the Second Half of 1919 – the beginning of 1920)

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 1140-1173
Author(s):  
Arsen M. Kambiev
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The Political ◽  
North Caucasus ◽  
The Caucasus ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
The North ◽  
The Russian Empire

The article examines the little-studied and complex issue of relations between the new Caucasian state entities during the collapse of the Russian Empire and the following Civil War. The Revolution of 1917 led to the appearance on the political map of the Caucasus and Transcaucasia of a number of new state entities that fought for the recognition of their sovereignty. However, the political and military chaos in the region hindered both the internal process of consolidation of the self-proclaimed states, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Mountainous Republic of the North Caucasus in particular, and their entry into the international community. The civil war in Russia and the confrontation between the Red and the White forces instigated even more contradictions. Transcaucasian countries, primarily Azerbaijan and Georgia, support both the insurrectionary movement in the Terek-Dagestan region and the leaders of the overthrown Mountainous Republic who stayed in their territory. However, any attempts to create stable allied military, political and economic relations, undertaken by the leaders of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Mountainous Republic, were not successful.

The Rise of Political Speech, 1895–1905

2020 ◽  
pp. 129-165
Author(s):  
Stephen Lovell
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Great Difficulty ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Political Speech ◽  
Common People ◽  
The Common ◽  
Political Trials ◽  
The Russian Empire

The turn of the century saw a surge of mobilization. Socialist propaganda among the working class was making inroads, students were turning more radical, and the Russian empire saw a further wave of political trials, this time involving largely working-class defendants, in the early 1900s. Educated society was becoming more vocal at professional congresses and local assemblies, and the more radical zemstvo elements came together in a ‘liberation’ movement. Charismatic churchmen, foremost among them Georgii Gapon in St Petersburg, found new ways of speaking to the grievances and concerns of the common people. All these pressures culminated in the 1905 revolution, which forced hitherto unthinkable concessions from the tsarist government. Even then, the revolution was suppressed only with great difficulty and after a striking innovation in Russian political culture and rhetoric: the creation of a kind of workers’ parliament, the St Petersburg Soviet, which existed from mid-October to early December 1905.

A Future Not as Gloomy as It Seems

2020 ◽  
pp. 16-58
Author(s):  
Klaus Richter
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
New States ◽  
Independent States ◽  
War Aims ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
First World

The chapter traces the emergence of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia as independent states from the First World War. It starts out by looking at the change of German war aims against the background of the rapid advance into the multi-ethnic western parts of the Russian Empire and traces how German politicians, academics, and military staff conceived of plans to integrate newly created states in the region deeply into a German-dominated Central Europe—firstly in alliance with Poland, then in the form of an openly anti-Polish system. Subsequently, the chapter investigates how politicians of these new states struggled to secure independence after German defeat. It finishes by showing that in domestic politics these politicians had to accept post-war territorial fragmentation as irreversible. At the international level, on the other hand, they had to fit the new states into the post-war international order by conceptualizing them as strictly anti-Bolshevik and anti-German.

scholarly journals Communicative sphere of activity of the governors on the example of Yakutia

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-33
Author(s):  
Alena Ivanovna Arkhipova
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Communication Channel ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Local Society ◽  
Regional Component ◽  
Effective Instrument ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Communicative Space

The object of this research is the communication means used in administrative activity by the office of the governor of Yakutia. The author examines the communicative sphere of activity of the governor as one of the crucial. The governor is the representative of the interests of federal government, government policy in the region, and informant about its state for the central authorities. To fulfill all the listed functions, the governor must convey various information to his subordinates and the population, as well as acquire information on the entrusted administrative-territorial district. Characteristics is given to the main communication channels of the governors along the lines top-bottom and bottom-top. Special attention is turned to the governor's reports and “congresses of competent persons". The governors of Yakutia have actively used the communicative capabilities of the annual report as the official communication channel with central authorities and the monarch. The example of information potential of such communication means is the development the questions of exile and transformation of the Cossack regiment. The “Congress of Competent Persons" held at the turn of the XIX – XX centuries in Yakutia has become a communicative platform for discussing the relevant for Yakutia problem of land use, as well as an effective instrument for establishing dialogue between the government and local society. The novelty of this research consists in articulation of the problem, and is defined by poor development within the modern historiography of the regional component of communication system of the Russian Empire. Viewing the governor’s power through the prism of communicative space contributes to more profound understanding of the mechanisms of political culture in the Russian Empire.

scholarly journals Рецензия на книгу Sablin I. The Rise and Fall of Russia’s Far Eastern Republic, 1905–1922.Nationalisms, Imperialisms, and Regionalisms in and after the Russian Empire

2020 ◽  
pp. 158-162
Author(s):  
И. К. Богомолов
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Far East ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
The Far East ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Far Eastern

В рецензии рассматривается монография И. Саблина о возникновении и падении Дальневосточной республики (ДВР). Автор отмечает, что сама идея создания "буферного государства" была уникальной для революционной России, уникальной для большевиков, уникальной для региона. На основании широкого круга источников И. Саблин показывает, как идеологии, с которыми большевики изначально боролись – "левый либерализм", национализм и империализм – позволили им в итоге одержать верх на Дальнем Востоке и окончательно победить в Гражданской войне. The review considers the monograph by Ivan Sablin on the emergence and fall of the Far Eastern Republic (FER). The author notes that the very idea of creating a "buffer state" was unique for revolutionary Russia, unique for the Bolsheviks, unique for the region. Based on a wide range of sources Ivan Sablin shows how the ideologies with which the Bolsheviks initially fought – "left liberalism", nationalism and imperialism – allowed them to ultimately gain the upper hand in the Far East and finally win the Civil War.

Latviešu strēlnieku vēsturiskās nozīmes jautājums starpkaru publicistikā

2021 ◽  
pp. 86-95
Author(s):  
Vitālijs Šalda
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Interwar Period ◽  
Russian Empire ◽  
Russian Civil War ◽  
Historical Significance ◽  
Army Soldiers ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Russian Empire

The article is devoted to the analysis of the work of Latvian publicists of the interwar period of the Republic of Latvia, who wrote about the role of Latvian riflemen in the history. There were several pronounced tendencies in Latvian publicistics: highlighting of the performance of the „old” Latvian riflemen, attributing the merits of Latvian National Army soldiers to the soldiers of established Republic of Latvia; concealing of the participation of „red” Latvian riflemen in the Russian Civil War; explaining the participation of the „red” Latvian riflemen in the Russian Civil War as a struggle for the destruction of the Russian Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Latvia and other national states on the ruins of this empire, combining and evaluating the achievements of „old” and „red” riflemen. The author also gives his own vision on the historical significance of Latvian riflemen.

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