Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Russian Revolution

Russo Japanese War

I. Bloody Sunday
A. Russia enters WWI
1. Protests prompt Nicholas to abdicate
a. Duma sets up a temporary government
(1) Lenin returns from exile
(a) Bolsheviks seize control
i) Treaty of Brest-Liovsk
(1) Romanov family is murdered
(a) Russia civil war
i) War communisims
(1) New Economic Policy
(a) Construction established the Soviet Union
i) Lenin dies
(1) Stalin takes the power
(a) Stalin's five year plan
i) Collectivization of the Ukraine
(1) The Great Purge
(a) Anyone who has power is a threat to Stalin so he kills them or send them to labor camps. Fear = power
(b)
(2) Peasants could only keep collectives not animals.
Stalin had rich peasants arrested.
(a) This angers peasants and causes them to not send as much grain for the city people. This causes a famine
ii) Expand industrial production, Improving heavy industry, opportunities to women, education to skill workers
(1) Was supposed to help work and life for Russians
(b) Makes harsh rules for peasants and focuses more on people from the city that peasants
(2) Stalin comes to power
(3)
ii) Multinational, democratic and socialist, unites Soviet Socialists Republic
(b) NEP took War Communism, peasants allowed to sell crops for profit. Peasants were allowed to set up small business again. This was the beginning of rebuilding Russia
(2) Economic and political system that excited in Soviet Union
(3) Forced peasant to give extra food, enlist on military, all supply to government
(4)
ii) United Whites then disunited them, 3 years long, Bolsheviks won
1918-1921
(1) Whites against reds
(b) In the midst of their flee, they were gathered for a picture but killed instead
(2) Shows how revolutionaries are getting what they want
(3) End of war between Russia and Germany 1918
ii) Workers given back mines and factories.
(b) Works with Trovsky to gain popularity
(c) Peace, bread, and land
(d)
(2) When Russia's government collapsed due to the tsar, member of Duma set of Provisional Government
(a) People are happy that the tsar is stepping down
b. Nicholas leaves Petrograd to visit troops in February 22, 1917
2. Disputes and killings cause Russia to enter the war. This will lead Russia to have a lot of resource problems
3.
B. "Dogside Massacre" 26 unarmed civilian protestors were shot and killed
II. Rivalry between Japan and Russia for Korea and Manchuria
Russian Revolution Timeline

Five Stages:

The first stage fits perfect with Russia's characteristics of a wear government due to the stupidity of the tsar. The next stage, de facto, is the Duma government. This was a temporary ruling just to get the next stage for the next ruler. Third, counter revolutionaries, is the civil war in Russia. The people were tired of the unfair rulings and the unjust killings. People like Lenin and Trovsky tired to get people to demand more land, bread, and peace. The last stage, Messiah theory, is when Lenin finally came to power. This gave the people hope for food, freedom, and the ability to start businesses up again. Unfortunately, Stalin came into power after Lenin and put everyone to their doom.


Concluding Question:

To me, the three most catalyzing events in the Russian revolution were: Bloody Sunday, the Treaty of Brost-Liovsk and when Lenin dies and Stalin came to power. Bloody Sunday seemed like the last event that the people could handle. They were tired of all the killings and decided that enough was enough. The Treaty Brest-Liovsk ended the War between Germany and Russia. This showed that those who were revolutionizing were getting what they wanted. The last important event that happened was when Lenin died. In turn, Stalin become the leader. He was a very harsh leader that thought that fear was the route to power.

 

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Otto Dix triptych Trench Warfare 1932




Born in Germany in 1891, Otto Dix knew he had a passion for art due his cousin, Fritz Amann. By the time Dix was nineteen, he entered a school of academy for applied arts called Kunstgewerbeschule. Once World War I started, he enlisted as a German soldier. While on the front, he was wounded in the neck and was forced to go home. After being home for some time, he started painting images of the vivid nightmares he had been having. When Dix became an art teacher at Dresden Academy, the Nazis ordered him to step down from his teaching job. They took his paintings and burned them. Hitler locked up Dix in jail for seven years before he was released. Once he was out, he continued his war paintings until he died on July 25, 1969.
Dix’s paintings were heavily influenced by the horrors he witnessed during the war. The triptych Trench Warfare uses many different painting styles to accentuate the monstrosity of the war. For example, some parts of the image are fuzzy. This shows that since there are many deaths during the war, sometimes people are forgotten.  Another symbolic message is in the sky of the painting. Half is a dark brown color that represents death and despair and the other half is bright and warm, which represents freedom and hope. There are also mangled bodies, soldiers with gas masks, and corpses everywhere to give viewers an image of what the front war like.

"The Needlessness of War." Web log post. 
: Trench Warfare by Otto Dix 1932. Spikey, n.d. Web. 17  Mar. 2013. <http://theneedlessnessofwar.blogspot.com/2011/05/trench-warfarewar-by-otto-dix-1932_12.html>.
"Daily Artist." Web log post. : Otto Dix (December 2, 1891 รข€“ July 25, 1969). EEH, 02 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. <http://dailyartist.blogspot.com/2011/01/otto-dix-december-2-1891-july-25-1969.html>.