Now that you have begun reading Animal Farm, you will want to get caught up as quickly as possible on the cultural-historical background to the novel. As I will soon mention during class this week, Orwell has written a fable or allegory – literally about animals on a fictional farm in England who rebel against their human oppressors and form a society for themselves. If this were all that Orwell had in mind, the story would be little more than an amusing and somewhat implausible “yarn.” But what Orwell really wants is to call attention to the shocking events of the Russian Revolution and its aftermath by use of various symbols in this veiled “fairy tale” atmosphere.  Because of this approach, your job will be to match up the historical personages and events to the story-line of the novel.

Terms to Remember

Capitalism, Socialism, Communism, Fascism, Totalitarianism, Proletariat, Bourgeoisie,

Russian Revolution of 1917, Russian Civil War (1918-1922), Red Army, White Army, Cheka, Pravda,  Kremlin,  Five Year Plan, Ukrainian Famine, Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of 1939, Battle of Stalingrad, Yalta Accords of 1945,

Political Figures

Karl Marx, Czar Nicholas II, Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, Josef Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt,