Aim: Explain the crisis that paved the way for the March Revolution and end of Czarist rule

Crisis at Home and Abroad Between 1904 & 1917, Russia faced a series of crisis Events showed the czar’s weakness & paved the way for revolution Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of 1905 January 22, 1905, 200,000 workers and their families approached the czar’s Winter Palace (St. Petersburg) Carried a petition asking for better working conditions & personal freedom Nicholas II’s generals ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd More than 1,000 people were wounded & several hundreds killed Russian’s named event “Bloody Sunday” Provoked strikes & violence Oct 1905: Nicholas promised more freedom Approved the Duma: Russia’s 1st Parliament 2

World War I: The Final Blow 1914: Nicholas II made the fateful decision to drag Russia into WWI Russia was unprepared to handle the military & economic costs Poorly equipped troops no match for Germans Russian soldiers mutinied, deserted, or ignored orders On home front, food & fuel supplies were dwindling Neither Nicholas or his wife were capable of tackling these enormous problems 3

The March Revolution March 1917: Women textile workers led citywide strike in Petrograd Riots flared up over shortages of bread Nearly 200,000 workers swarmed streets shouting “Down with the autocracy!” At first, soldiers obeyed orders to shoot rioters but later sided with them The local protests exploded into a general uprising Known as the March Revolution Forced Czar Nicholas II to abdicate the throne Revolution succeeded in bringing down the czar but failed to replace it Failed to set up strong government Duma set up provisional govnt (Temporary) 4