Russian Revolution

Tsarist (Czarist) Russia “Feudalism” Serfs actually freed in 1861 Alexander II but no real land reform like sharecroppers

Tsarist (Czarist) Russia Anarchists Assassinate Alexander II But get more conservative govt. Lenin’s brother executed for revolutionary activity

Tsar Nicholas II and the Romanovs

Russia is weak and royal family has no credibility Evidence of weakness Russo-Japanese War (1905) loss to an Asian nation!!!!! Massive losses to Germans Opposition to absolutism 1905 Revolution/Bloody Sunday Tsar makes concessions but then reneges Tsarina Alexsandra German Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Carrier of “British disease” hemophilia imperious, aloof mismanaged govt. in Tsar’s absence Influenced by Rasputin

Rasputin “holy man” has power over Tsarina uses power for Sex can “cure” sick Alexei (heir) hemophilia uses power for Sex if you sin so much you can overcome its power over you corruption interfering in govt.

Rasputin is assassinated by members of nobility

Timeline of the Revolution 1917 = Two Revolutions 3/17 Kerensky government = moderate socialism refuses to withdraw from war 4/17 Lenin returns from exile (helped by Germans) 10/17 Lenin (Bolsheviks) “Peace, Land and Bread” “soviets” = councils of soldiers and workers control land, factories, mines, banks, RRs Treaty of Brest-Litovsk = peace w/Germany

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3/18)

Reds (Communists) vs. Whites (Non-Communists) Russian Civil War Reds (Communists) vs. Whites (Non-Communists) 1918 - 1920 Leon Trotsky Organizes Red Army War Communism Whites supported by Western Democracies Want to stop the spread of communist revolution Winston Churchill said Bolshevism must be “strangled in its cradle” Leads to long-term resentment by Soviets of Western democracies

Lenin NEP (New Economic Policy) allowed limited capitalism hammer and sickle Industry AND agriculture Marxist-Leninism Vanguard will lead the revolution ruthless oppression Cheka = secret police atheism “religion is opium of the masses” Int’l revolution Comintern USSR = Union of Soviet Socialist Republics invalid 1922, dies 1924 power struggle (Trotsky vs. Stalin)

Stalin Communism becomes more nationalistic Five-Year Plans (1928 → ) “socialism in one country” Trotsky is ousted, exiled, murdered Five-Year Plans (1928 → ) transforms USSR into industrial power heavy industry vs. consumer Collectivization (early 1930s) kulaks (prosperous peasants) targeted Ukraine results in massive starvation Great Purges (late 1930s) kills political rivals mostly Old Guard hundreds of thousands killed or sent to slave labor camps Leads USSR 1927 – 1953 Cost? TOTALITARIAN state millions dead “gulags” = labor camps

Characteristics of Totalitarianism