1. Historic People #1 The Russian Revolution and Rise of Communism
World History
Unit 6

2. Essential Question:
Explain how each of these people came to power and their leadership skills (or lack of):
Czar Nicholas II
Vladimir Lenin
Joseph Stalin

3. Czar Nicholas II
Czar Nicholas II was an autocratic ruler of the Russian Empire in the early 1900s.
Nicholas II ruled Russia by using the Russian Army and the Russian government.
Nicholas II was “out of touch” with needs of Russian people
Ruled Russia by using Army and a strict government. .
Pages: p313, 401, 424, c440, 441, p442, 443, assassination of, 444, steps down 442.
Problems with wife Alexandra and her relationship with Grigori Rasputin, a peasant claiming to be a holy man.
Alexis, Nicholas II and Alexandra’s son was a hemophiliac.
Russia lacked military leadership when WWI broke out.
Czar Nicholas II

4. Czar Nicholas II
Nicholas II insisted on taking direct control of the armed forces.
1914 and 1916, Russia loses 6 to 8 million soldiers.
2 million are killed.
4 to 6 million are wounded or captured.
Some soldiers were sent to the front weaponless and told to get a rifle from the dead.
Bad leadership in WWI was a direct cause of the Russian Revolution.
Nicholas II insisted on taking direct control of the armed forces though he was not a military man.

5. Czarina Alexandra
Nicholas II insisted on taking direct control of the armed forces though he was not a military man.
Bad leadership in WWI was a direct cause of the Russian Revolution.
1914 and 1916, Russia loses 6 to 8 million soldiers.
2 million are killed.
4 to 6 million are wounded or captured.
Some soldiers were sent to the front weaponless and told to get a rifle from the dead.
German-born wife of Nicholas II (not well-liked by Russian people).
Showed disregard for problems of Russian people

6. Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra
While Nicholas was on the front, it left his wife Alexandra to make all of the important government decisions
Alexandra relied heavily on a self-proclaimed holy man, Rasputin, who had stopped the bleeding of their son (Alexis - heir to the throne) who had hemophilia
Nicholas II insisted on taking direct control of the armed forces though he was not a military man.
Bad leadership in WWI was a direct cause of the Russian Revolution.
1914 and 1916, Russia loses 6 to 8 million soldiers.
2 million are killed.
4 to 6 million are wounded or captured.
Some soldiers were sent to the front weaponless and told to get a rifle from the dead.

7. Rasputin Siberian peasant who claimed to be a holy man
Gained great influence over Alexandra mainly because of her sickly son
Meddled in government affairs and was despised by Russian noblemen

8. Rasputin
The Czar and Alexandra considered him a man of God and a religious prophet.
Soon, everyone desirous of an audience with the royal couple had to go through him
Alexandra came to believe that God spoke to her through Rasputin.
This situation angered certain individuals in the government.
Rasputin had a considerable personal and political influence on Alexandra, and the Tsar and Tsaritsa considered him a man of God and a religious prophet. Everyone desirous of an audience with the royal couple had to go through him, a situation which angered certain individuals. Alexandra came to believe that God spoke to her through Rasputin.

9. Death of Rasputin
Many felt that Rasputin's influence the royals made him a far-too-dangerous threat to the empire
Read the following story of the plot to kill him and his death – you do not need to write it down – just write a brief summary.

10. On December 16, 1916, having decided that Rasputin's influence over the Alexandra had made him a far-too-dangerous threat to the empire, a group of nobles apparently lured Rasputin to the Yusupovs' Moika Palace, where they served him cakes and red wine laced with a massive amount of cyanide. According to legend, Rasputin was unaffected, even though Vasily Maklakov had supplied enough poison to kill five men.
Determined to finish the job, Yusupov became anxious about the possibility that Rasputin might live until the morning, which would leave the conspirators with no time to conceal his body. Yusupov ran upstairs to consult the others and then came back down to shoot Rasputin through the back with a revolver. Rasputin fell, and the company left the palace for a while.

11. Yusupov, who had left without a coat, decided to return to grab one, and, while at the palace, he went to check up on the body. Suddenly, Rasputin opened his eyes. As he made his bid for freedom, however, the other conspirators arrived and fired at him. After being hit three times in the back, Rasputin fell once more. As they neared his body, the group found that, remarkably, he was still alive and was struggling to get up. They clubbed him into submission and, after wrapping his body in a sheet, threw him into an icy river to drown.
Three days later, the body of Rasputin, poisoned, shot four times and badly beaten, was recovered from the Neva River. An autopsy established that the cause of death was hypothermia. His arms were found in an upright position, as if he had tried to claw his way out from under the ice.

12. The Royal Family
Without the support of the army or the aristocrats Nicholas II stepped down from the throne
The family was forced into exile
After the Czar abdicated (gave up) his power, royal family was put in prison.
Family was moved to small mining town in April, 1918.
Nicholas was the first to die. He was shot with multiple bullets to the head and chest.
The last ones to die were Anastasia, Tatiana, Olga, and Maria, who were wearing several pounds (over 1.3 kilograms) of diamonds within their clothing, thus rendering them bullet-resistant to an extent.
They were speared with bayonets

13. Execution of Royal Family
Family was executed on July 16, 1918 and bodies burned in old mining shaft
* See the Primary Source Web research for their story

14. Vladimir Lenin During Russia’s civil war, Lenin led the Bolsheviks
He promised “Peace, Bread, and Land” to gain popular support to overthrow the Russian government.

15. Vladimir Lenin
German military leaders, hoping to create disorder in Russia, have Lenin shipped to Russia.
Under the direction of Lenin, the Bolsheviks become dedicated to revolution.
Bolsheviks propaganda slogans:
“Peace, Land, Bread.”
“Worker Control of Production.”
“All Power to the Soviets.”
“Comrade Lenin cleanses the Earth of filth” – Communist propaganda poster

16. Joseph Stalin and Vladimir Lenin in 1919
Lenin believed that violent revolution was needed to destroy the capitalist system.
Lenin was elected the USSR Chairmen by the Council of People’s Commissars
Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk giving up land to Germany during the WWI
Created U.S.S.R (replaced Russia). Also called “Soviet Union”.
Pages: p444, 513, p640, death of, c470, 474, 476, New Economic Policy,473, 474, rise of, , Soviet Union created by 473, Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed, c440, 444
Bolsheviks were soldiers and workers.
1900 to 1917, Lenin spent most of his time abroad. The March 1917 revolution was an opportunity for the Bolsheviks to seize power.

17. New Economic Policy
In March 1921, Lenin launches New Economic Policy; (has some capitalism)
NEP and peace restore economy shattered by war, revolution
By 1928, Russia’s farms, factories are productive again

18. Leon Trotsky A dedicated revolutionary
The head of the Petrograd soviet
It was the organizational genius of Leon Trotsky led the Red Army to many triumphs.
Trotsky reinstated the draft and emphasized rigid discipline

19. A New Leader?
Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin compete to replace Lenin when he dies
Leon Trotsky – cold, hard military leader
Joseph Stalin—cold, hard Communist Party general secretary in 1922
Leon Trotsky
Joseph Stalin

20. And the winner is……Stalin!
Stalin gains power from to 1927
Stalin gains complete control in 1928; Trotsky forced into exile

21. Leon Trotsky's grave in Coyoacán, Mexico
After Leon’s death Trotsky and his family were expelled from the Soviet Union
Trotsky moved to Mexico City and wrote many books against the USSR government
An assassin was sent by Stalin. Trotsky died from the blow of an ice axe to his head
Leon Trotsky's grave in Coyoacán, Mexico

22. Joseph Stalin Joined the Bolsheviks in 1903
General Secretary under Lenin
Used his position to gain complete control of the Communist Party.

23. Joseph Stalin Established a strong dictatorship over the USSR
One of the greatest mass murderers in history
His policies and executions killed as many as 25,000,000 people.

24. Stalin Purges any Threat to His Power
Almost all of Stalin's comrades in the Russian Civil War were executed or assassinated at his orders: Trotsky, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Kamenev, Rykov, Tomsky, and (as recent discoveries confirm) Kirov.
The executed were often Stalin's opponents within the Party, or his less eager friends
Large numbers of officers were executed.

25. Stalin’s Purge
On April 7, 1935, Stalin issued a decree authorizing the death penalty for children as young as 12 years old.
While far more of Stalin's subjects died in slave labor camps and man-made famines than from execution, even here the numbers are startling. There were approximately one million executions during the Great Terror of , and probably over five million for his entire reign.
The executed were often Stalin's opponents within the Party, or his less eager friends, or foreign Communists. Large numbers of officers were executed.
Polish POWs taken in 1939 were executed en masse in Katyn and elsewhere.
Almost all of Stalin's comrades in the Russian Civil War were executed or assassinated at his orders: Trotsky, Zinoviev, Bukharin, Kamenev, Rykov, Tomsky, and (as recent discoveries confirm) Kirov.
Many of these were tortured, bullied, and threatened into condemning themselves in the so-called "show trials," where they absurdly confessed to large-scale espionage and subversion.

26. Killing Spree
1935, Stalin issued a decree authorizing the death penalty for children as young as 12 years old.
While far more of Stalin's subjects died in slave labor camps and man-made famines than from execution, even here the numbers are startling.
There were approximately one million executions during the Great Terror of , and probably over five million for his entire reign.
Polish POWs taken in 1939 were executed en masse in Katyn and elsewhere.

27. Many were sent to Stalin’s Gulags

28. With a minimum of 5 sentences, answer this Essential Question:
Explain how each of these people came to power and their leadership skills (or lack of):
Czar Nicholas II
Vladimir Lenin
Joseph Stalin