1. Causes of the Russian Revolution (1917)

2. Widespread discontent throughout all Russian social classes
Agitation by revolutionaries
Weak monarchy= Czar Nicholas II
Severe Russian losses in World War I
massive food riots, workers strikes, and protests
“Bloody Sunday” (Jan 22, 1905) striking families were killed by Russian soldiers in St Petersburg; turned Russian public opinion against the Czar.
March, 1917 protest over food & fuel shortages forced Czar Nicholas to abdicate

3. Dismal failure in in WWI
army was unequipped;
soldiers and civilians were starving
5.5 million casualties
Czar Nicholas abdicated the throne in March, 1917
The provisional government (Menshevik pledged continued support to the Allies
Germany snuck Vladimir Lenin into Russia on a train. He led the Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917, against the provisional (Menshevik) government.

4. Russia was forced to withdraw from WWI early and negotiated a separate treaty with Germany = Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918)
Ended Russian involvement in WWI
Eliminated the threat of conflict on the eastern front for Germany
Allowed Germany to make one last unsuccessful attempt to overrun France
Russia lost the Baltic states and Finland
Created Poland as an independent state between Russia and Germany

5. Bolsheviks created the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR)
Lenin defeated the provisional government in November, 1917
provisional government
Mensheviks
leader = Alexander Karensky
Re-distributed all farmland to the peasants
created soviets = workers groups that took control of the factories
Civil War
Lenin & Bolsheviks vs Mensheviks & their Western allies
15 million Russians died due to famine and war
lenin & the Bolsheviks were victorious

6. New Economic Policy (NEP)
limited capitalism
small farmers, businesses, and industries operated their own businesses for profit
major industries, banks, and communications structures were still state- controlled
Organized the country’s diverse ethnic groups into several smaller republics controlled by a strong central government in Moscow
prevented the spread of nationalist sentiments
1922, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics = USSR was officially created
Bolshevik party became the Communist Party

7. In 1924, Lenin died
Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin competed for power
Trotsky lost and was banished from the USSR; later killed by a KGB (Russian Secret Service agent) in Mexico
Joseph Stalin emerged as a totalitarian dictator of the USSR; remained in power until 1953

8. EXAMPLES OF GENOCIDE The Armenian Genocide
Between , “Young Turks” in the Ottoman Empire ordered the execution of over 2.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire
Some Armenians were sent to concentration camps in Trebizond on the Black Sea or loaded on to barges and sank at sea
April 24, 1915:
5,000 of the poorest Armenians were butchered on Istanbul’s streets and in their homes
300 Armenian intellectuals were rounded up, deported, or executed

9. THE EFFECTS OF MAJOR NEW MILITARY TECHNOLOGIES ON WORLD WAR I
airplane
revolutionized military combat
allowed aerial combat
1st photo reconnaissance
close air support for ground troops
long-range and long-distance transport to inland locations

10. mustard gas
psychological “fear” factor
unseen silent killer; death by choking
long-term health issues beyond the battle ground
blinding
blistering
left some parts of Germany & France environmentally damaged for years

11. machine guns
rapid fire weapons improved in WWI
high mortality rates
killed large quantities of soldiers over large swathes of territory
made it hard for either side to gain an advantage = created stalemates
tanks
armored vehicles covered large areas of territory
large cannons with large explosives
crushed enemy weapons, vehicles,and soldiers

12. larger artillery
high explosives
high mortality rates
inflicted higher damage
flamethrowers
psychological factor
maimed and scarred victims
used to flush soldiers out of the trenches

13. submarines (U-boats)
improved
psychological= underwater is “secretive”
unrestrictive naval warfare against ships
German sinking of the British ship, Lusitania, was one cause of the U.S. entry into WWI