1. Russian Revolution

2. What caused the Russian Revolution?
Essential Question:
What caused the Russian Revolution?

3. Alexander II Tsar of Russia, 1855-1881
Freed the Serfs [90% of Russians, bound to the land]
Provided them with land
Began trials by jury
Relaxed censorship
Created local elected assemblies
Began Industrial Revolution in Russia
Assassinated in 1881 by anarchist

4. Alexander III Tsar of Russia, 1881-1894
Harsh crackdown on political activity
Increased censorship and secret police
Pogroms against Jews and discrimination against ethnic minorities
Famine of ½ million peasants died while government exported grain
Peasants fled to cities to live in poverty while working in factories

5. Nicholas II Tsar of Russia, 1894-1917
Weak, foolish, autocrat tried to rule with iron fist like father using repression.
Lost Russo-Japanese War
Responsible for Bloody Sunday
Involved Russia in World War I
Abdication ended Romanov Dynasty
Entire family executed by Bolsheviks during Civil War

6. Tsarina Alexandra
German Princess from Hesse, Granddaughter of Queen Victoria
Passed hemophilia down to her son
Loved her husband, but made him more of an autocrat
Under the influence of Rasputin
Not liked by Russian people, who believed she was a German spy during WWI

7. Rasputin Siberian Peasant Self-proclaimed holy man
Claimed to be able to heal Prince Alexis when he bled
Fooled the Empress and used her to gain power
Corrupt and immoral
Killed by members of Royal Family in Dec. 1916

8. Lenin Born Vladimir Ulyanov, 1870
Leader of Bolsheviks & 1st Communist dictator of Russia
Lived in exile till April 1917
Planned Bolshevik Coup d’etat—Red October.
Believed in absolute control by Communist Party
Suffered several strokes & died in 1924.

9. Leon Trotsky Born Lev Bronstein, 1879 Exiled to Siberia as Radical
Joined Bolsheviks as editor of Pravda, Communist Newspaper
Led the Red October Coup & Red Army during Civil War
Expelled from Central Committee by Stalin and fled Russia
Assassinated in Mexico by order of Stalin in 1940

10. Stalin [man of Steel] Born Josef Djugashvili, 1878
Communist Dictator of U.S.S.R. from
Won power struggle against Trotsky after Lenin’s death
Used propaganda and terror to stay in power
Collectivized farming
Guilty of mass murder of million Russians

11. Events Leading to

12. Bloody Sunday, 1905
Protest in St. Petersburg led by Father Gapon marched to Winter Palace to present petition to Tsar
Unarmed peaceful protesters—men, women, children—shot by Imperial Guard
1,000 killed or wounded
500,000 workers went on strike to protest the killings

13. Revolution of 1905 Caused by Bloody Sunday Loss of Russo-Japanese War
Problems with poverty for factory workers & peasants
Suppression of Rights
Discrimination of Minorities
Misrule by Nicholas II

14. Results Revolution of 1905 October Manifesto Failed
Pledged basic civil liberties— free speech, press, religion
Election of State Duma [legislature]
Universal Male Suffrage
Failed
Nicholas ordered Marital Law

15. World War I
War revealed ineptitude and arrogance of aristocratic elite
Corrupt military leadership had contempt for ordinary Russian people
Troops not given proper weapons, ammunition, clothing, food
Mass desertions
2 million casualties in 1st year

16. The Collapse of the Imperial Government
Nicholas left for Front—September, 1915
Alexandra and Rasputin throw government into chaos
Alexandra and other officials accused of treason
Refugees flee to cities
Inflation & starvation—food shortages

17. February 1917 Women of St. Petersburg riot for bread
Troops refuse to fire on them
Troops & crowd storm Winter Palace
Duma declared itself Provisional Government
Tsar ordered soldiers to intervene; instead they joined the rebellion…the Tsar thus abdicated on March 17
Alexander Kerensky headed Provisional Government.
saw the war effort as #1 priority

18. Kornilov Affair
General Kornilov attempted to overthrow Provisional Government
To prevent takeover, Kerensky freed many Bolshevik leaders from prison and supplied arms to many revolutionaries

19. The Petrograd Soviet
leftists in St. Petersburg formed Petrograd Soviet
Germany allowed Lenin to travel in locked railway car from Switzerland to Russia, so he could foment Revolution
Lenin returned in April 1917

20. Lenin Seizes Power A tremendously charismatic personality
“Peace, Land, Bread”
“All Power to the Soviets”
He preached that the war was a capitalist/imperialist war that offered no rewards for the peasants/workers
Bolshevik party membership exploded

21. Red October Lenin and Trotsky stage Coup d’etat
Lenin got Russia out of World War I
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk negotiated with the Germans, giving them much Russian territory, population, and resources

22. Civil War 1917-1920 Civil War followed, 1917-1920
“Reds” versus “Whites”
Whites: aristocrats, anti-Communists, foreign armies [including U.S.}
Complete breakdown of Russian economy and society
Lenin ordered execution of Tsar & family
Trotsky defeated White Armies

23. Lenin v. Stalin Lenin died 1924, Stalin takes over
Lenin=World Revolution
Stalin=Socialism in One Country
Stalin’s paranoia caused murder of million Russians, including
Other political parties
Bolshevik party leaders
Kulags—Ukrainian peasants who didn’t want to give up their farms
Murder Famine
Red Army officers

24. Effects of Communist Revolution
No Private Property
All land, businesses, transportation, housing owned and controlled by the government for the people
No free speech or civil rights
Police state> Checka
Gulags—forced labor camps
Religion outlawed
Totalitarianism