1. THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
PART ONE: Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks Transform Russia

2. Essential Question:
How did Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks transform Russia during the Russian Revolution in 1917?

3. In the 1700s, Czar Peter the Great expanded and modernized Russia

4. Peter introduced into Russia Western-style navy, fashions, and city-planning

5. But in the 1800s, Russia failed to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in Western Europe

6. The Enlightenment led to new democratic reforms throughout Europe

7. In Russia, the Romanov czars continued to rule as absolute monarchs
Czar Alexander III

8. Czars like Alexander III used secret police to monitor citizens, censored the media, and sent political prisoners to labor camps in Siberia

9. Czars organized pogroms (violent attacks) against ethnic minorities like Jews and Poles in Russia

10. But in the 1800s, Russia failed to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in Western Europe
The Industrial Revolution made European militaries and economies the strongest in the world

11. But in the 1800s, Russia failed to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in Western Europe
The Industrial Revolution made European militaries and economies the strongest in the world

12. Russian industry lagged behind Europe, had few railroads, and most citizens were poor farmers

13. Russia committed to industrialization, but it led to poor wages, long hours, and discontent among the Russian people

14. Russia used its industry and built a respectable navy, but had problems mass-producing weapons

15. In 1894, Czar Nicholas II came to power but failed to address major problems from 1904 to 1917
When Russian liberals called for democratic reforms, Nicholas II ordered his secret police to persecute those calling for reform

16. In 1904, Russia and Japan went to war over Manchuria and Korea

17. Russia’s humiliating loss to Japan exposed weaknesses in the nation’s military and government

18. Losing the Russo-Japanese War set off a series of riots among commoners who were unhappy with Nicholas’ government

19. In 1905, Russian commoners met outside the czar’s Winter Palace to demand better working conditions, right to form unions, and a democratic constitution

20. The protest became known as “Bloody Sunday” when the czar’s guards fired into the crowd; riots broke out across Russia

21. In 1905, Nicholas II agreed to new constitution that created a Duma (parliament) and limited monarchy, but Nicholas ignored the Duma

22. The czar’s unpopularity and failure of the government to respond to problems increased calls for socialism
Socialists demanded that the government control all means of production to create an equal society

23. Karl Marx developed a radical form of socialism in called communism in which the working class led a revolution, seized property, and shared all wealth without a government

24. Image of one of Russia’s first soviet councils
Radical workers, peasants, and soldiers began to form councils called soviets that held meetings and assumed control over local governments
Image of one of Russia’s first soviet councils

25. In 1903, a radical socialist named Vladimir Lenin formed the Bolsheviks, a group that supported a revolutionary overthrow of the Russian government

26. But, Lenin fled Russia to avoid arrest by the czar’s secret police and waited for an opportunity to return and lead his revolution

27. Russian soldiers running from German army, 1917
Russia’s involvement in World War I proved to be the fatal blow to Czar Nicholas’ support in Russia
Russian soldiers running from German army, 1917
The Russian military was no match for the German army

28. Russia had difficulty producing weapons for soldiers on the front, food shortages were common for troops and civilians; lack of trains slowed supplies and communication

29. Russia drafted 15 million soldiers and nearly 7 million were killed or wounded; 1.5 million civilians died

30. Czar Nicholas refused to pull Russia out of the war and went to the Eastern Front to personally take command of the army

31. Nicholas left his wife, Alexandra, in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Russian government

32. To help cure her hemophiliac son Alexi, she relied on a mystic named Rasputin

33. Russian nobles feared that Rasputin was controlling the royal family and murdered him

34. Rasputin
Grigori Rasputin was an Orthodox monk who lived anything but a “holy” life (womanizer, heavy drinker); he claimed to have healing powers

35. Russian nobles hated Rasputin and plotted to kill him
After healing Alexi Romanov, Rasputin was then brought into the czar’s inner circle and helped make political decisions; this made the czar even more unpopular
Russian nobles hated Rasputin and plotted to kill him

36. Rasputin
Luring Rasputin to a “party”, five Russian nobles poisoned him, shot him three times, beat him, tied him up, and threw him in an icy river, where he finally died from drowning

37. By early 1917, citizens were rioting across Russia, demanding an end the monarchy and an end to Russia’s involvement in World War I

38. In March, Czar Nicholas II abdicated the throne and the Duma created a Provisional (temporary) government

39. Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia; he led the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution in November 1917

40. Lenin’s message of “peace, land, and bread” helped him gain popularity among the Russian people
Bolshevik Red Guards seized control of the provisional government and declared themselves the new government leaders of Russia

41. The Bolsheviks arrested and executed the Romanovs, which ended 300 years of rule by czars in Russia

42. After the success of the Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin announced major reforms for Russia
Lenin ordered all farmland to be distributed among the peasants
Lenin gave control of the factories to the workers

43. Lenin signed a truce with Germany and gave up huge territories in order to get Russia out of the war

44. The Russian Revolution led to a civil war between the Bolshevik Red Army and the White Army (various people who wanted a either a new czar or democracy or land returned to them)

45. Tens of millions of people were killed in the bloody Russian Civil War
Britain, France, and the USA supported the White Army to stop the spread of Bolshevism
Tens of millions of people were killed in the bloody Russian Civil War

46. After three years of fighting, the Red Army won and Lenin became the unquestioned leader of Russia

47. In 1922, Lenin renamed Russia the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
Lenin created the Communist Party, which ruled the Soviet Union as a dictatorship

48. Lenin and his followers never forgot the interference by the USA, which helped set the stage for the Cold War years later