1. The Russian Revolution

2. Social Structure of Czarist Russia
Peasants
90% of population, Majority were serfs
Could not own land, No legal rights, Could not travel freely, Taxed heavily
Intellectuals
Very small class of people
Well educated
Wanted to improve Russia

4. Social Structure of Czarist Russia
Clergy
Russian Orthodox Church (Christian)
Many different ranks among leaders Priests, bishops, archbishops
Nobility
1% of population
Controlled the land and wealth of Russia
Lived and dressed extravagantly
Included the Czar of Russia

6. Czarist Russia
Before 1905 Russia had an Absolute Monarchy; Czar Nicholas II Romanov and his wife The Czarina Alexandra
Alexander II had been assassinated – he had been a reformer
Alexander III
Nicholas II
Autocracy meant that the Czar had complete control
He did not allow any political opposition
Persecution of Jews and other non-Russian groups as a means of creating a Russian culture
Pogroms, etc.

10. Rasputin
Rasputin was a peasant “holy man” that supposedly had magical healing powers.
The people of Russia disapproved of Rasputin.

11. Causes of the Revolution
Russia was not industrialized
Starvation of peasants
Military was overcommitted and under prepared in
World War I -(Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)
Russo Japanese War
The Monarchy was out of touch with the problems of the people
Russia was behind western Europe industrially
1890’s began large scale industrialization in Russia
fueled by taxes and foreign investment
Steel production rose
Railway to connect European side of Russia, to the Pacific
began in 1891, finished in 1904

12. Events of the Revolution
Revolution of 1905
The Duma (legislature) was created. Limited Monarchy
Bloody Sunday & St Petersburg Riots
The peasants were starving and Father Gapon brought demands to the King. Protesters were killed and riots started all over the city
March Revolution -1917
The Czar abdicated or stepped down. The Romanov family was executed a year later.
Kerensky and The Provision Government-1917
The Duma (Russian Legislature) set up a temporary government that was democratic. The head of the government was Kerensky
Japan and Russia fought over Korea and Manchuria in 1904 after Russia broke agreements
Japan defeated Russia --> Unrest at home
Bloody Sunday – January 22, 1905 – 200,000 workers and families in St. Petersburg came to Czar’s palace with a petition for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and representation
Soldiers were ordered to fire on the crowd, 500-1,000 demonstrators died
Lead to more strikes
Czar created Duma (legislature) in October 1905
first met in May 1906, but dissolved after ten weeks because Czar did not like Duma’s agenda
Remember the chart from last class?
Many Russian soldiers were killed
demoralized – home and war
prices driven high
Rasputin was a Monk who gained influence with the Czarina (Czar’s wife) while the Czar was at the front
he gained enough influence to bring his friends in and generally corrupt the government
Eventually, he was killed by some nobles after they drugged him and shot him and finally threw him in the river – died by drowning

14. Lenin
Lenin believed in Karl Marx’s communist ideas
Bolsheviks- a group of elite revolutionaries
Lenin was sent into exile but returned to Russia in 1917
Leon Trotsky was Lenin’s right hand man

15. Events of the Revolution
November Revolution- 1917
Kerensky’s Provisional Government lost power because they kept Russia in WWI
Lenin’s Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Gov. and took Russia out of WWI (Treaty of Brest-Litovosk)
Slogan – Land, Peace, Bread
Russian Civil War
Reds (communists) vs. Whites (loyalists)
Communists defeated the whites
Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic