1. Modern World History Assign
Modern World History Assign. #2-3 Chapter 14, Section 1 “Revolutions in Russia”

2. Czar Alexander III ( )
Clung to principles of autocracy (one person rule or absolute monarchy)
Strict censorship on written materials
Secret police watched out for dissent (especially in teachers and professors)
Political prisoners sent to Siberia
Oppressed other national groups in order to impose Russian culture

3. Russian Pogroms (#2) Pogroms – wave of organized violence against Jews
Police and soldiers stood by as Russian citizens looted and destroyed Jewish homes, stores, and synagogues

4. Czar Nicholas II ( )
He continued the tradition of autocratic rule
Though Russia developed more factories it still lagged far behind western Europe
Nicholas raised taxes to finance the buildup of Russian industries, and sought foreign investors
Russia became the 4th largest producer of steel
Began the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway connecting European Russia in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east

5. Russian Industrialization
Growth of factories brought problems of grueling working conditions, miserably low wages, and child labor
Russia outlawed unions
Workers turned to political parties to help them improve their conditions
Several revolutionary groups formed and some believed in the ideas of Karl Marx

6. Bolsheviks (#4)
Marxist revolutionaries believed that the industrial class of workers should overthrow the czar and create a “dictatorship of the proletariat” (meaning the workers would rule the country not the czar or landholding nobles)
Russian Marxist split into two groups:
Mensheviks (moderate)
Bolsheviks (radical)
Bolsheviks were a small number of committed revolutionaries who were willing to sacrifice everything
Their leader was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who was forced to flee to western Europe in the early 1900s to avoid arrest

7. Russo-Japanese War (#5)
Both Japan and Russia wanted control of Manchuria in northern China
Japan surprise attacked Russian ships off the coast of Manchuria in 1904 starting the Russo-Japanese War
Japan drove Russian troops out of Korea and destroyed the Russian fleet
News of the repeated Russian losses sparked unrest at home and led to a revolt in the midst of the war

8. Bloody Sunday (#6)
200,000 workers and their families approached the czar’s Winter Palace in January of 1905
They brought a petition for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature
Nicholas II’s generals ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd (over 1,000 wounded, hundreds were killed)

9. Creation of the Duma (#7)
After Bloody Sunday strikes and violence swept across the country
Nicholas II promised the creation of the Duma (Russia’s first parliament)
The Duma met in May 1906
It was dominated by moderates who wanted a limited constitutional monarchy like the one in Great Britain
Nicholas II didn’t want to share power, so he shut it down 10 weeks later
The people became angry and continued to desire reforms
Czar Nicholas II giving a speech from his throne
on the occasion of the opening of the Duma.

10. Impact of WWI on Czar’s Power (#8)
Russia was unprepared to handle the military and economic costs of the war
Weak generals and poorly trained troops were no match for the German army
In the first year of the war Russia suffered defeat after defeat and massive numbers of casualties
This created even more civil unrest at home and questioning of the czar’s leadership

11. March Revolution (#9 & #10)
People were upset about high inflation, shortage of food and supplies, called for an end to the war
Local strikes and protests turned into a general uprising
Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne (3 centuries of czarist rule came to an end)
The leaders of the Duma established a provisional government led by Alexander Kerensky
The Provisional Government made the mistake of keeping Russia in the war
Kerensky greets
Russian troops
as the war goes
on under the
Provisional gov’t

12. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Returns (#11)
As the war dragged on conditions inside Russia worsened
Soldiers and civilians did not support the new Provisional Government
Angry peasants demanded land
City workers, peasants, soldiers, and socialist leaders formed local councils called soviets, which gained more power than the Provisional Government in most places
During this time, Germany helped Vladimir Lenin return to Russia in hopes that he would stir things up and hurt Russia’s war effort against Germany (in a sealed boxcar)

13. Appeal of Lenin (#12) “All power to the soviets”
the idea that the popular local councils would have more say in a government run by Lenin appealed to the people who had so little say for so long
“Peace, Land, and Bread”
End Russia’s involvement in WWI
Provide land to the peasants
Bring food to the starving cities

14. Bolshevik Revolution (#13)
In November of 1917, armed factory workers stormed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (Petrograd)
Calling themselves the Bolshevik Red Guards they took over government offices and arrested government officials
Overnight Alexander Kerensky and the Provisional Government had been overthrown
Winter Palace in St. Petersburg Today

15. Bolsheviks in Power (#14)
Peace – signed a truce with Germany to stop all fighting and began peace talks
Land – Lenin ordered all farmland to be distributed to the peasants
Bread – ?
Factories – Lenin gave control of the factories to the workers

16. Russian Civil War (#15) Opposition to the Bolsheviks
Many were upset with the humiliating terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which gave up a large amount of land to Germany
Many supported the return of the czar to rule (and became more upset when he and his family were murdered)
Others upset that they were not getting a democratic government and opposed Lenin’s style of socialism

17. Russian Civil War (#15)
Opponents formed the White Army to defeat Lenin’s Red Army
The U.S. and other Allied nations sent aid and forces to help the White Army
The Red Army led by Leon Trotsky fought against the White from 1918 to 1920
14 million died in the fighting
The Red Army ultimately won, but Russia was left with destruction, hunger, and chaos

18. New Economic Policy (#16)
In March 1921 after the Civil War was over, Lenin set aside his plan for a state-controlled economy to deal with the economic problems and starvation facing the nation
New Economic Policy –
allowed peasants to sell their surplus crops instead of turning it over to the govt.
allowed some small businesses, factories and farms to operate under private ownership
Allowed some foreign investment

20. Other Reforms by Lenin (#17)
Russia organized into self-governing republics under the central government (regional states with different ethnic groups in them)
Renamed the nation Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
Renamed the party the Communist Party
Wrote a constitution with democratic principles
in reality it became a dictatorship of the Communist Party
not a dictatorship of the proletariat (workers) like Karl Marx had called for