1. The Russian Revolution
Readings: Spodek, pp

2. Peter Builds New Capital

5. Nicholas I ( )
Hated Industrial Revolution and French Revolution
Wanted to make world safe for autocracy
Fought against progress in Russia and Europe

6. Decembrists Revolt against czarism Put down Revolutions of 1848
Most of Europe but Russia has some form of democracy
Economy remains backward

7. Alexander II (1855-1881) Son of Nicholas I.
One of better czars – interested in reform
Emancipated the serfs in 1861

10. Alexander III ( )
Increased the repressive powers of the police
Limited the power of the local assemblies
Pograms against anyone who was not Russian

11. Nicholas II (1894-1917) Wrong man, wrong time
Little interest in government

12. Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Imperialistic Conflict over Korea and Manchuria
Russia trying to ward off rebellion

16. Bloody Sunday-January 22, 1905
Began in St Petersburg
Disaster of Russo-Japanese War revealed corruption and incompetence of czar
Created Duma, limited economic reform

17. World War I/ Rasputin
Had control over the Tsar Nicholas II and the Tsarina
Was murdered in December 1916
World War I was a disaster.

18. The Revolutions of 1917 February Revolution (March 8, 1917)
Czar Nicholas Abdicates

19. Kerensky forms Provisional Government

20. Lenin Arrives at Finland Station

22. How Do Bolsheviks Get Power?
Lenin arrives in Petrograd (St. Petersburg)—April
Lenin calls for armed insurrection
—Oct. 16, 1917 (Russian Calendar)
October Revolution begins, October 24, (Russian Calendar)
November 6, 1917 (Western European Calendar)
Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin

25. Treaty of Brest Litovsk— March 3, 1918
Lost 32% of the land
Lost Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Much of the Ukraine
Much of Belarussia

26. Creation of Soviet Union
Civil War,
“Reds” vs “Whites”
“Reds” (Bolsheviks, Communists) under Lenin win
Supported by peasants, national/ethnic groups
New Economic Plan
Nationalization of banks and heavy industry, limited ownership of small businesses
Lenin dies 1923

27. Power Struggle after Lenin’s Death and Stalin’s Rule
Forced collectivization
“The Great Famine”
“The Great Terror”
Purges
Gulag

36. Contemporary Problems
Cold War with US from
Mikhail Gorbachev’s Glasnost allowed
Democracy to Emerge
Perestroika—socialism not possible in capitalist world
Resigns December 25, 1991
End of Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War

37. Boris Yeltsin Problems: Economy was a mess Workers not paid
National Debt
IMF and World Bank Money to Cronies
Politics a Mess

38. Today in Russia and the Former Soviet Union
A weak Boris Yeltsin names Vladimir Putin, former KGB agent, Premier then President
New President Dmitri Medvedev, but Putin still makes many decisions

39. Today’s Russia (continued)
Ethnic groups want autonomy or Independence
Putin has destroyed Chechnya
Reports of rapes and pillage
Nationalists want powerful Soviet Union
Questions still needing answers

41. Russian Revolution: Who Won, Who Lost?
Losers
Poorest peasants
Traditional Russian upper classes
Many of those in traditional Russian middle classes
Those killed or imprisoned because of oppressive regime
Jews, Muslims
Other ethnic minorities (maybe)
Russian Economy
Russian Democracy
Winners
Communist Party
Some Workers
Massive Literacy Project—all those who learn to read and write
Vastly improved health care—all those who lived longer and healthier
Women