1. Russian revolution
SSWH16.D, SSWH17.B

2. Czar Nicholas II Became ruler of Russia in 1894.
Believed in absolute rule
Made efforts to bring industrialization to Russia

3. The Problems of Russian Industrialization
Factories were built quickly and poorly
Wages were extremely low
Working conditions were terrible
Child labor was tragically common

4. The Seeds of Revolution
The ideas of Karl Marx found there way to Russia, and the workers began to think that they could run their own lives…and their own country.
The idea of a society ruled by the Proletariat “the workers” began to grow.

5. The Seeds of Revolution
Bloody Sunday (1905)
200,000 workers went to the summer palace in St. Petersburg to request individual rights, better working conditions, and a national legislature. Troops were ordered to open fire on the crowd. More than 1,000 were killed or injured.

6. The Seeds of Revolution
World War One ( )
4 million casualties in the first year of fighting
Severe lack of food and fuel both at home and on the front lines
Trouble for Nicholas II
Czar not able to handle the problems created by World War I effectively.

7. March, 1917
Striking workers call for the Czar to step down from power.
Troops were called out, and the protestors were fired on. These troops soon turned on their officers and joined the revolutionaries
Czar Nicholas Abdicates – March 17, 1917

8. “Down with the 10 Capitalist ministers
“Down with the 10 Capitalist ministers. All power to the Soviets of workers, soldiers, and peasant deputies. To the socialist ministers, we demand that Nicholas II be transferred to the Peter-Paul Fortress.”

9. Protesters Fired on by Troops

10. Revolutionaries Split Into Groups
Bolsheviks
Mensheviks
Small core group
Professional revolutionaries
Strict control of the movement
Broad base of revolutionaries
Popular support
A common man’s movement

11. Provisional Government
The Duma (Russian Parliament) formed a provisional government
They intended to continue fighting the Germans
Revolutionaries don’t like this government either, so they began to form Soviets (local councils)

12. Enter Vladimir Ilyich Lenin
Charismatic, gifted, Bolshevik administrator
Exiled in Germany
Sent back in a sealed railroad car
Begins to gain a lot of support with his rallying cry for “Peace, Land, and Bread”

13. Bolsheviks Come To Power
Bolshevik forces storm the Winter Palace in November, The provisional government is removed.
Lenin orders the redistribution of land to the peasants of Russia.
In order to establish peace with Germany, the Bolsheviks give up a huge amount of Russian territory. This earns them many enemies.

14. Russian Civil War The Bolsheviks formed the Red Army
Led by Leon Trotsky
Everyone else grouped together as the White Army:
Mensheviks
Capitalists
Czarists
Non-Lenin Socialists

15. Results of the Russian Civil War
14,000,000 Russians dead because of fighting and famine
Bolsheviks Remained in power
Renamed themselves the Communists
Karl Marx’s name for a classless society
1922 – Russia is divided into self governing districts and renamed: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

16. Joseph Stalin Comes to Power
Lenin has a stroke
Trotsky forced into exile
Stalin “Man of Steel” comes to power. His authority becomes absolute.