1. The Russian Revolution

2. The Russian Empire
- Russia, being the
largest country in the
world, was difficult to
rule and the population
existed as a feudal
society.
- This meant that poor
farming peasants were
under the control of
powerful landlords,
who controlled their
lives.
Autocracy
Know that autocracy
gives the government
complete control over
the people.
- The Russian
government was
unwilling to share the
decision making
processes with the
general public.

3. Internal Problems
- Regardless, many
still believed that efforts
had to be made to
reform the country to
catch up with West.
- Eight out of ten
Russians lived as
peasants who labored
under terrible
conditions. Life in
general was one of
hardship and suffering.

4. Leadership of Russia
In 1894 a new Tsar (king)
came to power named
Nicholas II of the
Romanov dynasty.
Russia was not to benefit
from the rule of Nicholas
II, as he believed God
had chosen him to rule
alone. He was not
interested in sharing the
power to rule over
Russia, but he came to
the throne at a time when
people were calling to
this to occur.

5. Nicholas Cont’d
In addition, he was
physically weak, not very
smart, and was a bad
judge of people. This
made him easy to be
influenced by all sorts of
poor advisors. One of
these weak advisors was
a monk named Gregory
Rasputin. Rasputin
gained access to the
royal family because of
the Tsar’s wife Empress
Alexandra.
She believed that
Rasuptin was able to
control her son’s
hemophilia (a disease
where uncontrollable
bleeding occurs).
Rasuptin used his
position to have his friend
appointed to posts in the
Russian government.

6. Bloody Sunday
During the Russo
Japanese war, the
suffering people in the
capital city of St
Petersburg gathered on
Sunday 22 January to
ask the Tsar for food. The
winter of 1904-5 was a
very harsh one and
people were starving to
death. The people saw
the Czar as a father
figure to the country and
believed that he did not
know his people were
starving. The people
wanted to go to the
palace to explain to him
the problems they faced.
As the crowd entered the
square in front of the
palace they were met by
hundreds of soldiers. The
soldiers opened fire upon
the demonstrators.
Hundreds of civilians
were killed in what
became known as
“Bloody Sunday.” The
shock that followed this
event led to strikes and
violence throughout the
country.

7. Battleship Potemkin
http://youtu.be/DLEE2
UL_N7Q

8. The Duma
The Czar and his
government were able
to avoid a major
revolution by promising
to set up a Duma (a
type parliament where
people would be
elected). Although it
looked like the Czar
was sharing power, the
Duma was almost
powerless in the big
picture.
Some Russians felt
that this was not
enough, but for most,
they believed that
Russia was moving in
the right direction. A
major revolution was
avoided, but a strong
movement by
revolutionary socialists
continued to push for
radical changes.

9. Menshevik & Bolshevik
Socialist groups
continued to push for a
change in the way the
Russia was ruled. These
groups fought with the
government and
themselves in the attempt
to define the future of the
country. These battles led
to a split of the socialist
party into two groups
called the Menshevik
(Russian for minority) and
Bolshevik parties
(Russian for majority).
The Bolsheviks believed
that Russia must go
through the various
stages of historical
evolution as defined by
Karl Marx. Each stage
must be completed
before the country could
reach the ideal socialist
society that Marx
predicted.

10. A radical group of
socialists called the
Bolsheviks split off
from the Mensheviks.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov,
who took the nickname
Lenin to protect himself
from the secret police,
led the group. He
believed that a different
course was necessary
to develop the ideal
socialist society.
He proposed that a
small party of
“professional
revolutionaries” seize
power and drive the
working classes into
the vision proposed by
Marx. In other words
he did not trust the
people to make the
right decisions
necessary to achieve
socialism.

11. The Russian Army
- By 1917 the army
was near collapse. The
Russian solider who
had a reputation of
being brave, tough and
loyal had been broken.
Massive losses, no
medical treatment for
wounded, limited
weapons and food, and
began to lose morale
and a willingness to
fight.

12. The Home Front
With the war going
badly for Russia, the
Tsar decided to take
matters into his own
hands. He believed
that under his personal
command his armies
would fight like never
before.
While he was at the
front, he left his wife
Empress Alexandra in
charge of affairs. She
was not trained in the
inner workings of
government and
listened to the advice
of Rasputin.

13. Ra Ra Rasputin
Rasputin used his
influence to put his
friends into powerful
government positions.
During this time, many
false rumors began to
circulate among the
people that Rasputin
and Alexandra were
lovers. Other rumors
were spread that
Alexandra was trying to
lose the war on
purpose because she
was German.
Although the rumors
were false, many in
Russia began to
believe them.
Ultimately, Rasputin
was killed by a group
of men trying to protect
the prestige of the
Russian throne. These
problems, combined
with the poor
performance of the
army, led to political
great unrest.

14. Ra Ra Rasputin!
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src="http/::www.youtube.com:embed:VmkySNDX
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http://youtu.be/9RK9jvK2kGk

15. The Czar Abdicates
- The Czar attempted to return to St Petersburg
to take control of the situation, but the Duma
announced that they did not recognize the
leadership of the Czar any longer. They also
announced the formation of a Provisional
(temporary) Government to run the country in the
absence of the Czar. Nicholas II was shocked by
the reaction of his people and was crushed by
their lack of support. He abdicated the throne on
15 March 1917.

16. The Provisional
Government
- During this time of confusion within Russia,
many former exiles returned to carry out changes
to the system. One of the major players to return
from Switzerland was Vladimir Lenin. Lenin was
brought to Russia by the German army in a
sealed railcar. They wanted him to undermine the
Russian war effort. They never believed that he
would be able to seize power and change the
history of Europe.

17. The November/October
Revolution
Under the leadership of Lenin, the Bolshevik
party gained strong support from the workers and
soldiers inside the city of St Petersburg. As
Lenin’s support grew, the Provisional
Government suffered further defeats at the
hands of the German Army. In addition, major
plots against the government by socialist and
supporters of the Tsar began to erode its power.

18. November/October
Revolution
On the night of 7 November 1917, Lenin made
his move to seize power. The Bolsheviks
surrounded the Winter Palace where the
Provisional Government was meeting and
arrested everyone. Lenin’s party immediately
moved into the government offices and began to
issue orders to run the country. Russian
historians have described this series of events as
the October Revolution. This can cause
confusion because Russia used the Julian
calendar, so what the rest of Europe calls
November, they call October.

19. Russia Backs out of WWI
Of primary importance to Lenin was to find an
end to the war. Lenin was prepared to seek
peace at any cost with the Germans so that the
revolution could continue. The Bolsheviks were
prepared to give anything to the Germans
because they believed in Marx’s theory about
revolution. If a revolution occurs in one country, it
will quickly spread to others. Thus, they believed
that Germany was next to have the workers rise
up and seize control. Lenin believed that Imperial
Germany would not last long, so he gave to the
German demands.

20. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
On 3 March 1917 Russia and Germany signed
the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Contained in the
harsh treaty (some historians state that this
treaty was worse that the Treaty of Versailles)
was the demand that Russia give up Finland,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Ukraine
and the Transcaucasia. These areas were to be
occupied by German troops and supply Germany
with much needed supplies (the treaty was never
enforced because Germany lost the war and the
Allies did not give Germany any territories).

21. Civil War
With peace established with Germany, the war continued within the
boundaries of Russia.
The forces led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks were called the “Reds,”
(red has been the color of revolution since the French Revolution)
while forces opposed to him where termed “White” (white has
traditionally been the color of royalty).
The White forces received support from the Western Allies during the
internal war. The United States, England and Canada had
contingents of men inside of Russia initially to guard supplies they
had sent during the war, but they were in a position to fight if their
governments thought necessary.
The Red Army was able to defeat the much larger White armies over
the course of the three-year conflict. The Red Army was led by
fanatical communists who were prepared to do what ever was
necessary to preserve the revolution.

22. The Red Terror
During the civil war, Lenin imposed “War Communism” to
ensure victory. For rural peasants, this meant that the food
they produced was seized without payment. In the cities,
workers were forbidden to strike and placed under military
discipline. The results of these measures allowed the Reds to
win the civil war, but caused horrible problems for the future.
Farm peasants refused to plant more crops as they believed
that the communists were going to take it anyway. This led to
a famine that claimed the lives of 7.5 million Russians.
Millions of others lived just above the starvation level.
Lenin also saw the need to stabilize the government and
country by eliminating people who did not support the
revolution. This period became known as the “Red Terror.”
During the terror, Lenin had people inside and outside of the
party eliminated to ensure the success of the communist
takeover (the Bolsheviks changed their name to the
Communist Party in 1918). Thousands of people disappeared
during the purge, but the plan helped control the opposition to
the Communist Party.

23. The Problem of Changing
a Society
Slowly the Communist Party became involved
with all aspects of an individual’s politics and
personal lives. Although many of the policies met
with limited success, over time, they became
accepted as a way of live within the newly
created society.

24. The Failing Health of Lenin
The attempt to put into
practice the theories of
Karl Marx became all-
consuming for Lenin.
Lenin would spend
countless hours over
matters of state and in
establishing the power of
the Communist Party
through out the country.
Yet, Lenin’s health began
to suffer.
In 1918 he had been
shot in an assassination
attempt and had never
fully recovered from his
wounds. His health was
further complicated by
two large strokes that
partially paralyzed him.
Ultimately he died on 21
January 1924. In his
honor, the city of
Petrograd was renamed
Leningrad and his body
was enshrined near the
Kremlin in Moscow.

26. Power Struggle in the Party
One of the most difficult
problems faced by a country
that does not elect its head of
state becomes who replaces
the leader upon their death In
addition to the problem of
selecting Lenin’s replacement,
the party had split into two
camps within the Politburo.
The “Rightist” were led by
Nikolai Bukharin (with the
support of Josef Stalin) who
wanted to continue the
program laid out by Lenin for
the next twenty or more years.
Leon Trotsky, who believed
that the country must become
heavily industrialized, led the
“Left Opposition”. The
purpose of the
industrialization was to build
weapons to resist the West
should they try to destroy
Communism. A vicious power
struggle was to emerge for
control of the Party and the
country.