1. The Russian Revolution
Vocabulary

3. Volga Barge Haulers, Ilya Pepin (1873)
1. Describe this painting. Who are these people?
What must their life be like?

4. 2. Describe this photo. Who are these people? What must
their life be like? Tsar Nicholas and his wife Alexandra also had five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Alexei, and Anastasia.

5. Identify these people. How do they relate to the Russian Revolution?

6. Creation of the Soviet Union
Tsar abdicates
Duma
Start of WWI
February Revolution Bloody Sunday
Provisional Government
Russo-Japanese War
Revolution of 1905
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
October Revolution
Start of Civil War

7. Russian Revolution Timeline
1. Russo-Japanese War - 1904
2. Bloody Sunday - January 1905
3. Revolution of 1905
4. Creation of the Duma – 1906
5. Start of WWI – 1914
6. February Revolution – 1917
7. Tsar Abdicates – March 1917
8. Provisional Government – March 1917
9. October Revolution – 1917
10. Civil War – 1917 to 1922
11. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk – March 1918
12. Creation of the Soviet Union – December 1922

8. Tsar Nicholas II
The last ruler of Russia. After more than
300 years, Nicholas was the last of the
Romanov royal family to rule.
Karl Marx
German philosopher who developed the theory of
communism. Communism is a theory that imagines a
classless, egalitarian society.

9. Provisional Government
The temporary government that led Russia
after the Tsar abdicated.
The provisional government was short-
lived, lasting only eight months until it was
taken over by the Bolsheviks.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace
treaty signed on March 3, 1918, between
Russia and the Central Powers, leading to
Russia's exit from World War I.
While the treaty was practically obsolete before
the end of the year, it gave some break to
Bolsheviks waging the civil war in all directions
and contributed to the independence of
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.

10. Proletariat
The working class.
The class of wage earners, especially those
who earn their living by manual labor.
Bourgeoisie
The wealthy, upper classes.

11. Vladimir Lenin
Russian founder of the Bolshevik Party
(communists), leader of the Russian Revolution
(1917), and first head of the USSR (1917-1924).
Bolsheviks
The Russian communist party.
The Bolsheviks took control of Russia, renaming
it The Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks believed in
give power and control to the peasants and
workers (i.e., the “Proletariat”). Lenin
campaigned for the Bolsheviks with the slogan,
“peace, land, and bread.”

12. Leon Trotsky
A leader of the Bolshevik Revolution (1917),
he was later expelled from the Communist
Party (1927) and banished (1929) for his
opposition to Stalin and his emphasis on
world revolution.
Joseph Stalin
Leader of the Soviet Union following Lenin’s
death (1924–53).
Stalin is responsible for the deaths of
millions of Russians. Through starvation,
executions, imprisonment, and
disappearances.

13. NKVD > KGB
The secret police of the Soviet Union.
The secret police went after “enemies of
the state”, real or perceived, creating a
police state based on terror.
Gulags
Forced labor camps.
“Enemies of the state” were sent to
Gulags were they worked as slave
laborers building dams, canals, roads, and
other infrastructure.

14. The three colors purportedly came from the coat
of arms of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which
depict Saint George wearing white (silver) armor,
riding a white horse, wearing a blue cape and
holding a blue shield, on a red field.
According to another version, these three colors
were associated with the robes of the Virgin
Mary, the holy protectress of Russia.
Yet another interpretation of the three colors is
the order that they are placed reflected the
Russian social system while under the monarchy:
white represents God, blue represents the Tsar
and red represents the peasants.
A different interpretation associates white with
the bright future (where the color itself is
associated with brightness, while its placement
at the top - with future); blue with clouded
present, and red with bloody past.

15. The newly adopted official flag of the Soviet Union consisted of a plain red flag, with a hammer crossed with a
sickle and a red star in the upper hoist. The hammer symbolized the nation's industrial workers, while the sickle
symbolized the nation's agricultural workers. The red star represented the rule of the Communist Party.

16. Buzludzha Monument