1. THE RUSSIAN
REVOLUTION: A QUICK
OVERVIEW
Mrs. Mills

2. THIS LESSON ADDRESSES STANDARDS:
CCSS 8.4: PRODUCE CLEAR AND COHERENT
WRITING IN WHICH THE DEVELOPMENT,
ORGANIZATION, AND STYLE ARE
APPROPRIATE TO TASK, PURPOSE, AND
AUDIENCE.
STANDARDS FOR 21ST
CENTURY
LEARNERS: 1.1.2
USE PRIOR AND BACKGROUND
KNOWLEDGE AS CONTEXT FOR NEW
LEARNING.
Why are we learning this? What are we
learning? How do I know I have learned this?

3. ELA
RL 8.2 DETERMINE A THEME OR CENTRAL IDEA OF A
TEST AND ANALYZE ITS DEVELOPMENT OVER THE
COURSE OF A TEXT, INCLUDING RELATIONSHIP TO THE
CHARACTERS, SETTING, AND PLOT; PROVIDE AN
OBJECTIVE SUMMARY OF THE TEXT.
RL 8.3 ANALYZE HOW PARTICULAR LINES OF DIALOGUE
OR INCIDENTS IN A STORY OR DRAM PROPEL THE
ACTION, REVEAL ASPECTS OF A CHARACTER, OR
PROVOKE A DECISION.
RL 8.4 DETERMINE THE MEANING OF WORDS AND
PHRASES AS THEY ARE USED IN A TEXT, INCLUDING
FIGURATIVE AND CONNOTATIVE MEANINGS, ANALYZE
THE IMPACT OF SPECIFIC WORD CHOICES ON MEANING
AND TONE, INCLUDING ANALOGIES OR ALLUSIONS TO
OTHER TEXTS.
Why are we learning this? What are we
learning? How do I know I have learned this?

4. SS
RH3 KEY IDEAS AND DETAILS- IDENTIFY KEY
STEPS IN A TEXT’S DESCRIPTION TO A PROCESS
RELATED TO HISTORY/SOCIAL STUDIES
RH 4 DETERMINE THE MEANING OF WORDS AND
PHRASES AS THEY ARE USED IN A TEXT,
INCLUDING SPECIFIC VOCABULARY
WH- ST9 DRAW EVIDENCE FROM INFORMATIONAL
TEXTS TO SUPPORT ANALYSIS, REFLECTION AND
RESEARCH.
RH10 WRITE ROUTINELY OVER EXTENDED TIME
FRAMES FOR A RANGE OF DISCIPLINE-SPECIFIC
SPECIFIC TASKS, PURPOSES AND AUDIENCES.
Why are we learning this? What are we
learning? How do I know I have learned this?

5. What was the Russian
Revolution?
 The Russian Revolution occurred when
Russia’s political, economic and governmental
system completely collapsed. Differences
between upper class and peasants caused
discontent and the country was soon involved
in a bloody war in which dictators ignored
human rights.

6.  “…the Russian revolution took place because
the patience of the Russian people broke down
under a system unparalleled in inefficiency and
corruption. No other nation would have stood
the privations which Russia stood for anything
like the same length of time.”
-British Consultant, Bruce Lockhard

7. In the beginning…
 Before Russia collapsed in 1917, the empire
had been ruled by a single powerful family, the
Romanovs for 300 years. 140 million people
lived in Russia including many Armenians,
Finns, Jews, Poles and Germans.
 Russia copied a group called the “Mongols.”

8.  Mongols were brutal nomadic attackers from
Asia who influenced Russia with its autocracy,
or one absolute monarch called a czar.
 The czar made laws, commanded armies,
controlled the churches, factories, schools,
railroads, universities and all of life was ruled
by this one man.

9. How bad were the conditions??
 Children were forced into labor in factories and
beaten.
 Average salary was $2 a month for working 5
a.m. until 8 p.m., 70 hour weeks and in polluted
factories. People would have to be on their
hands and knees all day on cold cement or
splintered wood.
 No freedom of speech
 People who spoke out were “crushed brutally”
 While Czar lived in lap of luxury, families
starved.

10. Czar Nicholas II
 Czar Nicholas married a woman who was not
Russian, but German. Alexandra was viewed
as overbearing and domineering.
 Czar Nicholas got Russia involved in a war
with Japan in hopes that it would raise
Russia’s morale. He thought that if they won
the war, people would be proud of Russia.
Unfortunately, they lost.

11.  Peasant discontent due to the war, food
reparations, and political groups set the
stage for the event in January 1905, which
would later be called “Bloody Sunday”.
Sunday, after church in January 1905 a
group of protestors (many women and
children) proceeded to the Winter Palace to
demand from the Czar food and better
working conditions.

12.  Czar Nicholas ordered that his army open fire
on the peasants and thousands ended up
dead on the front lawn of the Palace.
 Soon, the people of Russia lost all faith in the
Czar and shut down shops, businesses and
soldiers refused to follow orders.
 Everyone soon realized that a new
government would have to take over.

13. Karl Marx
 Marx was a man, who by the time the Russian
Revolution was getting underway, was dead.
However, his ideas were the basis for what a
new Russian government would look like.
 Marx, a “radical thinker” was exiled from Paris
in 1844 for his ideas about what a government
should be.

14.  Marx wrote that people
were free to leave his or
her low paying jobs but
were forced to go to
another horrid job. He
pointed out that people,
especially what he
called the bourgeoisie,
or middle class, could
never own their own
business.

15.  Marx believed that private ownership of land
must be abolished.
 He believed in a “communal” way of life
where everyone shared in the prosperity.
 He said that the “workers of the world
should unite” and take over the government.
 He wanted a government where all people
were considered equal and that while the
government owns everything, the people
own the government.

16.  Let’s focus on a political figure named
Vladimir Lenin and how his support of
Marxism helped shape a new government.

17.  Back track a few years…In 1887, an
assassination attempt was planned for Czar
Alexander.
 The assassination plot was discovered and
the “planners” were hung.
 Among these “planners” was a boy named
Alexander Ulyanov.

18.  Alexander Ulyanov’s sister was
banished to another village 40 miles
away.
 Now, Alexander’s grief stricken brother,
Vladimir Lenin, decided that he would
make the Czar pay for his brother’s
death and his sister’s banishment.

19.  Lenin lived for many years in Russia and
became interested in Marx’s ideas. Marx’s
book Das Kapitaland another book, a novel,
What is to be Do ne ? inspired Lenin.
 He started working on revolutionary
propaganda but was arrested and exiled to
Siberia.

20.  Lenin then wrote a pamphlet and had it
smuggled into Russia. It is claimed that 3 out
of 5 workers in Russia read the pamphlet or
had it read to them, teaching the workers the
basic ideas behind Communism and how it
would benefit Russia.

21.  Lenin eventually returned to Russia and
continued to raise support for his ideas. He
wrote for underground newspaper. An
underground newspaper is one that is secretly
printed and distributed.

22. The trouble continues…
 As Lenin is gaining more support, Czar Nicholas
is facing more trouble.

24. The mystery of Rasputin
 A strange man makes his way into the Czar
family when he saves the Czar’s son from
bleeding to death.
 Soon there is talk that Rasputin is romantically
linked to the Czarina.
 Now there it is thought that due to their affair
and the Czar’s incompetence, Rasputin was
making political decisions.

26.  A plan to kill Rasputin is put into action.
Rasputin is poisoned, shot, clubbed and
drowned before finally dying in a frozen river.

27.  As World War I began, Czar Nicholas takes
over the army and it is a disaster! Nicholas
has a “duma” or provisional government to
help make reforms.
 Czar Nicholas falls ill. He asks his brother to
take over the thrown. His brother refuses and
the Romanovs are overthrown.

28. Meanwhile, Lenin goes…
 To start working for a newspaper.
 Starts clearly outlining his ideas for
government.
 Lenin starts to win over people including a
man named Leon Trotsky, who becomes his
partner in crime.

29. 1917
 Lenin becomes the head of the Bolshevik
revolt. Bolshevik’s enter Winter Palace,
overturn provisional government and take
control of country. This was called the October
Revolution and was led by Lenin, Trotsky and
another man named Joseph Stalin. All three
would become leaders in Russia.
 In 1918, Lenin imposes Communism.

31. 1918…
 Nicholas and his family are executed. It is
believed that Lenin ordered this execution.

32.  Some people in Russia did not like
Communism and soon a civil war broke out
among people. Some fought for the Red Army
(the communists) and others for the White
Army (traditionalists).

33.  Trotsky, who as the head of the Commissar
for Foreign Affairs favored a world revolution.
 In 1919, Trotsky thought it was time to push
forward and move Communism on to other
countries.

34.  From 1918-1921, the civil war continued.
Foreign countries like Britain, France and the
US were alarmed at the spread of
communism.
 Stalin, however, opposed Trotsky and didn’t
want to move forward to other countries.

35. Bye, Bye Lenin
 Lenin was on his death bed in 1924. Since he
began his rule, 7 million people have died from
disease and as a result of war.
 Lenin wrote in a letter before his death that he
thought Stalin would wipe out the population if
he came to power. The letter was lost until
years later.

36.  Stalin, an average man, who didn’t want to
follow Marx’s ideas craved power and was
willing to kill for it.
 He got the Propaganda Department to support
his image and lied to get more supporters. He
benefited from education being controlled.

37.  To secure his power, he had Trotsky exiled in
1929. This was helpful to Stalin because he
could blame all of the problems and difficulties
that Russia encountered on Trotsky.
 Beginning in 1929, Stalin began to
“exterminate” the Kulaks.

38.  The kulaks were peasants who did not want
their farms to be collectivized (taken by the
government) after the revolution. Stalin felt
many of the kulaks were gaining too much
wealth. He killed most of the kulaks by firing
squads. As he killed them, farming suffered
and there were more food shortages.

39. The Five Year Plan
 A five year plan was introduced by Stalin. He
wanted to increase literacy rates, improve
factories and health care and murder anyone
who did not like him.

40. The five year plan worked
because…
 Stalin built 500 new factories.
 U.S. becomes Russia’s rival.
 Russia becomes a major nation.
 Gains were made in health care, literacy,
nutrition, living standards.
 Murdered an estimated 8 to 15 million people.
 Did help Europe during WWII, which
prevented Hitler from taking over.

41.  “Raised as a poor peasant, Stalin must have
hated the rich and desired all to be equal.
Communism appeals to this and a desire for
wealth and control pushed him to power.
Stalin did much to help Russia and the world
in WWII but killed millions in pursuit of his
ideas and dictatorship. To his calloused heart,
‘A single death is a tragedy, a million deaths is
a statistic.’”
 Simmonds, George
http://www.grolier.com/wwii/wwii_stalin.html “Joseph
Stalin” Scholastic. Accessed October 22, 2012

42. Now, let’s start Animal Farm and
see how the real life events and the
book go together in a fantastic allegory!