1. What Caused the Russian Revolution?

2. ALEXANDER III: Autocratic Rule: holding independent arbitrary powers
ROAD TO REVOLUTION: Conditions BEFORE & LEADING to the Revolution
Harsh leadership: Cracked down on anyone who threatened his government
Censorship
Mistreated all minorities (non-Russians)… especially Jews.
POGOMS: organized violence against Jews
Resistance to any change
Inflamed the masses
ALEXANDER III: Autocratic Rule: holding independent arbitrary powers

3. Pre-Revolutionary Russia Nicholas II: the LAST ROMANOV CZAR
Nicholas II became Czar in 1894
Despite buildup of Russia’s industry, the economy was suffering
The political system is rigid, archaic, & corrupt
Russo-Japanese War (1904) lead the country into international embarrassment

4. 1. Early 20c: Russian Social Hierarchy

5. 2. Industrialization & Economic Growth Leads to UNREST
Poor working conditions
Child labor
Low wages
Growing gap between the RICH & POOR

6. 2. Weak Economy Economy: system of producing & consuming
1905 Russian Rubles

7. 2a. First Stages of Industrialization
An Early Russian Factory

8. 2b. Extensive Foreign Investments & Influence
Imperialism lead to Building the Trans-Siberian RR [Economic benefits only in a few regions.]

9. 3. Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905]
The “Yellow Peril”

10. Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905]

11. Russo-Japanese War
[ ]

12. Treaty of Portsmouth [NH] - 1905
President Theodore Roosevelt Acts as the Peacemaker
[He gets the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.]

13. Russo Japanese War CAUSE: Russia & Japan competing to IMPERIALIZE
Japan declared war on Russia
EFFECTS:
Japan defeated Russia
Loss of National Morale
Loss of Confidence in the Czar’s government
UNREST develops

14. Russia Is Humiliated

15. 4. Social Unrest Among the Peasants & Urban Working Poor
Father Georgi Gapon: Leader of the People? or
Government informer?
He informed government officials of the uprising.
They were ready for them!

16. The Revolution of 1905- Bloody Sunday
Gap between rich & poor was enormous (Industrialization)
Working class grew angry (Industrialization)
Revolutionary groups formed to overthrow the government (UNREST)
BOLSHEVIKS: one group of revolutionaries led by Lenin

17. Bloody Sunday (1905)
200,000 workers (proletariate) went to the czar’s palace at St Petersburg to ask for better working conditions
Army were ordered to fire at the crowd… killing 1,000 unarmed people
People are outraged & push the Czar to put in some REFORMS
What do they Want
DUMA (Russian Legislature is created) under duress

18. The Revolution Spreads

19. The Czar’s October Manifesto

20. The Opening of the Duma: Possible Reforms?
1906
The first two tries were too radical.
The third duma was elected by the richest people in Russia in 1907.

21. Conservatism Continues: Conservative: support traditional ways & values; want to AVOID CHANGE
DUMA: Russia’s 1st Parliament
Czar paid no attention to the Duma
The Duma harassed & political parties suppressed
Nicholas was personally a very weak man
Alexandra = the real power behind the throne

22. The Russian Constitution of 1906
Czar Cracks Back DOWN:
The Russian Constitution of 1906
Known as the Fundamental Laws [April 23, 1906].
The AUTOCRACY of the Russian Czar was declared.
The Czar was supreme over the law, the church, and the Duma.
It confirmed the basic human rights granted by the October Manifesto, BUT made them subordinate to the supremacy of the law.

23. Jewish Refugees Come to America in 1906
Due to Czar’s continued POGROMS

24. THE Russian Revolution
Connect:
1905 to
The Path to October, 1917
THE Russian Revolution

25. IMMEDIATE CAUSES of The Russian Revolution

26. 1. World War I: “The Last Straw”
War revealed the country’s weakness in leadership & severe lack of development
Poorly supplied troops
Millions of Russian men were dead
Soldiers refused to continue to fight
Unrest building -1:45
Rasputin_Undermines_Nicholas__Authority.asf

27. 2. Rasputin Strange Monk/Mystic who influenced Alexandra
Relieved her sons pain
Spread corruption throughout the government
Scandals surrounding Rasputin served to discredit the monarchy 1:45- end
Rasputin_Undermines_Nicholas__Authority.asf

28. 3. The Collapse of the Imperial Government
Nicholas leaves for the Front—September, 1915
Alexandra & Rasputin throw the government into chaos
Alexandra & other high government officials accused of treason

29. The Collapse of the Imperial Government (cont)
Rasputin assassinated in December of :33
Nicholas_Forced_to_Abdicate.asf
Czar forced to step down (abdicate) in 1917 (March Revolution)
Nicholas_Abdicates_the_Throne_.asf
Provisional Govt. established

30. The Two Revolutions of 1917
The March Revolution – SOVIETS established: local councils who were often more powerful than the government & who had forced the Czar from power established the
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT led by Alexander Kerensky stayed in WWI
Meanwhile Lenin returns to Russia W/ help from Germany AND…
WHAT TO DO WITH THE CZAR?
The November Revolution - Lenin’s “Peace, Land, & Bread” slogan stirs the people to support the Bolsheviks (1:33-END)
Armed workers (Proletariat) take over the government
Bolsheviks take over
Czar & family are executed in 1918
Nicholas_Forced_to_Abdicate.asf

31. Founder of Bolshevism: Vladimir Lenin
Committed to Class Struggle and Revolution
Key role of the Party in the revolution
-- “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”

32. Lenin Steps Into Power Lenin gives farmers back their land
Workers were given control of factories
Bolshevik Party renamed Communist Party in March of 1918
Lenin agreed to a peace treaty (Brest-Litovsk Treaty) with Germany, ending Russia’s involvement in WWI and conceding land to Germany

33. Civil War between the RED & WHITE armies
Humiliating Treaty angered many Russians and turned them against the Bolsheviks
Civil War fought between
-- “Reds” versus “Whites”
15 million Russians died from war & famine
Lenin’s Red Army eventually wins
White = Czar supporters & backed by Western Powers
Reds = Bolsheviks/Communists

34. Romanovs succumb to Communism Romanov_Dynasty_Succumbs_to_Communism
Romanovs succumb to Communism Romanov_Dynasty_Succumbs_to_Communism.asf

35. Lenin Restores Order after years of World War, Revolution and Civil War
Organized Russian into Republics; unifying the country
Lenin allowed some private ownership of property (NEP)
Formed a new nation: The Soviet Union
Lenin sets out to rebuild the new USSR & its economy
Established SOVIETS to rule locally

36. Who influenced Lenin Karl Marx:
Ideas formed the basis of Lenin’s revolutionary idea
Wrote the book, THE COMMUNIST MANIFESTO
Put for the idea of a class struggle the would lead to a take over by the proletariat and then the establishment of a “classless” society (COMMUNISM)
Inspired proletariats around the world
Vision of a lasting & prosperous society
An economic & social system that advocated a single political party & state ownership of property.

37. Lenin’s “right hand man”
Leon Trotsky
Fellow Bolshevik
Intellectual
Negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk to end WWI
Commanded the Red Army during the Civil War

38. Revolutionary Social Changes
Abolish private property
Abolish all rights of inheritance.
Confiscation of all property of emigrants and criminals/rebels.
Nationalize factories
Centralize agricultural production (seize grain to feed army and workforce)
A classless society
Universal suffrage
A general distrust of organized religions

39. Soviet Union Succumbs to Communism