Russian Revolution, 1917 Causes, Major Events, Effects

CAUSES Long-term and short-term

Long-term Causes Difficult Nineteenth Century Difficulty industrializing and modernizing, even after the serfs were freed Trouble uniting the population, which was much more diverse than the tsars wanted Several military defeats Crimean War, Russo-Japanese War, 1905 Lots of labor unrest and strikes Repression of political protests Changes and reforms—political and economic—were very slow

Long-term causes continued Assassination of Alexander II in 1881 Led to the repressive rule of Nicholas II Revolution of 1905 Workers gathered at the tsar’s Winter Palace and protested the lack of freedoms AND asked for a legislature Soldiers killed 130 of the protestors People all over the empire were angry, and it started labor, student, and peasant protests AND instability in the military Even though Nicholas II started the parliament (the Duma), he cracked down on all protests Nicholas could veto any decision of the Duma

Short-term causes The War Food shortages March, 1916, women held bread riots in St. Petersburg These riots spread and eventually even soldiers were protesting Huge number of soldiers killed or wounded Mutinies within the army

Short-term causes, continued Weak leadership by Nicholas II He censored any opinion different from his Incompetent both in leading the war and leading at home When he went to lead at the front in 1915, a corrupt holy man named Rasputin influenced the Tsarina Alexandra and helped make decisions about the government Rasputin was murdered by 3 upper-class leaders because he was corrupting the government

MAJOR EVENTS OF THE REVOLUTION

Major Events, 1917 March Revolution, protests in Petrograd Police can’t control the protests More soldiers mutinied Duma declared a provisional (temporary) government Nicholas abdicated (gave up the crown) 3 days later

Major Events, 1917 Provisional government takes over and shares power with the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies soviet=local council of workers Tension between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet from March to November Why? The Soviet wanted to end the war and the government didn’t The Soviet wanted land reform (giving more land to peasants) the government did not think it had the authority to do so

Major Events, 1917 Lenin and the Bolsheviks Lenin was in exile in Switzerland, but the German government transported him to Russia He led the Bolsheviks, who were a part of the Russian Social Democratic Party, and entered Russia with the goal of leading the revolution

Major Events, 1917 November Revolution Led by Lenin as he convinced more and more Russians to become radical Famous slogan, “Peace, Land, and Bread” In an almost bloodless revolt, the Bolsheviks took charge of the government with Lenin as their leader Leon Trotsky used speeches to convince the Petrograd Soviet that the Bolsheviks needed to be in charge of first the soviet and then the whole government

Major Events, 1917 Why were the Bolsheviks successful? The country was in anarchy in 1917 Lenin and Trotsky were very good leaders They appealed to the workers and the soldiers

Major Events, 1918 Russia leaves the war, signs a peace treaty with Germany (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk) in which Russia lost 5 major regions and Lost 25-33% of its population

Major Events, 1918 Response to Lenin’s Takeover Civil War, Red Terror—the killing of the Whites (anticommunists) by the Bolsheviks after false trials Secret Police (the Cheka)—killed 200,000 enemies of the Bolsheviks Executed the Romanov family in July, 1918 Red Army won in 1920, despite the help that the Whites were getting from foreign countries Effects: Lenin and the Bolsheviks in charge, approximately 10 million killed, and a culture of oppression firmly in place

On the left, soldiers in the Red Army, on the right, soldiers in the White Siberian Army

Stalin Lenin died from strokes in 1924, and many party members wanted to succeed him Stalin, who chose this last name because it means “man of steel,” took complete power by 1928 and remained dictator until 1953 He was less intellectual than many party leaders because he came from humble beginnings He put huge amounts of government funds into new factories, collectivized agriculture, and many of his plans failed for a long period of time He ruthlessly imprisoned and/or executed his enemies, and he was responsible for the deaths of million of his own people