1. THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

2. Cyrillic Alphabet

3. The Russian Flag Communist (Soviet) Flag Current Russian Flag

4. The Russian Revolution
First, there were the evil Czars…

5. Czarist Russia Czars were cruel & oppressive Social inequalities
Ruthless treatment of peasants
(It was a lot like France before their Revolution)

6. Ivan the Terrible The first official “Czar.”
He took the throne in 1533 at the age of three.
He fought with Russian nobles called the BOYARS over land.
He seized power from the Boyars & crowned himself czar at age 16.
He married beautiful ANASTASIA (from an old & powerful Boyar family called the “Romanovs”)
When Anastasia died, he went crazy & became evil!!

7. Crazy & TERRIBLE!!!
Ivan accused the Boyars of poisoning Anastasia & turned against them.
He had secret police who wore black & rode black horses!
He carried a sharp metal staff and used it to lash out at people!
He tore feathers off birds, pierced their eyes & split open their bodies!
He threw dogs and cats out the Kremlin windows!
He got drunk, knocked down old people and raped women!

8. Then there was beginning of the ROMANOVS…

9. Ivan The Terrible didn’t have an heir!
During a violent quarrel, he killed his oldest son and heir.
He had another son, but that son was physically & mentally incapable of ruling the country.
“Time of Troubles”
Representatives from Russian cities met in 1613 and chose another Czar—Michel Romanov (the grandnephew of Ivan the Terrible’s wife, Anastasia)
The ROMANOV DYNASTY lasted for 300 years!

10. So that’s the background,,, now let’s look at the Czars in the 19th & early 20th centuries…

11. Alexander III
An autocrat (someone who rules with absolute power) & hated reform.
Anyone who questioned the absolute authority of the czar, worshiped outside the Russian Orthodox Church, or spoke a language other than Russian was considered dangerous & punished (EXILED TO SIBERIA WHERE THEY WOULD FREEZE TO DEATH!!)

12. Nicholas II – the last czar
Nicholas II (son of Alexander III) became czar in 1894 when his father died.
He also was an autocrat that refused to surrender any of his power.
He was ultimately forced to step down from his thrown & executed during the Russian Revolution.

13. Rapid Industrialization = Discontent
The number of factories doubled
between 1863 and 1900.
The Trans-Siberian Railway (the world’s longest continuous rail line) was built & completed in 1904.
The growth of industrialization brought grueling working conditions, low wages, and child labor.
The gap between rich & poor was enormous.
Widespread worker unrest & strikes.

14. Trans-Siberian Railway

15. “BLOODY SUNDAY” (1905) at The Winter Palace (now The Hermitage)

16. The Duma
Though Nicholas II opposed reform, he reluctantly approved the creation of a DUMA (an elected national legislature).
The first Duma met in May 1906.
They were moderates who wanted Russia to have a “Constitutional Monarchy” as in Britain.
Nicholas II didn’t want to share his power & dissolved the Duma ten weeks later.
(Other Dumas would meet later, yet none had real power to make sweeping reforms).

17. The Russo-Japanese War
In the late 1800’s Russia & Japan were the leading imperialist powers.
They were competing for control over Korea and Manchuria.
In 1904 Port Arthur (in Manchuria) fell & it was clear the Japanese were winning the war.
IMPORTANCE: News of this defeat and other defeats sparked unrest at home in Russia.

18. WWI – The Final Blow
In 1914, Nicholas II made the fateful decision to drag Russia into World War I.
Russia was unprepared to handle the military & economic costs of war.
Russia’s weak generals & poorly equipped troops were no match for the German army.
As in the Russo-Japanese war, Russia’s involvement in WWI revealed the weakness of czarist rule.
In only one year, MORE THAN 4 MILLION RUSSIAN SOLDIERS WERE KILLED, WOUNDED OR TAKEN AS PRISONERS!!!

19. Alexandra Romanov Wife of Nicholas II.
In 1915, Nicholas II moved his headquarters to the war front.
His wife, Alexandra, ran the country in his absence.
She ignored the czar’s advisors & instead relied on the advice of a mystic named Rasputin.

20. Rasputin
Rasputin was rumored to have “healing powers” and could cure Alexei.
When Nicholas was fighting in WWI & left his wife (Alexandra) in control, Rasputin was really in control!
Rasputin spread corruption throughout the royal court & was eventually murdered in 1916 by a group of nobles.

21. Alexei Romanov Son of Nicholas II.
He had a disease called HEMOPHILIA (his blood would not clot) and was very ill.

22. The Okhrana The Tsar’s secret police, led by Sergei Zubatov.
It had 26,000 paid informants & killed 26,000 people without trial.
Okhrana agents & “double-agents were everywhere!
An Okrahna double-agent assassinated the Russian Prime Minister Piotr Stolypin at the Kiev opera house.

23. Karl Marx
Believed an industrial class of workers could overthrow the Czar.
The industrial class would form a “dictatorship of the proletariat” (the working class).
The Proletariat needs to rise up against the Bourgeoisie.
Wrote The Communist Manifesto.
“From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.”

24. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin

25. Lenin Returns to Russia
After being exiled several times, in April 1917 Lenin returned to St. Petersburg in a sealed railway car.
He was sent by the Germans as a “secret weapon” that the Germans hoped would erode the provisional government’s authority & hurt the war effort.

26. March 1917 Riots!
In March women textile workers in St. Petersburg (Petrograd) led a citywide strike.
Riots flared up over shortages of bread and fuel.
At first solders obeyed orders to shoot the rioters, but later sided with them & joined the rebellion.
“Down with the aristocracy!” … “Down with the war!”

27. The Czar Steps Down
The local protests in St. Petersburg exploded into a general uprising and Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne.
Leaders of the Duma established a provisional government (temporary government). It was headed by Alexander Kerensky.
Kerensky’s decision to continue fighting the war eventually cost him the support of both soldiers and civilians.

28. Alexander Kerensky

29. Killing of the Romanovs – right or wrong?
Nicholas & his ENTIRE FAMILY were exiled to Siberia, then killed…was this fair?
Nicholas II was an autocrat & was NOT flexible!!
Yet he also believed in the tradition of the monarchy & was very devoted to his family.

30. The Bolshevik Revolution
Lenin & the Bolsheviks recognized their opportunity to seize power.
They quickly gained control of the Petrograd soviet & other soviets.
Lenin’s slogan was: “Peace, Land, and Bread!”
In NOVEMBER 1917, the Bolshevik Red Guards (armed factory workers) stormed the royal palace in St. Petersburg.
In a few hours, they arrested the leaders of the Provisional Govt. & took control.

31. The Bolsheviks in Power
All farmland was distributed amongst peasants.
Workers gained control of the factories.
The Bolshevik government began peace talks with Germany.
In March 1918, Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk wherein Russia surrendered a large chunk of its territory to Germany (many Russians were upset about this).

32. SOVIETS Social revolutionaries competed for power and formed SOVIETS.
Soviets were local councils consisting of workers, peasants & soldiers.
In many cities, especially St. Petersburg (Petrograd), the soviets had more influence than the provisional government.

33. THE BOLSHEVIK RED ARMY
Led by Leon Trotsky

34. Civil War in Russia
The Bolsheviks formed the Red Army and were led by Leon Trotsky.
Bolshevik opponents formed the White Army.
Western nations (including the U.S.) sent military aid to help the White Army.
Russia’s Civil War was more deadly than the Revolution. 14 million died.
After a three-year struggle, the Bolsheviks (Red Army) won the Civil War.
In 1922, Russia was renamed The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in honor of the councils that helped launch the Bolshevik Revolution and the Bolsheviks renamed their party the Communist Party.
Lenin died in 1924.