1. The Russian Revolution

2. Russia in WWI Suffered huge losses
1915 – Czar Nicholas II goes to front to lead
Wife Alexandra takes over government in his absence

4. Nicholas II and family Many hated Alexandra, his German wife.
During the war she was accused of being a spy.

5. March Revolution March 1917 – food shortages spread a revolt
Protestors chant “Bread, Bread”
Czar unable to stop revolt and abdicates

7. The royal family must do their own work
March Revolution
Czar and family are put on house arrest
The royal family must do their own work

8. March Revolution
Czar and his family are murdered a few months later

9. Vladimir Lenin
An exiled socialist who returns to Russia and takes over government
Promises “Peace, land, and bread”
Leader of the Bolshevik Party
Based on Communist beliefs

10. Bolshevik Revolution
November 1917 – Red Guards (armed factory workers) took over Russia’s government
Bolsheviks are renamed “Communists” and begin redistributing land
Adopt new flag:

11. Bolshevik Revolution
Lenin agrees to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk to end Russia’s participation in WWI

12. Russian Civil War 1918 – 1921 Lenin’s Red Army vs. White Army of Czar
Allies aid the White Army
Millions killed or starve
Red Army wins

13. The Soviet Union
Lenin’s Communist Party only one allowed after Civil War
He united the old Russian states into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Russia was the leading state in it

14. Joseph Stalin
Upon Lenin’s death in 1924, Stalin seized power in the Soviet Union.
Will rule until 1954 through brutality and terror

15. The Gist What you need to walk away with:
Inequality of wealth and poor working conditions causes violent revolution
First Communist state is formed (U.S.S.R.)
Mistrust between Russia (USSR) and the West (France, Great Britain, USA) grows as a result of their assistance to the “whites”
Joseph Stalin becomes first Soviet Dictator