1. Aim: Explain the crisis that paved the way for the March Revolution and end of Czarist rule

2. Crisis at Home and Abroad
Between 1904 & 1917, Russia faced a series of crisis
Events showed the czar’s weakness & paved the way for revolution
Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of 1905
January 22, 1905, 200,000 workers and their families approached the czar’s Winter Palace (St. Petersburg)
Carried a petition asking for better working conditions & personal freedom
Nicholas II’s generals ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd
More than 1,000 people were wounded & several hundreds killed
Russian’s named event “Bloody Sunday”
Provoked strikes & violence
Oct 1905: Nicholas promised more freedom
Approved the Duma: Russia’s 1st Parliament 2

3. World War I: The Final Blow
1914: Nicholas II made the fateful decision to drag Russia into WWI
Russia was unprepared to handle the military & economic costs
Poorly equipped troops no match for Germans
Russian soldiers mutinied, deserted, or ignored orders
On home front, food & fuel supplies were dwindling
Neither Nicholas or his wife were capable of tackling these enormous problems 3

4. The March Revolution
March 1917: Women textile workers led citywide strike in Petrograd
Riots flared up over shortages of bread
Nearly 200,000 workers swarmed streets shouting “Down with the autocracy!”
At first, soldiers obeyed orders to shoot rioters but later sided with them
The local protests exploded into a general uprising
Known as the March Revolution
Forced Czar Nicholas II to abdicate the throne
Revolution succeeded in bringing down the czar but failed to replace it
Failed to set up strong government
Duma set up provisional govnt (Temporary) 4