1. Russian Revolution

2. Where is Russia?

3. Why did Russia opt out of WW I?
Which country benefitted from that?

4. Russian Government Before Revolution
Absolute Monarchy: The Czar (Tsar)
Until 1905 the Tsar's powers were unlimited.
Russia had no constitution,
no political party system to check the Tsar's power
A strong secret police which terrorized the people.

5. Royal Background Nicholas I
Created the first secret police in Russia, brutal leader, response to revolt of army officers in 1825

6. Czar Alexander II
Implemented important reforms, notably the abolition of serfdom,
In 1867, he sold Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to the United States.
Killed by the Revolutionary Group: The People’s Will

7. Czar Alexander III
Alexander III's reign was during an industrial revolution in Russia .
His reign was harsh, against revolutionaries and other liberal movements.

8. Czar Nicholas II (1894) Last Czar of Russia
Nicholas II was a harsh and weak ruler
The Russian economy was bankrupt because of the Russo-Japanese War and WWI Russia’s entry into WWI became very unpopular.

9. Czar Nicholas II and Family

10. Russo-Japanese War (1904)
Dispute over Manchuria with Japan.
Russia lost the war.
Shook national confidence in their progress and rule of Czar.

12. Bloody Sunday (1905)

13. Russia and World War I Russia declares war on Austria-Hungary
War becomes unpopular
Rationing leads to starvation in Russia
Nicholas II leaves St. Petersburg to war front

14. Causes of Russian Revolution
Widespread suffering under autocracy—a form of government in which one person, in this case the czar, has absolute power •
Weak leadership of Czar Nicholas II—clung to autocracy despite changing times
Poor working conditions, low wages, and hazards of industrialization
New revolutionary movements that believed a worker-run government should replace czarist rule
• Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1905), which led to rising unrest
• Bloody Sunday, the massacre of unarmed protestors outside the palace, in 1905
• Devastation of World War I—high casualties, economic ruin, widespread hunger
• The March Revolution in 1917, in which soldiers who were brought in for crowd control ultimately joined labor activists in calling “Down with the autocracy!”

15. March Revolution (1917)
1917- protests spread through St. Petersburg and the Royal palace is taken over.
Czar abdicates
Provisional government (Duma) takes control lead by Alexander Keresnky
Provisional government unpopular after decision to stay in WWI

16. Effects of Russian Revolution
The government is taken over by the Bolshevik Party, led by V. I. Lenin; later, it will be known as the Communist Party.
• Farmland is distributed among farmers, and factories are given to workers.
• Banks are nationalized and a national council is assembled to run the economy.
• Russia pulls out of World War I, signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, conceding much land to Germany. • Czarist rule ends. Nicholas II, his wife and five children are executed.
• Civil war, between Bolshevik (“red”) and anti-Bolshevik (“white”) forces, sweeps Russia from 1918 to Around 15 million die in conflict and the famine
• The Russian economy is in shambles. Industrial production drops, trade all but ceases, and skilled workers flee the country.
• Lenin asserts his control by cruel methods such as the Gulag, a vast and brutal network of prison camps for both criminals and political prisoners.

17. October (Bolshevik) Revolution-1917
Lead by VI Lenin “Peace, Land, and Bread”
Won support of people (especially peasants)

19. 1918
1918 March The Bolsheviks accept the peace of Brest‑Litovsk, ending WWI with Germany.

20.
1919 White Armies (Royal and Menshevik troops) attack the Reds (Bolsheviks) from all directions.
1920- Reds defeat Whites

21. Rule of Lenin
Economic Reforms included the New Economic Plan (NEP)
-moderate mix of capitalism and socialism
Political Reforms
-Bolshevik party became Communist Party
-Russia becomes the United Soviet Socialist Republics

23. Communism A Form of Socialism
Central Planning of the Economy by the State
Gov’t (Communist Party) makes decisions on individual jobs and pay

24. 1924 Lenin Dies Power Vacuum Leon Trotsky vs. Joseph Stalin
Stalin takes control
Now must decide how he will maintain power
Decides to create a totalitarian state

26. Characteristics of a Totalitarian State
Dictatorship- Absolute Authority
Dynamic Leader- Vision for the nation
State Control Over All Sectors of Society
Business, Family Life, Labor, youth groups, housing, religion, education, the arts
State Control Over the Individual
Obedience
Denies basic liberties
Organized Violence
Uses force to crush opposition

27. Stalin’s Totalitarian State
State Control of the Economy
5 year plan, collective farms
Police Terror
Great Purge, crush opposition
Religious Persecution
Control of the individual
Propaganda (socialist realism)
Molding peoples minds
Education
Controlled by the government

28. Structured Discussion
Debate:
Class splits into 4 groups.
Each group choses a leader.
Group discusses the negative &positive aspects of a Totalitarianism.
Students debate the issue.