1. Czar Nicholas II Czar (ruler) of Russia Weak leader
Overthrown in 1917 … Russian Revolution

2. The “Hessian Hussie” Czarina Alexandra Wife of Nicholas II
Rumored to have affair with Rasputin
Born in Germany

3. RASPUTIN

4. Revolution March 1917 Provisional government under Alexander Kerensky
“Democratic”
Continued to prosecute the war
Continuing the war doomed this government

5. Road to Russian Revolution
Causeway to Communism

6. It all started when … Autocratic rulers weakened Russia
Paul I (assassinated)
Alexander I (despot … death … Decembrist Revolt)
Nicholas I (dictator … Autocracy, Orthodoxy, etc.)

7. Alexander II (r. 1855 – 1881) Son of Nicholas I
Traveled as a youth visited 30 regions of Russia
Had government experience
Liked autocracy and bureaucracy of Nicholas I

8. Emancipation of Serfs (1861)
Two reasons
Crimean War demonstrated lack of technology. Emancipation would result in industrial labor force and movement toward industry and tech.
Fear of peasant revolt

9. Czar Nichols II (r – 1917)
Last Czar of Russia

10. Russo-Japanese War
1904 … “a little victorious war to stem the tide of revolution would be most welcome”
Japan struck first … destroyed ENTIRE Russian fleet
Treaty of Portsmouth (1905)
Russian Navy

11. Revolution (1905) Bloody Sunday - January 22, 1905
Workers, carrying petition to the czar, were shot by soldiers in St. Petersburg
Over 300 unarmed workers were killed
Strikes shutdown RRs, telegraph system, government offices
Councils of workers called SOVIETS sprang up in cities to direct rebellion

12. Emblem of the Russian Duma … 100th Anniversary
Nicholas II relented and allowed reform
Constitution … Duma (legislative body)
Duma, little power … 1906, 1907, they were dismissed by the czar when they asked for reform measures
Emblem of the Russian Duma … 100th Anniversary

13. REAL Revolution, 1917
The February Revolution (March 1917) was a spontaneous popular revolution focused around St Petersburg.
In the chaos, members of the Duma assumed control of the country, forming the Russian Provisional Government.
The army leadership felt they did not have the means to suppress the revolution and Czar Nicholas II of Russia, the last Czar of Russia, abdicated, effectively leaving the Provisional Government in power

14. Provisional government … Alexander Kerensky
Representative government with Legislature and executive branch
Continued the war … bad move
During this chaotic period there were frequent mutinies and many strikes. The Provisional Government chose to remain in the war, whereas the policy of the Bolsheviks and other socialist factions was to abandon the war effort.

15. Peace, Land, Bread!!!

16. Lenin and the Bolsheviks
November 1917
Government war policy VERY unpopular
Peasants starving
Demand for land
Petrograd (St. Petersburg) and Moscow soviets were controlled by Bolsheviks
Red Guard … workers’ militia … eventually became the Red Army

17. Lenin and the Bolsheviks
Bolsheviks – Russian Communists
Nikoli Vladamir Lenin (LENIN) was leader of the Bolsheviks
Bolsheviks took over after Russian Revolution Oct (1917)

18. Bolsheviks took government buildings by force
All ministers were arrested (Kerensky escaped)
Communist dictatorship under Lenin

19. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Beginning of 1918 Russia dropped out of the war
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk gave Germany huge area of Russian territory
Result of the Russian Revolution was that Russia quit and now Germany could fully mobilize against the Allies

20. Four-year civil war within Russia to consolidate power and murder all opposition
1922 … USSR – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

21. Battle of BELLEAU WOOD
One of the first major battles USA (AEF) participated in…June 1918
Brigade of U.S. Marine Corps, part of AEF under General Pershing
Defeated Germans after battling on rocky ground in heavy brush

22. Great victory for USA / allies
French were very impressed
Renamed area “Wood of the Marine Brigade”

23. Argonne Forest Sept – Nov 1918 Largest battle for USA
1.2 million men (American) mobilized for the fight
It was the final battle of the war
AEF led by General Pershing fought brilliantly

24. Sgt. Alvin York Greatest war hero for USA
Single-handedly captured 130 Germans during Argonne campaign

25. Armistice Armistice – an agreement to stop fighting
Armistice ending WW I was signed on November 11, 1918
11th hour of 11th day of 11th month
11 … 11 … 11, 1918
Railroad car in Compiegne, France