2. THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION PART ONE: Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks Transform Russia

3. Essential Question: How did Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks transform Russia during the Russian Revolution in 1917?

4. In the 1700s, Czar Peter the Great expanded and modernized Russia

5. Peter introduced into Russia Western-style navy, fashions, and city-planning

6. But in the 1800s, Russia failed to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in Western Europe

7. The Enlightenment led to new democratic reforms throughout Europe

8. Czar Alexander III In Russia, the Romanov czars continued to rule as absolute monarchs

9. Czars like Alexander III used secret police to monitor citizens, censored the media, and sent political prisoners to labor camps in Siberia

10. Czars organized pogroms (violent attacks) against ethnic minorities like Jews and Poles in Russia

11. But in the 1800s, Russia failed to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in Western Europe The Industrial Revolution made European militaries and economies the strongest in the world

12. But in the 1800s, Russia failed to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in Western Europe The Industrial Revolution made European militaries and economies the strongest in the world

13. Russian industry lagged behind Europe, had few railroads, and most citizens were poor farmers

14. Russia committed to industrialization, but it led to poor wages, long hours, and discontent among the Russian people

15. Russia used its industry and built a respectable navy, but had problems mass-producing weapons

16. In 1894, Czar Nicholas II came to power but failed to address major problems from 1904 to 1917 When Russian liberals called for democratic reforms, Nicholas II ordered his secret police to persecute those calling for reform

17. In 1904, Russia and Japan went to war over Manchuria and Korea

18. Russia’s humiliating loss to Japan exposed weaknesses in the nation’s military and government

19. Losing the Russo-Japanese War set off a series of riots among commoners who were unhappy with Nicholas’ government

20. In 1905, Russian commoners met outside the czar’s Winter Palace to demand better working conditions, right to form unions, and a democratic constitution

21. The protest became known as “Bloody Sunday” when the czar’s guards fired into the crowd; riots broke out across Russia

22. In 1905, Nicholas II agreed to new constitution that created a Duma (parliament) and limited monarchy, but Nicholas ignored the Duma

23. The czar’s unpopularity and failure of the government to respond to problems increased calls for socialism Socialists demanded that the government control all means of production to create an equal society

24. Karl Marx developed a radical form of socialism in called communism in which the working class led a revolution, seized property, and shared all wealth without a government

25. Radical workers, peasants, and soldiers began to form councils called soviets that held meetings and assumed control over local governments Image of one of Russia’s first soviet councils

26. In 1903, a radical socialist named Vladimir Lenin formed the Bolsheviks, a group that supported a revolutionary overthrow of the Russian government

27. But, Lenin fled Russia to avoid arrest by the czar’s secret police and waited for an opportunity to return and lead his revolution

28. Russia’s involvement in World War I proved to be the fatal blow to Czar Nicholas’ support in Russia Russian soldiers running from German army, 1917 The Russian military was no match for the German army

29. Russia had difficulty producing weapons for soldiers on the front, food shortages were common for troops and civilians; lack of trains slowed supplies and communication

30. Russia drafted 15 million soldiers and nearly 7 million were killed or wounded; 1.5 million civilians died

31. Czar Nicholas refused to pull Russia out of the war and went to the Eastern Front to personally take command of the army

32. Nicholas left his wife, Alexandra, in charge of the day-to-day operations of the Russian government

33. To help cure her hemophiliac son Alexi, she relied on a mystic named Rasputin

34. Russian nobles feared that Rasputin was controlling the royal family and murdered him

35. Rasputin Grigori Rasputin was an Orthodox monk who lived anything but a “holy” life (womanizer, heavy drinker); he claimed to have healing powers

36. Rasputin After healing Alexi Romanov, Rasputin was then brought into the czar’s inner circle and helped make political decisions; this made the czar even more unpopular Russian nobles hated Rasputin and plotted to kill him

37. Rasputin Luring Rasputin to a “party”, five Russian nobles poisoned him, shot him three times, beat him, tied him up, and threw him in an icy river, where he finally died from drowning

38. By early 1917, citizens were rioting across Russia, demanding an end the monarchy and an end to Russia’s involvement in World War I

39. In March, Czar Nicholas II abdicated the throne and the Duma created a Provisional (temporary) government

40. Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia; he led the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution in November 1917

41. Lenin’s message of “peace, land, and bread” helped him gain popularity among the Russian people Bolshevik Red Guards seized control of the provisional government and declared themselves the new government leaders of Russia

42. The Bolsheviks arrested and executed the Romanovs, which ended 300 years of rule by czars in Russia

43. After the success of the Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin announced major reforms for Russia Lenin ordered all farmland to be distributed among the peasants Lenin gave control of the factories to the workers

44. Lenin signed a truce with Germany and gave up huge territories in order to get Russia out of the war

45. The Russian Revolution led to a civil war between the Bolshevik Red Army and the White Army (various people who wanted a either a new czar or democracy or land returned to them)

46. Britain, France, and the USA supported the White Army to stop the spread of Bolshevism Tens of millions of people were killed in the bloody Russian Civil War

47. After three years of fighting, the Red Army won and Lenin became the unquestioned leader of Russia

48. In 1922, Lenin renamed Russia the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Lenin created the Communist Party, which ruled the Soviet Union as a dictatorship

49. Lenin and his followers never forgot the interference by the USA, which helped set the stage for the Cold War years later