The Russian Revolution Background Causes of Revolution Autocratic

The Russian Revolution

Background Causes of Revolution �Autocratic rule – Czar has total power �Strict censorship �Secret police �Religious persecution �Pogroms against Jews etc. �Protest/Revolutionary movements grow

Background Causes of Revolution �Rapid industrialization creates miserable working conditions �Widespread poverty & hunger �Defeat in Russo-Japanese War �Massive losses in WWI - more than 4 million Russians killed, wounded or taken prisoner.

Czar Nicholas II

Czar Nicholas II �Last of the Romanov Dynasty �Family had ruled for over 300 years �Unpopular leader during World War I �Heavy losses �Poorly equipped army �Bad strategy �Starving citizens �Lack of industry

Reliance on Rasputin �A mystic healer that “saved” the Czar’s only son �The people felt that the ruling family relied on Rasputin for guidance �In order to save the monarchy, two relatives of the Czar killed Rasputin December, 1916 �Did not solve the monarchy’s problems

Protests in Russia �The March Revolution (1917) �“Down with the Czar” �Demanded food and for the Czar to end the Russian involvement in WWI �The Czar’s troops joined the protestors �Involvement in the war continued

The Czar steps down 3/15/1917 �The Provisional Government took over Russia (led by Alexander Kerensky) �Did not pull Russia out of the war �Peoples lives get worse �Provisional Govt. removed within 1 year �Radical revolutionaries form “Soviets” -local councils of workers, peasants & soldiers

Revolutionary Ideas �Marxists – follow ideas of Karl Marx �Working class should rule the country �Workers should unite and overthrow the Czar �Form dictatorship of workers or proletariat �More radical Marxist’s are called Bolshevik’s

Vladimir Lenin �Leader of the Bolsheviks �Exiled to Germany in early 1900 s �“Peace, Land, and Bread” �During WWI Germany sneaks him back to Russia �Why would Germany arrange for Lenin to return to Russia?

Bolsheviks take over the government �Bolsheviks storm Winter Palace in Petrograd �Arrest leaders of Provisional Government �Farms & Factories are given to workers �Signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ending the war with Germany �Treaty is harsh to Russia �Lost western lands and 1/3 of its population

Civil War in Russia �Reds vs. Whites �Whites support the Czar or democracy �Reds are Bolsheviks �Reds political leader is Lenin �Reds military leader Leon Trotsky �US & other western countries send troops to help Whites

Civil War in Russia �The Reds were victorious �Total control over the country �Removed all opposition �Murdered the Czar and his entire family �Over 14 million people die

Bolshevik Reforms �All Russian banks were nationalized. �Private bank accounts were confiscated. �The Church's properties were seized. �All foreign debts were repudiated. �Control of factories was given to the soviets. �Wages fixed at higher rates than during the war, & a shorter, 8 -hour working day was introduced.

Russia becomes the Soviet Union �Bolsheviks rename themselves Communists (1917) �Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) (1922) �Government controls all land property �Called for a world wide revolution �Lenin Starts the his NEP (New Economic Policy) to bring Russia back to its postwar economic levels (1921)

Russia becomes the Soviet Union �Lenin has stroke 1922, dies in 1924 �Competition for new leader between Leon Trotsky & Josef Stalin �By 1928 Stalin is in control of Communist Party �Trotsky exiled in 1929 then assassinated in 1940