Aftermath of the Russian Revolution1917-1922

Tsar Nicholas II Rasputin Lenin

World War I: “The Last Straw”

Corrupt military leadership.

Average peasant had very little invested in the War!

Poorly supplied troops.

Result: chaos and disintegration of the Russian Army.

Spreading discontent.

The Two Revolutions of 1917

The March Revolution (March 12)

The November Revolution (November 6)

Led by Vladamir Lenin and the Bolsheviks.

“Rasputin”

Performed by: Boney M, a West German disco group

There lived a certain man in Russia long agoHe was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glowMost people looked at him with terror and with fearBut to Moscow chicks he was such a lovely dearHe could preach the bible like a preacherFull of ecstasy and fireBut he also was the kind of teacherWomen would desire

Rah Rah RasputinLover of the Russian queenThere was a cat that really was goneRah Rah RasputinRussia's greatest love machineIt was a shame how he carried on

He ruled the Russian land and never mind the czarBut the kasachok he danced really wunderbarIn all affairs of state he was the man to pleaseBut he was real great when he had a girl to squeezeFor the queen he was no wheeler dealerThough she'd heard the things he'd doneShe believed he was a holy healerWho would heal her son

Rah Rah RasputinLover of the Russian queenThere was a cat that really was goneRah Rah RasputinRussia's greatest love machineIt was a shame how he carried on

But when his drinking and lusting and his hungerFor power became known to more and more peopleThe demands to do something about this outrageousMan became louder and louder.

This man's just got to go! declared his enemiesBut the ladies begged "Don't you try to do it, pleaseNo doubt this Rasputin had lots of hidden charmsThough he was a brute they just fell into his armsThen one night some men of higher standingSet a trap, they're not to blame"Come to visit us" they kept demandingAnd he really came

Rah Rah RasputinLover of the Russian queenThey put some poison into his wineRah Rah RasputinRussia's greatest love machineHe drank it all and he said "I feel fine"

Rah Rah RasputinLover of the Russian queenThey didn't quit, they wanted his headRah Rah RasputinRussia's greatest love machineAnd so they shot him till he was deadOh, those Russians...

The March Revolution

Origins: Food riots and strikes

Duma declared itself a Provisional “temporary” Government on March12th

Tsar abdicated on March 17th

Creation of the Provisional

Government

Vladimir Lenin

Failure of the provisional government

Workers refused to work and soldiers refused to fight

Lenin was committed to class struggle and revolution

Lenin Steps In

A tremendously charismatic personality

Promised “Peace, Land, Bread”

“All Power to the Soviets”

Bolshevik party membership exploded

Consolidated Bolshevik power

The November Revolution

The events of November 6

All private property of wealthy was abolished and divided among the peasantry

Revolutionary army created: “Red Army”

Bolshevik Party renamed Communist Party in March of 1918

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: March 1918

Thought this humiliating treaty would be nullified since all of the west was on the verge of revolution.

Communist leaders needed all their energy to defeat the enemies at home!

The Civil War:(1917-1920)

Ending WWI led to a terrible Civil War as the Bolsheviks (Reds) fought against those who wanted to take power away from them (Whites).

The Whites included many different groups who were not united in their fight. This allowed the Reds to win by 1922. Roughly 200,000 people were killed in the Civil War.

The Allied Powers assisted the Whites against the Reds, hoping to bring Russia back into the war. British, Japanese, French, and American troops fought against the Red Army. This action was not forgotten in Russia and later was a cause of hostility.

Russian political cartoon showing the feeling that

the White Army (the dogs) are being led by the

Western powers. (Uncle Sam and the other powers

holding the leashes.)

Death of the Tsar

Tsar Nicholas II and his family has been held captive near the city of Ekaterinburg.

On July 17, 1918, as the White Army approached the city, the Tsar and his entire family were executed by a firing squad to prevent them from falling into the protective hands of the Whites.

His son Alexei was only 13 when they shot him. They also shot the family doctor, maid, cook, valet, and dog (such hatred of the Romanovs).

Tsar Nicholas II

and his family.

Alexei

War Communism: 1918-1921

During the Civil War Lenin instituted war communism: Government controls of the

economy and society designed to help the Bolsheviks win the war.

War Communism:Paid workers in needed

supplies rather than wages.Confiscated food from

farmers and redistributed it to cities. Farmers only allowed a subsistence level of food.

Nationalized industry - the government took control and managed all factories and railroads. Private ownership was ended in these cases.

“Have You Signed Up As a

Volunteer?”

The Red Terror

The Red Terror was the Bolshevik program to eliminate all political enemies in the USSR.

Among the groups who were victims of the Red Terror:Military deserters.Striking workers.Members of rival political

parties.Kulaks (wealthier

peasants who did not want to give up their harvest)

ClergyCossacks (ethnic groups in

Southern Russia and Ukraine)

The Red Terror was carried out by the secret police, known as the Cheka.

The USSRAfter victory in the Civil War, Lenin established a new nation

known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR) It is also commonly called the Soviet Union.The capital of the USSR was moved to Moscow from St.

Petersburg to locate it closer to the center of the nation.

Today the USSR is:1)Russia2)Estonia3)Latvia4)Lithuania5)Belarus6)Moldova7)Ukraine8)Georgia9)Armenia10)Azerbaijan11)Kazakhstan12)Kyrgyzstan13)Turkmenistan14)Tajikistan15)Uzbekistan

Death of Lenin

Lenin suffered 3 strokes between 1922-23 which left him bed ridden and unable to speak.

Lenin died January 1924 at the age of 53. Despite the objection of his wife, his body was embalmed and has been displayed to the public in a mausoleum in Moscow to this day.

The city of St.Petersburg was renamed Leningrad in his honor until the break up of the USSR in 1990. Lenin’s Last Photo in

1923?

The family of Lenin's embalmers states that the corpse is real and requires daily work to moisturize the features and inject preservatives under the clothes. Lenin's tomb is kept at a temperature of 16 °C (61 °F).

Debate continues as to what to do with Lenin's body. In January 2011, United Russia party created a website with voting on a question whether Lenin's body should be buried.

The Mausoleum is open every day from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, except Mondays and Fridays. Visitors still wait in long lines to see Lenin's body, for which entrance is free of charge. Visitors are required to show respect while in the tomb; photography and videotaping inside the mausoleum are forbidden, as are talking, smoking, keeping hands in pockets, or wearing hats (if male). The mausoleum is still heavily guarded.

Joseph Stalin

Stalin was less important during the revolution but gained power as events moved forward.

Stalin was an excellent administrator and had friends in many different areas of the government who owed him favors.

Stalin believed in the value of acting practically to achieve his goals. Like Lenin, Stalin’s name

was an alias. It means “steel”. His birth name was

Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughasvili

USSR Under Lenin: Social Policy

In 1920 Lenin established laws for free education. Schools were instructed to teach Marxist beliefs to students.

Women received expanded rights in the USSR. Abortion was legalized and divorce became easier. Even titles such as Miss and Mr. were replaced by a gender neutral “comrade”.

State policy was atheism and church property was taken, clergy executed, and religion mocked. Nonetheless, many still secretly practiced their faith.

Family life was changed as civil marriages replaced religious. Children of unwed mother received protections they did not previously have.

However, as the Civil War left 7 million homeless children in the USSR, the need for stronger family ties was seen and policy became more traditional.

Inheritance laws, which were initially abolished by Lenin, were gradually re-established.

Stalin would once again outlaw abortion, make divorce more difficult, and pay women for having large families in response to population in the USSR decreasing in the 1930s.

Women continued to maintain equal status of men and even served in combat roles during World War II, unlike all the other major participants.