Chapter 30, Section 1

The Russian Revolution was like a firecracker with a very long fuse. The explosion came in 1917, yet the fuse had been burning for nearly a century. The cruel, oppressive rule of most 19th-century czars caused widespread social unrest for decades. Army officers revolted in 1825. Secret revolutionary groups plotted to overthrow the government.

In 1881, revolutionaries angry over the slow pace of political change assassinated the reform-minded czar, Alexander II. Russia was heading toward a full-scale revolution.

In 1881, Alexander III becomes czar and ends the reforms of his father, Alexander II.

Alexander III institutes autocratic rule, suppressing all opposition and decent.

Government censors written criticism; secret police monitor schools

Non-Russians living in Russia are treated harshly

Jews become target of government backed pogroms (organized persecutions)

Alexander III encourages Jewish emigration to the United States during this time. The musical Fiddler on the Roof is set in this era.

Russian Cossacks Russian Cossacks Slaughter The People in Slaughter The People in

OdessaOdessa

Anti-Jewish Attacks

In 1894, Nicholas II becomes czar and continues autocratic ways

The Tsar & His FamilyThe Tsar & His Family

Hemophilia & the Hemophilia & the TsarevichTsarevich

Number of factories doubles between 1863 and 1900, but Russia still lags behind other European countries.

In late 1800s, new plan boosts steel production and a major railway begins

First Stages of First Stages of IndustrializationIndustrialization

An Early Russian Factory

Extensive Foreign Investments & Extensive Foreign Investments & InfluenceInfluence

Building the Trans-Siberian RR[Economic benefits only in a few

regions.]

Industrialization breeds discontent over working conditions and wages.

Growing popularity of Marxist idea that proletariat (workers) will rule

Bolsheviks—Marxists who favor revolution by a small committed group

Lenin—Bolshevik leader—an excellent organizer and inspiring leader

Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War in the early 1900s causes unrest in Russia.

200,000 workers march on the czar’s palace to demand reforms

The army fires into the crowd, killing many

Massacre leads to widespread unrest; Nicholas if forced to make reforms

Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of 1905

The Duma, Russia’s first parliament, meets in 1906

Czar is unwilling to share power, dissolves the Duma after only 10 weeks

Heavy losses in World War I reveal government’s weakness

Nicholas goes to war front; Czarina Alexandra runs government in his absence

Czarina falls under the influence of Rasputin—a mysterious “holy man”—who she believes has the power to heal her son.

Nobles fear Rasputin’s influence and murder him

Army losing effectiveness; people at home are hungry and unhappy

In March 1917, strikes expand; soldiers refuse to fire on workers.

Most of the tension is caused by Nicholas II personally taking command of the military in World War I, and the war going so badly.

March Revolution—protests become uprising; Nicholas abdicates throne

Duma establishes provisional, or temporary government

Soviets—committees of Socialist revolutionaries—control many cities

In April 1917, Germans aid Lenin in returning from exile to Russia (pictured in disguise with his goatee shaved and wearing a wig).

In November 1917, workers take control of the government

Lenin gives land to peasants, puts workers in control of factories

Bolsheviks sign treaty with Germany; Russia pulls out of World War I

War revealed the ineptitude and arrogance of the country’s aristocratic elite

Corrupt military leadership had contempt for ordinary Russian people

Average peasants had very little invested in the War

ill-trained, ineffective officers, poorly equipped (Russ. was not ready for ind. war) – the result was mass desertions and 2 million casualties by 1915

Result: Chaos and Disintegration of the Russian Army

Lenin’s 1st task was to get Russia out of the war so he could concentrate on internal reform…

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk negotiated with the Germans, giving them much Russian territory, population, and resources

Civil War followed, 1917-1920“Reds” versus “Whites”

Complete breakdown of Russian economy and society

Civil War between Bolsheviks’ Red Army and loosely allied White Army

Red Army wins three-year war that leaves 14 million dead

“Peace, Bread, and Land”

1. March 1917 – Provisional Government

replaces Czar2. November 1917 – Bolsheviks Replace

Provisional Government3. Lenin pulls Russia

out of WWI

1923 – New constitution created a federal system of socialist republics

USSR becomes the first Communist nationCapital is moved to MoscowAuthoritarian RuleCreated a new political, economic and

cultural structure without internal challenge

Supported socialist movements around the world

Russian and French Revolutions are similar—both attempt to remake society and use violence against citizens who resist these changes.

In March 1921, Lenin launches New Economic Policy; has some capitalism

NEP and peace restore economy shattered by war and revolution

By 1928, Russia’s farms and factories are producing again

Lenin creates self-governing republics under national government

In 1922, country renamed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.)

Communist Party—new name taken by Bolsheviks from the writings of Marx

Trotsky and Stalin compete to replace Lenin after Lenin’s death

Joseph Stalin—cold, hard Communist Party general secretary in 1922

Leon Trotsky

Joseph Stalin

Stalin gains power from 1922 to 1927

Lenin dies in 1924Stalin gains

complete power in 1928; Trotsky is forced into exile.

Trotsky is murdered in Mexico City in 1940 by an NKVD agent.

Room where Trotsky was murdered (above); Trotsky’s murderer, NKVD agent, Romón Mercader (right).