The Russian Revolution

(Part 1)“The End of the Romanovs ”

Russian Society prior to 1900

• Russia was an aristocracy.• Most people were peasants.• Its government was ruled by a

Tsar (emperor).• Russia was unindustrialized.

Russian Empire in 1900

Notable Romanov Tsars

• Tsar Ivan the Terrible (1533--1584)

• Ruled Russia with terror.

Notable Romanovs

• Tsar Peter the Great (1688—1725)

• Builds a new capital (St. Petersburg)

• Culturalizes Russia• Builds a navy

Notable Romanovs

• Tsar Alexander II (1855—1881)

• He made many reforms including allowing serfs (peasants) to own their own land.

• Landowners were upset by this.

• They assassinated him.

Notable Romanovs

Tsar Nicholas II (1894—1918)

Tsar Nicholas II

• Last Tsar of Russia• Married Alexandra,

granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

• They had 5 children; four girls and a hemophiliac boy, Alexis, the youngest child and heir to the throne.

Tsar Nicholas II• Nicholas inherited a throne

that was too large to rule.• 6 out of 10 Russians were

ruled as foreigners.• For example: peoples like

the Poles and Ukraines were conquered by Tsars in the past and forced to accept Russian rule, even though they had their own language and customs.

Tsar Nicholas II

• Nicholas never expected to become Tsar.

• “The gentle, but uneducated Emperor…is weak on every point except his own autocracy.”

Sir Arthur Nicholson, British Ambassador to

Russia

Tsar Nicholas II• As such, Nicholas was afraid

of anyone who questioned his authority.

• Since watching his grandfather be assassinated by the working class, he was determined to keep unruly people in their proper position.

• He created a secret police known as the Okhrana. Its officers were known as Cossacks.

Tsar Nicholas II• Hired and fired people at

will.• Siberia• Though peasants could

own land, it was owned in common, meaning communities gave out the land to the most deserving pesants.

Tsar Nicholas II• Russia was lagging behind in

industrialization.• In 1900, a million people

moved to the capital, St. Petersburg, looking for work in factories. There was little to be found, and those that could find it suffered under poor conditions.

• Nothing could be done because trade unions were outlawed.

Opponents of the Tsar

The Socialist Revolutionary Party gained support from the peasants who had fallen behind in their land payments.

The Social Democratic Party• They followed the teachings

of Karl Marx in a manuscript titled the Communist Manifesto.

• In it, Marx predicted there would be a violent revolution in which the working class would unite and overthrow their wealthy rulers and would share the wealth amongst themselves.

Karl Marx

The Communist Manifesto

Communism

• Pure communism is a system in which people work according to their abilities and are paid according to their needs by the government, which controls all means of production.

Bolsheviks

• The S.D.P. was split into two groups:– The more conservativeMensheviks.– The more radical

Bolsheviks.• The Bolsheviks were led

by a charismatic man, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.

1904 Russo-Japanese War

• In 1904, Russia fought Japan in the Russo-Japanese War.

• Tsar Nicholas II sent 300 warships 2300 km around the world to fight this war.

• 2/3 of the navy was destroyed.

January 22, 1905“Bloody Sunday”

• On this date, 200 000 people marched to the Tsar’s palace in St. Petersburg with a petition for better working and living conditions, and an end to the war with Japan which was costing 1000’s of lives.

January 22, 1905“Bloody Sunday”

• They were led by a priest, Father Gapon.

• It was a planned peaceful protest.

• When the protestors reached the palace, soldiers and police tried to stop them. Scuffles broke out and the soldiers opened fire.

• 1000 were killed, and thousands more wounded.

• The Tsar was not in his palace.