Post on 23-Feb-2016
description
The Russian RevolutionWar and Discontent
Nicholas II was an autocratic rulerRussia not prepared for warInfluence of Rasputin
The March RevolutionProblems in PetrogradMarch of the women, March 8, 1917Calls for a general strikeSoldiers join the marchersProvisional Government takes control• Alexander Kerensky (1881-1970)• Tried to carry on the war• Soviets sprang up
Bolsheviks under the leadership of Vladimir Ulianov, 1870-1924• Sent back to Russia in a sealed train by the Germans• “Peace, land and bread”
Map 25.4: The Russian Revolution
Russian Revolution (cont)The Bolshevik Revolution
Bolsheviks control Petrograd and Moscow sovietsCollapse of Provisional Government, November 6-7, 1917Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 3, 1918
Civil WarBolshevik (Red) army and Anti-Bolshevik (White) armyMurder of the Tsar and his family (July 16, 1918)Disunity among the white armyCommunists and “War communism”Invasion of allied troops19121: Communists victory
The1905
Russian Revolutio
n
Nicholas II: The Last Romanov Tsar
[r. 1894-1917]
The Tsar & His Family
Hemophilia & the Tsarevich
Nicholas II & His Uncle, George V
Causes
1. Early 20c:
Russian Social
Hierarchy
2. First Stages of Industrialization
An Early Russian Factory
3. Weak Economy
1905 Russian Rubles
4. Extensive Foreign Investments &
Influence
Building the Trans-Siberian RR[Economic benefits only in a few
regions.]
5. Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905]
The “Yellow Peril”
Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905]
Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905]
Russian & Japanese Soldiers
Russia Is Humiliated
Treaty of Portsmouth [NH] - 1905
President Theodore Roosevelt
Acts as the Peacemake
r
[He gets the Nobel
Peace Prize for his
efforts.]
6. Unrest Among the Peasants & Urban
Working PoorFather Georgi Gapon:
Leader of the People OR
Police Informer?
Bloody SundayJanuary 22, 1905
The Czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg
The Revolutio
n Spreads
Russian Cossacks Slaughter The People in
Odessa
Anti-Jewish Attacks
7. The Battleship Potemkin Mutiny [June,
1905]
Results
1. The Tsar’s October Manifesto
October 30, 1905
2. The Opening of the Duma:
Possible Reforms?
1906 The first two tries were too
radical. The third duma was elected
by the richest people in Russia in 1907.
The Russian Constitution of 1906 Known as the Fundamental Laws
[April 23, 1906]. The autocracy of the Russian Tsar was
declared. The Tsar was supreme over the law,
the church, and the Duma. It confirmed the basic human rights
granted by the October Manifesto, BUT made them subordinate to the supremacy of the law.
3. Jewish Refugees Come to America in
1906
4. The Path to
October, 1917
Why did the 1905 Revolution Fail?
The Russian Revolution
Post 1905
Revolution of 1917
Our objectives are:• You will be able to understand why the events of
World War I hastened the outbreak of the Russian Revolution
• What was the ultimate fate of the Russian Royal Family—judge for yourself if they deserved their fate.
• In what ways did Lenin solve the erratic political situation that existed in Russia during the Revolution’s early months?
• You will be able to understand the deeper meaning of the slogan “PEACE, LAND, and BREAD.”
We have already learned
that Marx published
his Communist Manifesto
in 1848.
Marx watched the events in Paris 1871 and the commune with
interest. The commune in Paris did not succeed.
But the idea that revolution was needed to overthrow governments
remained a key point of Marxist doctrine.
Marxism should have been just another ‘ism
of the 1800’s.
But Marxism found fertile ground in the Russian state.
A country plagued by deep rooted
societal, social and political difficulties.
Russia was ripe for revolution:
• A previous history of oppression• A rising sense of Pan-Slavism:
Russia has a unique destiny• Local conflicts across the vast
Russian empire.
A brief review:• Alexander II
freed the serfs.
• Alexander was assassinated by the “Peoples Will”
• His son, Alexander III is reactionary: drives revolutionaries and terrorists into exile.
We have already learned that war broke out in August 1914 after Russia mobilized
to protect Serbian interest.
Peasants and ordinary workers were sent to fight the Germans. Terrible disasters at Tannenberg and the Mausaurian Lakes, in the first month of
the war, destroyed the Russian soldier’s confidence…
The Germans moved deep into Russia territory, and by 1915, over 2 million
Russian soldiers had been killed, wounded, or captured.
The Middle class offered support to the government. Business groups
put factories into maximum production.
But life at court was bizarre…the Tsarina Alexandra relied on Rasputin
to treat her hemophiliac son,
Alexei.
All groups complained about the Tsar, the court, and while the nation was at war, the
system seemed hopelessly “out of it.”
The Dumas reassembled in November 1916, and loudly protested conditions. The leader of the
Dumas shouted out about the sinister influence of Rasputin.
In December 1916, Rasputin
was assassinated
by Prince Yssapov and
others…
The Tsar had gone to the
front to command
the troops…
While in St. Petersburg, in March 1917, food riots broke
out.
Crowds shouted “Down with the Tsar.” And, most important, the imperial troops refused
to fire on the rioters.
Mutiny and insubordination spread throughout the city…
Middle class leaders demanded that a new ministry be formed with
approval of the Dumas.
Tsar Nicolas retaliated by disbanding the Duma…the city of St. Petersburg split into
two factions—those who supported the Dumas…
And the other was the Petrograd Soviet, representing revolutionary
forces.
In March, 1917, the Duma’s committee set up a Provisional
Government.
The Tsar tried to return from the
front, but his train was
turned back by troops.
Nicolas abdicated the throne.
He also abdicated the throne for his heir, the hemophiliac Alexei, and his
brother, Michael, also refused the throne.
On March 17, 1917, Russia
became a republic, and the 300 year
old Romanov Dynasty came to
and end. The Royal Family was held at their residence, then a year later, they were assassinated at Ekaterinburg, Siberia.
The Provisional Government immediately promised elections by
universal male suffrage
They also arranged to prepare a constitution for the new regime. Then, it
tried to continue the war against Germany…
In July 1917, a new offensive was mounted against the Germans---
but the Germans struck back, hard.
Things fell apart: the armies at the front “melted away” and made their way home to make sure they
got their share of this land redistribution.
The Provincial Government also promised wholesale re-distribution
of land to the peasants.
The Petrograd
Soviet opposed the war,
and called for its
immediate end.
Much of the intelligentsia that is kicked out of Russia will come back with revolutionary ideas. Many “underground” groups will
form.
One of the Intelligentsia was Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)
Lenin’s brother had
been executed as an auxiliary member of the plot to
assassinate Alexander III.
Because of this, Lenin was
unable to attend law school. He
eventually engaged in
revolutionary activities and was sent to
Europe. He did not return until 1917—the year of the Russian
Revolution
So what did Lenin believe in?
• that the rich abused the poor • that anybody making a profit was
abusing everybody else • that everybody was equal
• wanted a government that truly represented the people
• wanted the overthrow of the Russian government that kept the huge majority of Russian people in
misery
Vladimir Lenin arrived in Petrograd on April 3, 1917 aboard a sealed train that had taken
him from Switzerland through Germany. At the Finland Station he issued a speech denouncing both
positions and demanding the
elimination of dual power by the transfer of "all power to the
soviets."
Now, in July 1917, there was a rebellion against the Provisional
Government by some soldiers and sailors.
Lenin was blamed for this, and he had to “temporarily” flee to
Finland. He would return just a few months later and this time, he
would take control of the city.
Now, in July 1917, there was a rebellion against the Provisional
Government by some soldiers and sailors.
Lenin was blamed for this, and he had to “temporarily” flee to
Finland. He would return just a few months later and this time, he
would take control of the city.
The Provisional
Government tried to
maintain popular
support by naming
Alexander Kerensky as
its head.
Now, a military commander,
General Kornilov, who was defeated
in his efforts to overthrow the government. However, the
Bolsheviks continued to press for control of the
government.
Kerensky lost support. The food situation worsened. The war front
was now in a state of collapse.
WHO WAS GOING TO TAKE POWER?
Lenin proposed to end the war, redistribute land, and provide work by transferring ownership in factories to the workers
themselves.
Lenin promised PEACE, LAND and BREAD
This slogan was repeated in pamphlets
dispersed throughout
the city.
Most of the intelligentsia yearned for an over throw of the
government, so they could skip the problems of Capitalist
Industrial Europe.
Lenin raised the cry “All
power to the Soviets” to
crush Kerensky. Kerensky
struggled to control the Provisional
Government.
Lenin judged his hour had come. He was backed up by Trotsky and Stalin,
both emerging leaders in the Bolshevik party.
Lenin returned in October, inspiring an armed revolution with the slogan "All Power
to the Soviets!" against the Provisional Government. His ideas which
called for a new form of government based on workers' councils, or soviets. In this
work he also claimed that ordinary workers should, in principle, be capable of running a
factory or government. He emphasized, though, that to be able to govern the state,
a worker should "learn communism." He furthermore insisted that a member of the government should be paid no more than
the salary of an average worker
Troops around St. Petersburg (Petrograd) voted to support the
Soviets in their takeover…
On the night of November 6-7th, 1917, the Bolsheviks took
over the…• Telephone exchanges
(communication)• Railway stations• Electric power stations• A warship turned its guns on the
Winter Palace where Kerensky’s government sat.
The Soviets now proclaimed that they were the new
government. the Council of People’s Commissars.
• Lenin was the head• Trotsky was in charge of foreign
affairs• Stalin was in charge of domestic
affairs among the various Russian states.
• Kerensky fled to the U.S. and died in 1970!
Lenin introduced two resolutions:
• To negotiate a just democratic peace
• To abolish all landlord property immediately and without compensation.
• The vast landlord estates were now given to peasants to provide a base of support for the Bolsheviks
Just a side note: This November revolution is actually called the October revolution, or October
1917, because the Julian calendar was used in Russia until 1918—and the Julian calendar was a month behind the Gregorian
calendar.
The long awaited constituent assembly met in January 1918,
after 36 million persons had voted for it. But, when the votes were
counted:
• 9 million had voted for the Bolsheviks
• 21 million had voted for Kerensky• Lenin broke up the assembly by
having armed sailors surround it.
Thus, Lenin did not favor majority rule. He decided that the
Bolsheviks would make the decisions. Two months later, the
Bolsheviks named themselves the Communist party.
The Russian Revolution would now continue with a Civil War between those that supported the Tsar (the whites) and those that supported
the Communists (the Reds). It took years before Russia was
stable.
Stay tuned…
Russia began to pass through the industrial revolution during this
agitated time…but most of the money came from Europe.
They wanted industrializatio
n—but industries
owned by the state, and not by some rich smug factory owner who
exploited his workers.