III. The Russian Revolution One of the most important consequences of World War I was the Russian...

III. The Russian Revolution

•One of the most important consequences of World War I was the Russian Revolution of 1917

A. The Roots of Revolution

•The Russian Tsars (emperors) ruled as autocrats (absolute rulers)•They used secret police and strict censorship, new ideas were repressed.•Most Russians were illiterate serfs who lived in poverty.

A. The Roots of Revolution

•Small groups of nobles owned thousands of serfs and enjoyed vast wealth•Social conditions kept the country economically under-developed.

Emancipation of the Serfs

•Crimean War, war fought between Russian and the Ottoman Empire between 1854-1856

•England and France support Turkey and Russia loses the war


•Tsar Alexander II listened to reformers and emancipated (liberated) the serfs (peasants) in 1861


•Tsar Alexander II was later assassinated which put an end to all attempts at reform

•Freed serfs remained landless peasants, paying rents to their former owners

“Autocracy, Nationality and Orthodoxy”

•Autocracy, single ruler “Tsar”

•Nationality, “Russian”

•Orthodoxy, “Russian Orthodox Church”

•Russification, forcing non-Russian people such as Finns, and Poles to adopt Russian language and culture

“Autocracy, Nationality and Orthodoxy”

•Pogroms (officially encouraged persecutions against Jews)

Prelude to the Revolution

•Russian empire stretched from Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean

•Russia remained backwards

•Peasants and factor workers lived in conditions of terrible poverty

B. Prelude to the Revolution

•Russian empire stretched from Eastern Europe to the Pacific Ocean

•Russia remained backwards

•Peasants and factor workers lived in conditions of terrible poverty

The Revolution of 1905

•Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

•“Bloody Sunday”, troops of the Tsar trampled on unarmed demonstrators in St. Petersburg in 1905

•Revolutions broke out across the country


•Peasants seized lands, workers engaged in demonstrations and general strikes

•Tsar Nicolas II finally granted limited reforms, creating an elected legislature known as the Duma

Nicholas II (the last Nicholas II (the last Czar)Czar)

C. The Russian Revolution of 1917

•Russia was not prepared for war

•By 1914, Nicholas II had brought Russia into the war

•Poorly trained and badly equipped Russian soldiers suffered disastrous defeats


•Troops were even sent into battle without ammunition

•Mounting defeats led to discontent in the army

•Russian industries were incapable of producing needed weapons and supplies


•On the home front, food supplies were dangerously low

The “February Revolution” (March 1917)

•In 1917, worker-led food riots broke out in cities all across Russia

•Soldiers refused to fire on striking workers

•Nicholas II was powerless to govern the nation

•TEKS History 10(D) Identify the causes of the February (March) and October (November) revolutions of 1917 in Russia, their effects on the outcome of World War I, and the Bolshevik establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The “February Revolution” (March 1917)

•Nicholas II gave of the throne (abdicated) and the leaders of the Duma declared Russia a republic

•The provisional government failed to win support of the people


The “October Revolution” (November 1917)

•Vladimir Lenin was a follower of Karl Marx

•Living in exile, the Germans sent him back to Russia, hoping he would cause unrest in Russia


http://www.fbuch.com/leon.htm

Lenin takes Lenin takes overover


•Lenin’s supporters, known as the Bolsheviks, promised “Peace, Bread, and Land” to Russian peasants

•They seized power by force in Nov. 1917



•The Bolsheviks became the Communists

•Russia became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (U.S.S.R.) or Soviet Union


D. The Soviet Union Under Lenin: 1917-1924

•The Communist believed a world wide communist revolution was about to begin

•Lenin believed that a small group of dedicated party members must lead the country along the path to Communist equality

D. The Soviet Union Under Lenin: 1917-1924

•Lenin argued that after the revolution, a “temporary dictatorship” of party leaders was needed because the workers, brought up in capitalist society, could not be trusted to know their own true interests

The Russian Civil War (1919-1921)

•Once in power the Communist immediately withdrew from the war against Germany

•Transferred millions of acres of land to the poorer peasants


•Workers were organized to control and operate factories and all industries were nationalized (taken over by the government)


•A civil war followed between the “Reds” and “Whites”

•The “Reds” or communists supported Lenin’s program

•The “Whites” or anticommunist wished to return to the rule of the Tsar


•The U.S. intervened sending troops to help the “Whites”

•The Red Army enjoyed greater support from peasants and workers

•Lenin had the Nicholas and his family executed in cold blood


•After two years of fighting, the Reds defeated the Whites

•Russia had become the world’s first Communist country

Lenin’s New Economic Policy

•Russia’s economy was in shambles

•By 1920, peasants were no longer growing enough food, since they were afraid it would be seized by the government

•By 1921, a severe famine hit Russia


•Lenin concluded that the Communist policies must be temporarily put aside to avoid disaster

•Lenin wanted to keep the peasants satisfied and keep the Bolsheviks in power


•In 1921, Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy or “NEP” in which some private ownership was permitted in small-scale manufacturing and agriculture

•The government continued to control major industries


•The N.E.P. succeeded slowly increasing production

•Lenin died in 1924

•Many thought Leon Trotsky, leader of the Red Army would succeed him

•Joseph Stalin managed to gain control

Territory given to Germany

http://www.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/photos/bin13/imag1287.jpg

8,500,000 Battlefield Deaths

8,500,000 Battlefield Deaths

http://raven.cc.ukans.edu/~kansite/ww_one/photos/bin09/imag0840.jpg

5-13,000,000 Civilian Dead

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