Modern World HistoryAssign. #2-3

Chapter 14, Section 1“Revolutions in Russia”

Czar Alexander III (1881-1894)

• Clung to principles of autocracy (one person rule or absolute monarchy)

• Strict censorship on written materials

• Secret police watched out for dissent (especially in teachers and professors)

• Political prisoners sent to Siberia

• Oppressed other national groups in order to impose Russian culture

Russian Pogroms (#2)• Pogroms – wave of

organized violence against Jews

• Police and soldiers stood by as Russian citizens looted and destroyed Jewish homes, stores, and synagogues

Czar Nicholas II (1894-1917)

• He continued the tradition of autocratic rule

• Though Russia developed more factories it still lagged far behind western Europe

• Nicholas raised taxes to finance the buildup of Russian industries, and sought foreign investors

• Russia became the 4th largest producer of steel

• Began the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway connecting European Russia in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east

Russian Industrialization

• Growth of factories brought problems of grueling working conditions, miserably low wages, and child labor

• Russia outlawed unions• Workers turned to

political parties to help them improve their conditions

• Several revolutionary groups formed and some believed in the ideas of Karl Marx

Bolsheviks (#4) • Marxist revolutionaries believed that the industrial class of workers should overthrow the czar and create a “dictatorship of the proletariat” (meaning the workers would rule the country not the czar or landholding nobles)

• Russian Marxist split into two groups:– Mensheviks (moderate)– Bolsheviks (radical)

• Bolsheviks were a small number of committed revolutionaries who were willing to sacrifice everything

• Their leader was Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who was forced to flee to western Europe in the early 1900s to avoid arrest

Russo-Japanese War (#5)

• Both Japan and Russia wanted control of Manchuria in northern China

• Japan surprise attacked Russian ships off the coast of Manchuria in 1904 starting the Russo-Japanese War

• Japan drove Russian troops out of Korea and destroyed the Russian fleet

• News of the repeated Russian losses sparked unrest at home and led to a revolt in the midst of the war

Bloody Sunday (#6)• 200,000 workers and their families approached the czar’s

Winter Palace in January of 1905• They brought a petition for better working conditions,

more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature• Nicholas II’s generals ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd

(over 1,000 wounded, hundreds were killed)

Creation of the Duma (#7)

• After Bloody Sunday strikes and violence swept across the country

• Nicholas II promised the creation of the Duma (Russia’s first parliament)

• The Duma met in May 1906• It was dominated by moderates

who wanted a limited constitutional monarchy like the one in Great Britain

• Nicholas II didn’t want to share power, so he shut it down 10 weeks later

• The people became angry and continued to desire reforms

Czar Nicholas II giving a speech from his throne

on the occasion of the opening of the Duma.

Impact of WWI on Czar’s Power (#8)

• Russia was unprepared to handle the military and economic costs of the war

• Weak generals and poorly trained troops were no match for the German army

• In the first year of the war Russia suffered defeat after defeat and massive numbers of casualties

• This created even more civil unrest at home and questioning of the czar’s leadership

March Revolution (#9 & #10)

• People were upset about high inflation, shortage of food and supplies, called for an end to the war

• Local strikes and protests turned into a general uprising

• Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne (3 centuries of czarist rule came to an end)

• The leaders of the Duma established a provisional government led by Alexander Kerensky

• The Provisional Government made the mistake of keeping Russia in the war

Kerensky greetsRussian troopsas the war goeson under the Provisional gov’t

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin Returns (#11)• As the war dragged on conditions

inside Russia worsened• Soldiers and civilians did not support

the new Provisional Government• Angry peasants demanded land• City workers, peasants, soldiers, and

socialist leaders formed local councils called soviets, which gained more power than the Provisional Government in most places

• During this time, Germany helped Vladimir Lenin return to Russia in hopes that he would stir things up and hurt Russia’s war effort against Germany (in a sealed boxcar)

Appeal of Lenin (#12)• “All power to the soviets”– the idea that the popular

local councils would have more say in a government run by Lenin appealed to the people who had so little say for so long

• “Peace, Land, and Bread”– End Russia’s involvement in

WWI– Provide land to the peasants– Bring food to the starving

cities

Bolshevik Revolution (#13)

• In November of 1917, armed factory workers stormed the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (Petrograd)

• Calling themselves the Bolshevik Red Guards they took over government offices and arrested government officials

• Overnight Alexander Kerensky and the Provisional Government had been overthrown

Winter Palace in St. Petersburg Today

Bolsheviks in Power (#14)• Peace – signed a truce

with Germany to stop all fighting and began peace talks

• Land – Lenin ordered all farmland to be distributed to the peasants

• Bread – ?• Factories – Lenin gave

control of the factories to the workers

Russian Civil War (#15)

• Opposition to the Bolsheviks– Many were upset with the

humiliating terms of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which gave up a large amount of land to Germany

– Many supported the return of the czar to rule (and became more upset when he and his family were murdered)

– Others upset that they were not getting a democratic government and opposed Lenin’s style of socialism

Russian Civil War (#15)

• Opponents formed the White Army to defeat Lenin’s Red Army

• The U.S. and other Allied nations sent aid and forces to help the White Army

• The Red Army led by Leon Trotsky fought against the White from 1918 to 1920

• 14 million died in the fighting• The Red Army ultimately

won, but Russia was left with destruction, hunger, and chaos

New Economic Policy (#16)• In March 1921 after the Civil War

was over, Lenin set aside his plan for a state-controlled economy to deal with the economic problems and starvation facing the nation

• New Economic Policy – – allowed peasants to sell their

surplus crops instead of turning it over to the govt.

– allowed some small businesses, factories and farms to operate under private ownership

– Allowed some foreign investment

Other Reforms by Lenin (#17)• Russia organized into self-governing

republics under the central government (regional states with different ethnic groups in them)

• Renamed the nation Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

• Renamed the party the Communist Party• Wrote a constitution with democratic

principles – in reality it became a dictatorship of

the Communist Party– not a dictatorship of the proletariat

(workers) like Karl Marx had called for