THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONfarragut.bownet.org/draynard/russianrevHIST.pdf · rasputin’s efforts did...
Transcript of THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONfarragut.bownet.org/draynard/russianrevHIST.pdf · rasputin’s efforts did...
THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
PRE‐REVOLUTION RUSSIA
RUSSIA IS A POWER BY THE 1600’s UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF PETER THE GREAT AND CATHERINE THE GREAT
‐ ABSORBS LARGE AMOUNTS OF LAND IN SOUTH AND EAST ‐ RUSSIA BECOMES A MULTICULTURAL NATION ‐ HALF EUROPEAN, HALF ASIAN WITH EVERY MAJOR RELIGION
RUSSIAN REMAINED A BACKWARD COUNTRY POLITICALLY AND ECONOMICALLY
‐ STILL PRACTICED FEUDALISM CENTURIES AFTER EUROPE ABANDONED IT
SOCIAL & ECONOMIC SYSTEM GRANTING LAND IN RETURN FOR MILITARY SERVICE
‐ SERFS MAKE UP MAJORITY OF THE NATION LATIN, MEANING SLAVE LOWEST SOCIAL CLASS IN FEUDAL SYSTEM OFTEN LIVING UNDER HORRIBLE CONDITIONS
‐ NOBLES HOLD ONTO POWER BY SUPPORTING CZAR CZAR or TSAR, FROM “CAESAR” OR EMPEROR; RANK OF KING
‐ CZAR RULES WITH ABSOLUTE POWER
‐ RULE BASED ON THREE PILLARS OF RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM:
1. ORTHODOXY: ‐ STRONG TIES TO THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
2. AUTOCRACY: ‐ ABSOLUTE POWER OF THE STATE
3. NATIONALISM: ‐ SUPPORT RUSSIAN CULTURE AND TRADITION ‐ SUPPRESS ALL NON‐RUSSIANS
PRE‐REVOLUTION RUSSIAN RULERS:
ALEXANDER I
‐ RULED IN EARLY 1800s
‐ OPEN TO REFORM
‐ EASED CENSORSHIP
‐ TALKED OF FREEING SERFS BUT…
‐ JOINS REACTIONARIES AT CONGRESS OF VIENNA MEETING OF EUROPEAN AMBASSADORS REDRAW CONTINENT’S POLITICAL MAP/BOUNDARIES REACTIONARIES: STATUS QUO: KEEP SOCIAL CLASSES THE SAME
‐ OPPOSED GROWING LIBERALISM IN EUROPE INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT POLITICAL GOAL
PRE‐REVOLUTION RUSSIAN RULERS:
NICHOLAS I
‐ BROTHER OF ALEXANDER
‐ FACED WITH DECEMBERIST REVOLT BY ARMY OFFICERS TOOK PLACE IN DECEMBER – 1825 PROTESTING NICHOLAS I’s ASSUMPTION TO THRONE NICHOLAS’ OLDER BROTHER REMOVED HIMSELF FROM LINE OF SUCCESSION 3000 SOLDIERS PROTEST, FIGHTING FOR LIBERAL IDEAS
‐ RESPONDS BY CRACKING DOWN ON DISSENT (DIFFER IN OPINION) BANS BOOKS USED SPIES SENDS INTELLECTUALS TO PRISON OR EXILE EXECUTIONS
‐ EMBRACED THREE PILLARS TO BOLSTER REGIME (GOVERNMENT)
PRE‐REVOLUTION RUSSIAN RULERS:
ALEXANDER II
‐ LOSES CRIMEAN WAR TO BRITAIN AND FRANCE WAR TO CONTROL OTTOMAN EMPIRE/TURKEY
‐ WAR BRINGS ABOUT ECONOMIC CHANGES FREES THE SERFS SERFS STILL REMAIN POOR AND LANDLESS ZEMSTOVS: LOCAL GOVERNMENTS DEAL W/LOCAL PROBLEMS TRIAL BY JURY REDUCTION IN SOLDIERS MILITARY SERVICE
‐ REVOLUTIONARY GROUPS ATTEMPT TO BRING MORE CHANGE MOST FAILED, CAUSED MORE CRACKDOWNS BY GOVT LED TO NEW UPRISINGS AND ANGER PEOPLE’S WILL: ASSASINATED ALEXANDER IN 1881
PRE‐REVOLUTION RUSSIAN RULERS:
ALEXANDER III
‐ REPONDED TO FATHER’S ASSASINATION BY CRACKING DOWN MORE
‐ USED SECRET POLICE, EXILED CRITICS, INCREASED CENSORSHIP SUPPRESSION OF SPEECH
‐ LAUNCHED PROGRAM OF RUSSIFICATION OF ALL NON‐RUSSIANS ETHNIC GROUPS SUFFERED PERSECUTION RUSSIAN BECAME ONLY OFFICIAL LANGUAGE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH ONLY FAITH BEGAN POGROMS AGAINST JEWS ‐ VIOLENCE DIRECTED TOWARD A GROUP
‐ RUSSIAN BEGAN TO MODERNIZE AND INDUSTRIALIZE FOREIGN INVESTMENT, TRANS‐SIBERIAN RAILROAD SERFS MOVE TO CITIES…SOCIAL & ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
‐ CITIES BECOME REVOLUTIONARY CENTERS ‐ SOCIALIST MESSAGES AIMED AT WORKERS
NICHOLAS II
‐ FOUGHT/LOST WAR WITH JAPAN (OVER WATER/TRADE ROUTES, KOREA) SHOWED RUSSIAN WEAKNESS LOSSES CREATED DISSENT AMONG PEOPLE STRIKES AND MARCHES TOOK PLACE LIBERALS CALLED FOR A CONSTITUTION AND OVERHAUL OF GOVERNMENT
‐ BLOODY SUNDAY: JANUARY 22, 1905 PROTESTORS MARCH TO CZAR’S WINTER PALACE CZAR UNLEASHES TROOPS ON UNARMED MARCHERS HUNDREDS/THOUSANDS PROTESTORS KILLED
REACTION TO BLOODY SUNDAY:
REVOLUTION OF 1905 MORE STRIKES, VIOLENCE, REVOLTS BY WORKERS AND
PEASANTS
NICHOLAS ISSUES OCTOBER MANIFESTO ESTABLISHED DUMA OR PARLIAMENT FIRST DUMA ASSEMBLED IN 1906, QUICKLY DISSOLVED BY CZAR CZAR APPOINTS PETER STOLYPIN AS PRIME MINISTER
STOLYPIN CALLS FOR ARRESTS & CRACKDOWNS ON DISSENTERS MORE POGROMS SOME LAND REFORMS, BUT COUNTRY REALLY NO DIFFERENT BY 1914
WORLD WAR I, “THE WAR TO END ALL WARS”
DISASTER FOR RUSSIA RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL CAPACITY PROVED INADEQUATE TRANSPORTATION BROKE DOWN SOLDIERS POORLY SUPPLIED
CZAR NICHOLAS WENT TO THE WAR‐FRONT, ASSUMED COMMAND OF RUSSIAN ARMY
DOMESTIC AFFAIRS LEFT TO CZARINA ALEXANDRA (GERMAN BORN) SON SUFFERED FROM HEMOPHILIA (BLOOD DISORDER)
RASPUTIN BECOMES MORE INFLUENTIAL…
RASPUTIN
‐ CONSIDERED TO BY A MYSTIC AND A FAITH‐HEALER ‐ KNOWN TO CURE PEOPLE THROUGH PRAYER, HYPNOSIS, LEECHES
ALEXANDRA, DESPERATE TO HELP HER SICKLY SON, CONTACTED RASPUTIN RASPUTIN’S EFFORTS DID HELP THE BOY SOMEWHAT
WITH CZAR NICHOLAS AT THE WAR‐FRONT, RASPUTIN’S INFLUENCE OVER ALEXANDRA INCREASED GREATLY
HE BECAME HER ADVISOR, ESSENTIALLY TELLING HER WHAT TO DO
RUSSIA WAS FALLING APART IN EVERY WAY – ALEXANDRA & RASPUTIN WERE BLAMED
RASPUTIN EVENTUALLY MURDERED BY A GROUP OF NOBLES ‐ LEGENDARY DEATH
PROBLEMS IN RUSSIA CONTINUE…
FUEL AND FOOD SHORTAGES, AND LOSSES ON THE BATTLEFIELD LED TO UNREST AND STRIKES IN MAJOR CITIES
TROOPS REFUSED TO FIRE ON DEMONSTRATORS…GOVT WAS HELPLESS
WAR WITH GERMANY CONTINUED…
SOCIALIST REVOLUTIONARIES SET UP SOVIETS IN THE CITIES COUNCIL, COMMITTEE WORKED DEMOCRATICALLY AT FIRST GRADUALLY TAKEN OVER BY BOLSHEVIKS LED BY LENIN
LENIN ‐ COMMITTED MARXIST, WORKED TO SPREAD REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS AMONG RUSSIAN WORKERS
‐ LENIN WAS ARRESTED AND EXILED TO SIBERIA, THEN SWITZERLAND
FEBRUARY REVOLUTION (1917)
NICHOLAS VISITING TROOPS….
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY DEMONSTRATION
MASSIVE STRIKES AND DEMONSTRATIONS
UNREST CONTINUES; MENSHEVIKS MEET AND SET UP “WORKERS’ SOVIET”
NICHOLAS ORDERS MILITARY TO STOP RIOTS
TROOPS FIRE ON DEMONSTRATORS; MASS MUTINY BEGINS IN LOCAL ARMY REGIMENTS; FIREFIGHTS BREAKOUT BETWEEN TROOPS AND POLICE
MORE THAN 80,000 TROOPS MUTINY & ENGAGE IN WIDESPREAD LOOTING
DUMAR AND WORKERS’ SOVIET GATHER SEPARATELY AND BEGIN MAKING DECISIONS ABOUT RESTORING ORDER AND ESTABLISHING A NEW STATE
NICHOLAS ABDICATES THE THRONE; PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT FORMED
IMPACT OF THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION
‐ largely a spontaneous event
‐ no plan or oversight for the way it happened
‐ few Russian revolufonaries were involved—most, such as Vladimir Lenin, were out of the country
‐ Ajerward, many polifcal groups competed for power, but they did so relafvely peacefully
‐ The two main groups, the provisional government and the Petrograd Soviet, disagreed completely about the direcfon that Russia should take, yet they did manage to work with each other
‐ various rival polifcal parfes also developed cooperafve amtudes and worked with one another
‐ The arrival of Lenin in Russia in April 1917, however, immediately changed the situafon
LENIN
‐ ADAPTED MARXIST IDEAS TO RUSSIAN CONDITIONS
‐ INSTEAD OF A LARGE UPRISING OF WORKERS, WHICH RUSSIA DID NOT HAVE, LENIN CALLED FOR RULE BY AN ELITE GROUP TO LEAD REVOLUTION AND SET UP A DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETERIAT
LOWER CLASS/WORKING CLASS
‐ NAMED THIS GROUP “BOLSHEVIKS” (THE “MAJORITY”)
‐ THEY REJECTED THE IDEA THAT SOCIALISM COULD BE ACHIEVED GRADUALLY THROUGH REFORMS. CALLED FOR A REVOLUTION.
‐ ANOTHER GROUP, THE “MENSHEVIKS” (THE “MINORITY”), HAD A MORE MODERATE VIEW
LENIN RETURNED TO RUSSIA IN APRIL 1917 WITH THE HELP OF GERMANY
GERMANY SAW A CHANCE TO WEAKEN ITS ENEMY
LENIN PROMISED RUSSIAN PEOPLE “PEACE, LAND, AND BREAD” IN SERIES OF SPEECHES LATER PUBLISHED IN THE BOLSHEVIK NEWSPAPER PRAVDA, KNOWN AS THE APRIL THESES
AS WAR GREW WORSE FOR RUSSIA, AND PEOPLE STARVED, LENIN LAUNCHED THE ARMED OVERTHROW OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT QUICKLY DISSOLVES
CZAR AND HIS FAMILY TAKEN PRISONER AND PUT UNDER HOUSE ARREST
LENIN SETS UP BOLSHEVIK GOVERNMENT USES CHEKA (SECRET POLICE) TO HARASS ENEMIES
OCTOBER REVOLUTION (1917)
BOLSHEVIKS ATTACK WINTER PALACE
SECURES POWER
ENDS WAR WITH GERMANY
NATIONALIZATION OF ALL FACTORIES
EXECUTION OF TSAR AND HIS FAMILY
CIVIL WAR BETWEEN COMPETING GROUP STRUGGLE FOR POWER ‐ RED ARMY LED BY TROTSKY (COMMUNISTS VS SOCIALISTS/SOCIAL DEMOCRATS)
STALIN TAKES OVER ‐ COLLECTIVIZATION OF LAND ‐ FIVE YEAR PLANS: INDUSTRIALIZIATION ‐ SHOW TRIALS
WAS THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION A SUCCESS?
WHAT IDEAS LED TO THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION?
WHO USED THESE IDEAS TO PROMOTE THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION?
WERE THESE IDEAS CORRUPTED? IF SO, HOW? BY WHOM?