Czarist Russia Overview…

• Motto: “One Czar, One Faith, One System.”• 1853 – Crimean War between Russia &

Ottoman Empire.– Britain and France aid Ottoman Empire• Dispute between France and Russia concerning custody

of Christian shrines in Palestine.• Nicolas died during this and his son, Alexander II,

becomes czar.

Nicholas INicholas IRuled: 1825 - 1855Ruled: 1825 - 1855

• Needed to modernize to remain a force in European affairs.– 1.) Emancipation Edict – March 3, 1861…”Freed” 20

million serfs. Yet they were still bound to villages where they were assigned sections

– 2.) Creation of Zemstovs – town councils to which people elected representatives.

– 3.) Reformed Courts– 4.) Started a new Industry

• But, was assassinated in 1881.

Alexander IIAlexander IIRuled 1855-1881Ruled 1855-1881

• Motto: “Autocracy, Orthodoxy, Nationality”• Died in 1894.• His son Nicholas II came to throne after his

death.

Alexander III Alexander III Ruled 1881 - 1894Ruled 1881 - 1894

• Began his reign by marrying Alexandra, granddaughter of England’s Queen Victoria.

• Continued industrialization• Encouraged foreign investment• January 1905 – Bloody Sunday• June 1905 – general strikes & minority nationalist revolts• October Manifesto – full civil rights w/Duma• Fundamental Laws – constitutional Monarchy

Nicholas IINicholas IIRuled 1894 - 1917Ruled 1894 - 1917

• March Rev. 1917 – Crowds of starving workers riot in ??? soldiers join them. Czar ???

• March November 1917- Provisional Government • November Rev. 1917 – aka Bolshevik Rev;

Communist Rev. Provisional government is dismissed to do Bolshevik overthrow & Lenin (and Bolsheviks) take over. This is the revolution that brings communism to Russia.

Russian Revolution 1917

End of Czarist Russia;Beginning of Communist Russia

Stages of the Russian Rev.1. First stage of revolution - Fall of Czardom • (March Revolution~Feb.)• Insurrection of the masses!

2. Second stage of revolution - Provisional Government formed

3. Third stage of revolution - Return of Lenin• Bolshevik coup (November Revolution)

Causes• All classes supported entrance in WWI– Losing by 1915

• Tsar Nicholas seen as “narrow-minded”– deprived citizens of political freedom• Adjourned Duma (parliament)

– Brought economic sufferings and military defeats– Traveled to war front and left Tsarina in charge• Dismissed advisors and relied on Rasputin

• 1917 cities experiencing food/fuel shortages

(February) March Revolution(1917)

• initiated by the lower classes. • Workers riot in Petrograd (old St. Petersburg)• Duma declared a provisional government• Czar Nicholas II abdicates (for his son as well)

New GovernmentThey Propose…• Equality before law• Freedom of religion, speech, assembly• Rights of unions to organize/strike

Liberal/moderate socialist did not accept terms• Petrograd Soviet

Provisional Gov’t; Mar.-Nov. 1917

• Alexander Kerensky becomes president• Gov’t unable to get Russia out of WWI• Does not recognize peasant land grab

Lenin gains support for the Bolsheviks“Peace, Land, Bread”-motto of Bolsheviks

Lenin Returns• When the March Revolution broke out, the

prominent leaders of the Bolshevik Party were in exile.

• In March, Lenin returned to Russia (Switzerland) • Adopted an antiwar policy during the First World

War– First World War was a fight among the capitalistic

government for influence and power. (The workers should not assist them.)

• demanded the Provisional Government to give 'All power to the Soviets’

Different View of Socialism

• Wanted small, elite, disciplined socialist party• Violent revolution needed to destroy

capitalism• Revolutions can occur in an agrarian society• Revolutions determined by leadership, not

history

Vladimir Lenin, leader of the November Bolshevik Revolution

November Rev. 1917• A.k.a. Bolshevik Rev./ Communist Rev.• Bolsheviks led by Lenin defeat the provisional gov’t• Once in power the Bolsheviks change their name to

Communists

Lenin’s Policies

Murder of the Romanovs• Fear the White Army

would reestablish Romanov rule if won civil war.

• On July 16, 1918, Bolshevik authorities, led by Yakov Yurovsky, shot Nicholas II, his immediate family, and four servant members in the cellar of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia.

Death of the Romanovs

Rasputin’s prophecy• Rasputin had made an eerie

prediction before he died.

• If I am killed by common assassins and especially by my brothers the Russian peasants, you, Tsar of Russia, have nothing to fear for your children, they will reign for hundreds of years in Russia.

• ...if it was your relations who have wrought my death, then no one in your family, that is to say, none of your children or relations will remain alive for two years. They will be killed by the Russian people...

• I shall be killed. I am no longer among the living. Pray, pray, be strong, think of your blessed family.

The Romanovs-Together in Life and Death • Eleven people in all lost

their lives on the night of July 16, 1918, at Ekateringburg in this--cellar. Below is the execution squad.

The Graves

• The pit where the skeletons lay.

Diagram of the grave outside Ekaterinburg -- the pit during excavation

• Bolshevik army led by Trotsky– Disciplined– Controlled central Russia and crucial cities– Established war commissions– Cheka – Red Terror

• White Army defeated by spring of 1920• Regained territory given to Germany

Russia of 1917• Through these 3 steps, Russia became a communist

country, ending Czarist Russia, forever.• U.S.S.R.Union of Soviet Socialist Republics• This will last until the collapse of the Soviet Union in

1991.