The Russian Revolution1917

Causes of theRussian Revolution

Czar Alexander III

• Imposed strict censorship

• Secret police

• Establish uniform Russian culture- oppress other national groups in Russia – Pogroms, organized violence against Jews

Czar Nicholas II

• Czar Nicholas II was unable or unwilling to deal with Russia’s problems.

• The Russian people wanted to end absolute rule.

Economic Aspects

• The peasants wanted the noble’s fertile lands.

• Factories proved unable to satisfy military and civilian needs.

• Severe food shortages.

Social Aspects

• There was widespread discontent in all classes of Russian society.

Bloody Sunday January 22,1905

• 200,000 workers marches on the Winter Palace

• Wanted more freedoms and better working conditions

• Nicholas II’s generals fired on crowd

Bloody Sunday

• Provoked wave of strikes

• October 1905 creation of Duma, Russia’s first parliament

• Meets May 1906, dissolved 10 weeks later

Military Causes

• Humiliating defeat by Japan in 1905.

• WWI - The Russian armies met with a series military defeats.

• 5,000,000 Russian soldiers were killed in the war.

Gregory Rasputin

• While the Czar was at the front many Russians feared his influence on Alexandra.

Revolutionary Parties

• Social revolutionaries• Mensheviks• Bolsheviks• Challenged the Czar

and promoted reform.

The outbreak of Revolution

• In February 1917 bread riots break out in Petrograd.

• Factory workers went on strike.

• The soldiers sent to break the strikes and riots sided with the people.

The Kerensky GovernmentMarch-November 1917

• Czar Nicholas II abdicates in 1917.

• A Provisional Government under Alexander Kerensky is set up by the February Revolution.

Failure of the Provisional Government

• The Provisional Government failed because:

• It continued the war• It could not feed the

cities.• It did not approve land

seizures.

The Petrograd Soviet

• The Petrograd Soviet became a rival to the Kerensky Government, taking on such tasks as regulating food supply and organizing a workers militia.

The Bolshevik RevolutionNovember 1917

Vladimir Lenin1870-1924

• Founded the Bolshevik Party.

• Lenin was a Marxist Ideologist.

• Lenin was exiled for many years, but returned in April 1917 and led a revolt against the Kerensky Government

Leon Trotsky1879-1924

• Trotsky played a leading role in the October Revolution.

• In 1918 he organized the Red Army and led it to victory during the civil war against the White forces.

Bread, Land, Peace

• Lenin and the Bolsheviks promised the people what they wanted most:

• Food for the cities.• End Russia’s

involvement in WWI• Land for the peasants.

The Bolshevik RevolutionNovember 6, 1918

• On the night of November 6, 1918 Lenin and the Bolsheviks strike.

• The Bolsheviks seize control of the government in Petrograd.

The Bolshevik Revolution

• On November 7, 1918 the Petrograd Soviet voted to support Lenin’s overthrow of the Provisional Government.

• Fighting continued for a week.

Civil War1918-1921

Reds VS Whites

(Bolsheviks)

Lenin Kerensky

Trotsky VS Anti -

Stalin Bolsheviks

Czar Nicholas II

• When the Bolsheviks came to power the imperial family was sent to the Ural Mountains.

• The Czar and his family were executed on July 16, 1918 in the town of Ekaterinburg.

Results of the Civil War

• The Red Army under the leadership of Leon Trotsky defeated the White forces.

Results of the Bolshevik Revolution

• Formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic in 1922 under the control of Lenin,Trotsky,and Stalin.

• Formation of a communist government (classless society) based on the ideas of Karl Marx.

• The idea of a continued revolution to spread the ideas of Communism.

Lenin Restores Order

• New Economic Policy (NEP)– Peasants can sell surplus, private small

businesses, encouraged foreign investment

• Communist Party held all the power

• Lenin suffers stroke in 1922– Josef Stalin “man of steel” vying to control

communist party