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The Russian Revolution

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I. Pre-Revolutionary Russia

  • Only true autocracy left in Europe

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  • No type of representative political institutions

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  • Nicholas II became Tsar/Czar in 1884

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  • Believed he was the absolute ruler anointed by God

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  • Revolution broke out in 1905

--Russo-Japanese War

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II. The Revolution of 1905

  • Discontented working class in cities

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  • Poor peasants in countryside

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  • No individual land ownership

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  • Winners of the ‘05 Revolution:
    • Middle Class
    • Duma
    • Soviets (workers’ councils)

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  1. Conservatism Continues: �1905-1917
  • Tsar paid no attention to the Duma

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  • Duma harassed and political parties suppressed

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  • Tsar became increasingly remote as a ruler

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  • Alexandra even more committed to autocracy
    • Influenced by Rasputin

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IV. World War I: “The Last Straw”

  • War revealed the ineptitude and arrogance of the country’s aristocratic elite

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  • Corrupt military leaders and contempt for ordinary Russian people

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  • Average peasant has very little invested in the war

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  • Poorly supplied troops
    • Chaos, disintegration of the army

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  • Spreading discontent

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V. The Collapse of the Imperial Government

  • Nicholas leaves for the Front, 1915

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  • Alexandra and Rasputin throw the government into chaos

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  • Alexandra accused of treason

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  • Rasputin assassinated, Dec. 1916

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  • Complete mismanagement of the wartime economy (vodka ban)

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VI. The Two Revolutions of 1917

  • March Revolution
    • Tsar Nicholas out
    • Duma in

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  • November Revolution
    • Duma out
    • Bolshevik Soviets in

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VII. The March Revolution, 1917

  • Origins: Food riots, strikes, discontent with WWI

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  • Duma declared itself a Provisional Government

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  • Tsar abdicated on March 17th

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  • Soviets shared some power
    • Popular with the lower class

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VIII. Soviet Political Ideology

  • More radical and revolutionary than the Provisional Government
    • Against continuing the war

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  • Influenced by Marxist socialism

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  • Two Factions
    • Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

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  • Bolsheviks founded by Vladimir Lenin
    • Committed to class struggle
    • Dictatorship of the Proletariat

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IX. Vacuum of Leadership in Russia

  • Failure of the Provisional Government

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  • Workers refusing to work and soldiers refusing to fight

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  • Peasants were taking land for themselves

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X. Lenin Steps into This Vacuum

  • The Duma grants amnesty to all political prisoners in March 1917

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  • Lenin returns from exile

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  • Charisma
    • Popular slogans
    • “Peace, Land, Bread”
    • “All Power to the Soviets”

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  • Bolshevik party membership exploded

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XI. The November Revolution

  • Provisional government ousted
    • Soviets begin governing

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  • All private property of wealthy was abolished and divided among the peasantry

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  • Largest industrial enterprises nationalized

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XI. November Revolution (cont)

  • Political Police organized: CHEKA

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  • Tsar Nicholas and family executed without trial

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  • Bolshevik Party renamed Communist Party in March of 1918

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  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk negotiated with the Germans

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XI. November Revolution (cont)

  • Civil War fought between 1917-1920
    • “Red Army” (Bolsheviks) versus “Whites” (liberals and monarchists)
    • Russia invaded by Western powers in support of Whites

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  • Complete breakdown of Russian economy and society
    • Millions suffer and die

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  • Reds win; Soviet Union formed
    • (USSR=United Soviet Socialist Republics)