Revolutions and Civil War

A. March Revolution

B. The Bolshevik Revolution

C. Civil War

D. Vladimir Lenin

A. The March Revolution

• Support for a revolution is growing

• It begins in March 1917

• Czar Nicholas II forced to abdicate (step down as czar)

• New provisional government formed

Alexander Kerensky

• New government not liked because they continued fighting in WWI

B. The Bolshevik Revolution• Bolsheviks – Russian communists led by Lenin

• They overthrew the provisional government in November 1917

• Lenin pulled Russia out of WWI & signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

C. Civil War• Citizens angry about the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk • Civil war between the Bolsheviks (Red Army) and

the Mensheviks (White Army)

• Czar Nicholas and his family are killed in 1918 by the Bolsheviks

• Civil war lasts from 1918-1920

• 8 million Russians died during the civil war

• 7 million died in the famine that followed

• Bolsheviks win the Civil War

D. Vladimir (V.I.) Lenin• First Premier (leader) of

the Soviet Union & the Communist Party

• The Communist Party controlled the government

• Begins to transform Russia into a Communist state

• Began the New Economic Policy

• The government controlled major industries to increase production

• In 1922 Lenin transformed Russia into the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (U.S.S.R.)