THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION:Causes

LONG TERM CAUSESRussian Revolution

Cause #1 Lack of Industry

Lack of Industry

• By 1913 still manufacturing mostly clothing

• Lack of industrialization makes Russia culturally different from the west

Lack of Industry

war losses• 1853 Crimean war• 1905 Russo

Japanese war• 1914-1917 WWI• Only recent wins were

NOT due to military prowess—Turkey 1877 and Napoleon 1812

Cause # 2 Political Culture

Political Culture

• Large Multiethnic empire causes disunity

• Tradition of village communes with little imperial interference

• Czar seen as distant “father”

• 1900—1/4 of rural population was literate

Political culture

• Urban working class grew 4x in the 50 years after emancipation in 1861—alienated from peasants

• Elite noble class spoke predominantly in French—royal family often communicated in English

Political culture (Absolutism)

• Political Parties were repressed

• Duma (parliament) created in 1905 but Czar Nicholas II was unwilling to share power

• Czars had long tried to stop Russia from having a sense of Nationalism

Long Term Cause # 3 Isolation from the Rest of Europe

Political Isolation

• Russia seen as enemies of the world due to expansion and anti western ideas in Russia

• Russia was 1/6 of worlds land and tried to grow in 19th century

• Powerful enemies—Germany and Austria

• Problems caused by having a land based and not overseas empire

Social Isolation

• Russia chose orthodoxy during the schism

• Cyrillic alphabet modeled after Greek

• Difference in language and religion from rest of Europe

Short Term CausesRussian Revolution

Short Term Cause # 1 The Royal Family

The Family: The Czar

• Czar Nicholas II ruled 1894-1917

• Never wanted to be Czar— Seen as a weak leader

The Royal Family: Alexandra

• Married German Cousin Alexandra (a princess)

• Alexandra was a Catholic and a German—She never learned Russian but did convert to Orthodox Christianity

• Only son Alexei had hemophilia---hereditary disease passes through mother

Short Term Cause # 2 WWI

World War I

• Battle of Tannenberg Aug 1914 Russia Loses 250,000 men in days

• 1915 Nicholas goes to the front leaving German wife to run the country

Short Term Cause # 3 Rasputin

Rasputin

•Rasputin was a monk who promised he could heel hemophilia•While Nicholas was at the front took spiritual and political advise from Rasputin•The country assumes an affair is happening

Rasputin

• 1916---Friends of the Czar kill Rasputin to end the scandal

• Doesn’t work

• Rasputin's assassination

The Revolution

The Revolution: Part 1 March

THE REVOLUTION MARCH

• Women march in Petrograd for bread

• Czar’s soldiers refuse to fire

• Military leaders convince Czar to resign

• Provisional government formed to write a constitution

KERENSKY—a fatal decision

• Kerensky was elected leader of the provisional government

• His choice—keep fighting WWI or not?

• He chooses to continue what he sees as Russia’s duty to allies

Meanwhile…

LENIN—A bullet from Germany

• Lenin’s older Brother had been exiled for attempting to kill Alexander III (1895)

• April 1917—Germans Put Lenin on a train from Germany to Russia hoping to cause a revolution

• Lenin arrives and promises “Peace Bread and Land”

The Revolution Part 2: November

NovemberLenin and Bolsheviks

• Lenin overthrows the provisional govt.

• Outlaws Private ownership

• 1918Treaty of Brest Litovsk ends the war

• Russian Royal Family killed

Civil War 1918-1921http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESnj17NwJTU

Civil War

Reds: The Communists

Vs.

Whites:

•People in Russia who didn’t like Communism (Royalists)

•Forces from Allies in WWI

QUESTION

• WHY DID COMMUNISM APPEAL TO RUSSIANS?

• WHY DIDN’T THE WEST WANT RUSSIA TO BE COMMUNIST?