The Russian RevolutionWar and Discontent

Nicholas II was an autocratic rulerRussia not prepared for warInfluence of Rasputin

The March RevolutionProblems in PetrogradMarch of the women, March 8, 1917Calls for a general strikeSoldiers join the marchersProvisional Government takes control• Alexander Kerensky (1881-1970)• Tried to carry on the war• Soviets sprang up

Bolsheviks under the leadership of Vladimir Ulianov, 1870-1924• Sent back to Russia in a sealed train by the Germans• “Peace, land and bread”

Map 25.4: The Russian Revolution

Russian Revolution (cont)The Bolshevik Revolution

Bolsheviks control Petrograd and Moscow sovietsCollapse of Provisional Government, November 6-7, 1917Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, March 3, 1918

Civil WarBolshevik (Red) army and Anti-Bolshevik (White) armyMurder of the Tsar and his family (July 16, 1918)Disunity among the white armyCommunists and “War communism”Invasion of allied troops19121: Communists victory

The1905

Russian Revolutio

n

Nicholas II: The Last Romanov Tsar

[r. 1894-1917]

The Tsar & His Family

Hemophilia & the Tsarevich

Nicholas II & His Uncle, George V

Causes

1. Early 20c:

Russian Social

Hierarchy

2. First Stages of Industrialization

An Early Russian Factory

3. Weak Economy

1905 Russian Rubles

4. Extensive Foreign Investments &

Influence

Building the Trans-Siberian RR[Economic benefits only in a few

regions.]

5. Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905]

The “Yellow Peril”

Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905]

Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905]

Russian & Japanese Soldiers

Russia Is Humiliated

Treaty of Portsmouth [NH] - 1905

President Theodore Roosevelt

Acts as the Peacemake

r

[He gets the Nobel

Peace Prize for his

efforts.]

6. Unrest Among the Peasants & Urban

Working PoorFather Georgi Gapon:

Leader of the People OR

Police Informer?

Bloody SundayJanuary 22, 1905

The Czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg

The Revolutio

n Spreads

Russian Cossacks Slaughter The People in

Odessa

Anti-Jewish Attacks

7. The Battleship Potemkin Mutiny [June,

1905]

Results

1. The Tsar’s October Manifesto

October 30, 1905

2. The Opening of the Duma:

Possible Reforms?

1906 The first two tries were too

radical.

The third duma was elected by the richest people in Russia in 1907.

The Russian Constitution of 1906 Known as the Fundamental Laws

[April 23, 1906].

The autocracy of the Russian Tsar was declared.

The Tsar was supreme over the law, the church, and the Duma.

It confirmed the basic human rights granted by the October Manifesto, BUT made them subordinate to the supremacy of the law.

3. Jewish Refugees Come to America in

1906

4. The Path to

October, 1917

Why did the 1905 Revolution Fail?

The Russian Revolution

Post 1905

Revolution of 1917

Our objectives are:

• You will be able to understand why the events of World War I hastened the outbreak of the Russian Revolution

• What was the ultimate fate of the Russian Royal Family—judge for yourself if they deserved their fate.

• In what ways did Lenin solve the erratic political situation that existed in Russia during the Revolution’s early months?

• You will be able to understand the deeper meaning of the slogan “PEACE, LAND, and BREAD.”

We have already learned

that Marx published

his Communist Manifesto

in 1848.

Marx watched the events in Paris 1871 and the commune with

interest. The commune in Paris did not succeed.

But the idea that revolution was needed to overthrow governments

remained a key point of Marxist doctrine.

Marxism should have been just another ‘ism

of the 1800’s.

But Marxism found fertile ground in the Russian state.

A country plagued by deep rooted

societal, social and political difficulties.

Russia was ripe for revolution:

• A previous history of oppression• A rising sense of Pan-Slavism:

Russia has a unique destiny• Local conflicts across the vast

Russian empire.

A brief review:

• Alexander II freed the serfs.

• Alexander was assassinated by the “Peoples Will”

• His son, Alexander III is reactionary: drives revolutionaries and terrorists into exile.

We have already learned that war broke out in August 1914 after Russia mobilized

to protect Serbian interest.

Peasants and ordinary workers were sent to fight the Germans. Terrible disasters at Tannenberg and the Mausaurian Lakes, in the first month of

the war, destroyed the Russian soldier’s confidence…

The Germans moved deep into Russia territory, and by 1915, over 2 million

Russian soldiers had been killed, wounded, or captured.

The Middle class offered support to the government. Business groups

put factories into maximum production.

But life at court was bizarre…the Tsarina Alexandra relied on Rasputin

to treat her hemophiliac son,

Alexei.

All groups complained about the Tsar, the court, and while the nation was at war, the

system seemed hopelessly “out of it.”

The Dumas reassembled in November 1916, and loudly protested conditions. The leader of the

Dumas shouted out about the sinister influence of

Rasputin.

In December 1916, Rasputin

was assassinated

by Prince Yssapov and

others…

The Tsar had gone to the

front to command

the troops…

While in St. Petersburg, in March 1917, food riots broke

out.

Crowds shouted “Down with the Tsar.” And, most important, the imperial troops refused

to fire on the rioters.

Mutiny and insubordination spread throughout the city…

Middle class leaders demanded that a new ministry be formed with

approval of the Dumas.

Tsar Nicolas retaliated by disbanding the Duma…the city of St. Petersburg split into

two factions—those who supported the Dumas…

And the other was the Petrograd Soviet, representing revolutionary

forces.

In March, 1917, the Duma’s committee set up a Provisional

Government.

The Tsar tried to return from the

front, but his train was

turned back by troops.

Nicolas abdicated the throne.

He also abdicated the throne for his heir, the hemophiliac Alexei, and his

brother, Michael, also refused the throne.

On March 17, 1917, Russia

became a republic, and the 300 year

old Romanov Dynasty came to

and end. The Royal Family was held at their residence, then a year later, they were assassinated at

Ekaterinburg, Siberia.

The Provisional Government immediately promised elections by

universal male suffrage

They also arranged to prepare a constitution for the new regime. Then, it

tried to continue the war against Germany…

In July 1917, a new offensive was mounted against the Germans---

but the Germans struck back, hard.

Things fell apart: the armies at the front “melted away” and made their way home to make sure they

got their share of this land redistribution.

The Provincial Government also promised wholesale re-distribution

of land to the peasants.

The Petrograd

Soviet opposed the war,

and called for its

immediate end.

Much of the intelligentsia that is kicked out of Russia will come back with revolutionary ideas. Many “underground” groups will

form.

One of the Intelligentsia was Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)

Lenin’s brother had

been executed as an auxiliary member of the plot to assassinate

Alexander III.

Because of this, Lenin was

unable to attend law school. He

eventually engaged in

revolutionary activities and was sent to

Europe. He did not return until 1917—the year of the Russian

Revolution

So what did Lenin believe in?

• that the rich abused the poor • that anybody making a profit was

abusing everybody else • that everybody was equal

• wanted a government that truly represented the people

• wanted the overthrow of the Russian government that kept the huge majority of Russian people in

misery

Vladimir Lenin arrived in Petrograd on April 3, 1917 aboard a sealed train that had taken

him from Switzerland through Germany. At the Finland Station he issued a speech denouncing both

positions and demanding the

elimination of dual power by the transfer of "all power to the

soviets."

Now, in July 1917, there was a rebellion against the Provisional

Government by some soldiers and sailors.

Lenin was blamed for this, and he had to “temporarily” flee to

Finland. He would return just a few months later and this time, he

would take control of the city.

Now, in July 1917, there was a rebellion against the Provisional

Government by some soldiers and sailors.

Lenin was blamed for this, and he had to “temporarily” flee to

Finland. He would return just a few months later and this time, he

would take control of the city.

The Provisional

Government tried to

maintain popular

support by naming

Alexander Kerensky as

its head.

Now, a military commander,

General Kornilov, who was defeated

in his efforts to overthrow the government. However, the

Bolsheviks continued to press for control of the

government.

Kerensky lost support. The food situation worsened. The war front

was now in a state of collapse.

WHO WAS GOING TO TAKE POWER?

Lenin proposed to end the war, redistribute land, and provide work by transferring ownership in factories to the workers

themselves.

Lenin promised PEACE, LAND and BREAD

This slogan was repeated in pamphlets

dispersed throughout

the city.

Most of the intelligentsia yearned for an over throw of the

government, so they could skip the problems of Capitalist

Industrial Europe.

Lenin raised the cry “All

power to the Soviets” to

crush Kerensky. Kerensky

struggled to control the Provisional

Government.

Lenin judged his hour had come. He was backed up by Trotsky and Stalin,

both emerging leaders in the Bolshevik party.

Lenin returned in October, inspiring an armed revolution with the slogan "All Power

to the Soviets!" against the Provisional Government. His ideas which

called for a new form of government based on workers' councils, or soviets. In this

work he also claimed that ordinary workers should, in principle, be capable of running a

factory or government. He emphasized, though, that to be able to govern the state,

a worker should "learn communism." He furthermore insisted that a member of the government should be paid no more than

the salary of an average worker

Troops around St. Petersburg (Petrograd) voted to support the

Soviets in their takeover…

On the night of November 6-7th, 1917, the Bolsheviks took

over the…• Telephone exchanges

(communication)• Railway stations• Electric power stations• A warship turned its guns on the

Winter Palace where Kerensky’s government sat.

The Soviets now proclaimed that they were the new

government. the Council of People’s Commissars.

• Lenin was the head• Trotsky was in charge of foreign

affairs• Stalin was in charge of domestic

affairs among the various Russian states.

• Kerensky fled to the U.S. and died in 1970!

Lenin introduced two resolutions:

• To negotiate a just democratic peace

• To abolish all landlord property immediately and without compensation.

• The vast landlord estates were now given to peasants to provide a base of support for the Bolsheviks

Just a side note: This November revolution is actually called the October revolution, or October

1917, because the Julian calendar was used in Russia until 1918—and the Julian calendar was a month behind the Gregorian

calendar.

The long awaited constituent assembly met in January 1918,

after 36 million persons had voted for it. But, when the votes were

counted:

• 9 million had voted for the Bolsheviks

• 21 million had voted for Kerensky• Lenin broke up the assembly by

having armed sailors surround it.

Thus, Lenin did not favor majority rule. He decided that the

Bolsheviks would make the decisions. Two months later, the

Bolsheviks named themselves the Communist party.

The Russian Revolution would now continue with a Civil War between those that supported the Tsar (the whites) and those that supported

the Communists (the Reds). It took years before Russia was

stable.

Stay tuned…

Russia began to pass through the industrial revolution during this

agitated time…but most of the money came from Europe.

They wanted industrializatio

n—but industries

owned by the state, and not by some rich smug factory owner who

exploited his workers.