1905 - Russian RevolutionTens of thousands of workers striking: Low pay,
no worker rights, no represent. gov.
Jan 22, 1905:
Bloody Sunday Massacre in Russia
Duma: Set up to represent the people &
possibly share power through a law making
body called the Duma.
Nicholas II: Decides to remove the
Duma, the people HATE this move.
World War I - Terrible disaster for Russia
Nicholas felt this would benefit Russia and unite
it under him. The opposite happened.
Massive inflation, poverty, & unemployment
2 million die in WWI Russia
LIFE MAGAZINE Jan 13, 1958;
Bloody Sunday in Petrograd
1905 Revolution & breakout of WWI
Tzar Nicholas II among troops during First
WW.
Proletarian: workers that never get ahead. Only work to
pay the bills.
Bourgeoise: property owners, business owners, profits
from the workers.
Marxism: “For each according to his ability, for each
according to his needs.”
Leninism: Lenin takes Marxism to a different level.
Marx thought communism would emerge on it’s own.
Lenin states that it would happen quicker with violent
revolution & a dictator leading it to fruition.
Russian troops awaiting
German attack in WWI.
Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels
Petrograd (Saint Petersburg), July
4, 1917. Street demonstration just
after troops of Provisional
Government opened machine gun
fire.
Socialism:
Economic systems ~ means of production & distribution are under social
ownership, management within economic institutions.
★ Based on collective decision-making
★ Worker self-management
★ Economy is primarily geared toward production for use
Control of production
Direct—Exercised through popular collectives such as workers' councils - or
Indirect—Exercised on behalf of the people by the state
Karl Marx: Modern socialist movement, would be
socioeconomic system that arises after a proletarian
revolution. Means of production are owned cooperatively by
the working class. The surplus product generated would be
used to benefit all of society, & economy would no longer be
structured upon the law of value.
Communism: A branch of the broader socialist movement.
Seeks to establish a future:
★ Without Social Class
★ Formalized State Structure &
★ Social Organization: common ownership of means of production.
Variety of political movements which claim the establishment of such a social
organization as their ultimate goal.
Considerable variety of views w/ self-identified communists: Maoism, Trotskyism, council communism, Luxemburgism, & various currents of left
communism, which are in addition to more widespread varieties.
Marxism-Leninism comprise a particular branch of
communism that primary driving force for communism in
20th century.
Rasputin: Russian mystic with “healing powers” - advises
the Czar and his wife. Claims he can heal the royal line’s
blood disease. He ends up having a lot of power.
The Death of Rasputin: They poisoned and then shot and
then beat him to death. He finally is killed by these
revolutionaries.
1917: Petrograd (St. Petersburg) massive strikes and
workers revolting against the Czar. Nicholas II calls on
the army to quell the revolt. That backfires. The army joins
the revolution.
The Duma comes back and begins to control Russia.
The Dual Power Period: The Bourgeoise (Social Democrats - like Western
Europeans)
The Soviets (The interests of the workers represented
through this group) - Similar to unions today.
Alexander Kerensky: Leader of the provisional
government.
Bolsheviks - don’t want to work with the “Provisional
government” and the Bourgeoise. Kerensky crosses over to
the Bolsheviks. However WWI continues, Russia still losing
badly.
Russian soldiers marching in
Petrograd in February 1917
The Petrograd Soviet
Assembly meeting in 1917
Nicholas Romanov - Nicholas II - Last Czar of Russia.
Son Alexei, heir to the throne, was afflicted with Haemophilia B, a
hereditary disease that prevents blood from clotting properly, which
at that time was untreatable & usually led to an untimely death.
As a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, Alexandra (Wife of the Czar)
carried the same gene mutation that afflicted several of the major
European royal houses, such as Prussia and Spain.
Hemophilia - "the royal disease"
Alexandra had passed it on to her son. As all of Nicholas &
Alexandra's daughters perished with their parents & brother in
Yekaterinburg in 1918, it is not known whether any of them inherited
the gene as carriers.
Grigori Rasputin: peasant, mystic & private adviser to Romanovs,
became an influential figure in later years of tsar Nicholas.
At the time of his death, his net worth was $900 million, which is the
inflation adjusted equivalent to $13.7 billion in 2012 US dollars.
Grand Duchess Anastasia
NikolaevnaPersistent rumors of her possible escape
circulated after her death, fueled by the fact that
the location of her burial was unknown during
the decades of Communist rule.
The mass grave near Yekaterinburg which
held the remains of the Tsar, his wife, & three of
their daughters was revealed in 1991, &
The bodies of Alexei Nikolaevich & the
remaining daughter—either Anastasia or her
older sister Maria—were discovered in 2007.
Her possible survival has been conclusively
disproved.
Forensic analysis & DNA testing confirmed that
the remains are those of the imperial family,
showing that all four grand duchesses were
killed in 1918.
Several women have falsely claimed to have
been Anastasia, of whom Anna Anderson is the
best known.
Not history! Amateur historian Bob Atchison:
(Like) someone making a film in which,
"Anne Frank moves to Orlando & opens a
crocodile farm with a guy named Mort."
The Revolution is running through the Bolsheviks (which
is a very small group at that point)
The Germans fund & transport Lenin back to Russia. He
represents the chance that Russia could get out of the
war, Germany would win on the Eastern front.
July, 1917 - Petrograd workers take to the street:
“All power to the Bolsheviks” The government
squashes the revolution.
August, 1917 - Kerensky falls back to getting the
Bolsheviks to defend him. They defend the city of
Petrograd. Kerensky releases Trotsky from prison and
Lenin returns from exile.
The October Revolution, 1917 - The Real Russian
Communist Revolution finally takes hold.
It is actually quite bloodless, in comparison to the French,
American, and others. The October Revolution is not as
chaotic as the early revolts. Trotsky and Lenin get the
votes needed to dissolve the provisional government.
Lenin takes power.
Russia exits WWI.
The USSR - Union of Soviet Socialist Republics is
born.
The White Army vs. The Red Army:
Chaos death & destruction. As the rest of the
world, virtually fund the White Army to stop the
Communists.
America supports the White Army.
During the civil war in Russia, the army
assassinate the Czar and the family.
Because Russia is out of the war, this puts
pressure on the U.S. to join WWI.
Of course, as we have learned the USSR plays
a massive role in World War II. After WWII, the
“Cold War” & a “Third World” War develops
in the global south between the US & USSR
through proxy countries ( notably Vietnam &
Korea; but also in Latin America & Africa).
American troops in Vladivostok during the
Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War (August 1918)
Soviet Union mobilized for rapid
economic development 1930s:
women entered the workforce in
great numbersHere, pictured at right, 2 young women are
mastering the skills of driving a tractor on one
of the large collective farms that replaced the
country’s private agriculture.
Russian women
played key role in
wW II
defense of the
‘motherland’ from
germany
Ethel & Julius Rosenberg
In 1950, infamous husband & wife
were accused by the FBI of passing
nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.
Found guilty in a trial that helped fuel
the red scare.
Despite doubts as to Julius' &
especially Ethel's guilt, the pair were
executed for espionage at Sing Sing
prison in New York on June 19, 1953.
Map 22.3 The Global Cold WarCold war sharply divided the world as a whole as well the
continent of Europe; countries of Korea, Vietnam, & Germany;
& the city of Berlin.
In many places, it also sparked crises that brought nuclear-
armed superpowers of the U.S. & the USSR to the brink of
war, although in every case they managed to avoid direct
military conflict.
Mushroom-shaped cloud & water column from the underwater US "Baker"
nuclear explosion of July 25, 1946. Photo taken from a tower on Bikini Island,
3.5 mi away. Its purpose was to investigate the effect of nuclear weapons on
naval ships.
"Operation Crossroads" consisted of two detonations.
This is the second of the set called "Baker." The first was called "Abel."
Canopus (also Opération Canopus in French) was the codename for France's 1st 2-
stage thermonuclear test (August 24, 1968) at Fangataufa atoll.
The test made France the 5th country to test a thermonuclear device after the United
States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom & China.
Tsar Bomba: Soviet’s“Tsar-bomb”
AN602 hydrogen bomb
★ Largest nuclear weapon EVER
★ 50 Megatons
★ 1 bomb of this type was built & it
was tested on 10/30/1961: Novaya
Zemlya archipelago
Tsar Bomba Fireball:
5.0 mi. in diameter.
Prevented from touching ground by
the shock wave
Nearly reached the 6.5 mi. altitude of
the deploying Tu-95 bomber.
Military Industrial Complex
U.S. President Dwight
Eisenhower (1953-1961)
called the “military industrial
complex”:
A coalition of armed
services, military research
laboratories, & private
defense industries that both
stimulated & benefited from
increased military spending
during Cold War tensions.
Defense Spending,
worldwide in 2013.
Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
13 Days of Extreme Anxiety When missiles were discovered in
October 1962, the world held its breath for
13 days as American forces blockaded
the island & prepared for an invasion.
In response to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of
1961, & the presence of American Jupiter ballistic
missiles in Italy & Turkey against the USSR with
Moscow within range, Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev decided to agree to Cuba's request to
place nuclear missiles in Cuba to deter future
harassment of Cuba.
An agreement was reached during a secret meeting
between Khrushchev and Fidel Castro in July &
construction on a number of missile sites started later
that summer.
A nuclear exchange between the superpowers seemed imminent
MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION (MAD):
Awareness of the possibility of global planetary destruction, making the planet unfit for
human life is surely the primary reason that no direct shooting war of any kind occurred
between the 2 superpowers.
During the two world wars, the participants had been greatly surprised by the
destructiveness of modern weapons. During the cold war, however, the leaders of the
two superpowers knew beyond any doubt that a nuclear war would produce only losers
and utter catastrophe.
Already in 1949, Stalin had observed that “atomic weapons can hardly be used without
spelling the end of the world.” Furthermore, the deployment of reconnaissance
satellites made it possible to know with some clarity the extent of the other side’s
arsenals.
A nuclear exchange between
the superpowers seemed
imminent, but that catastrophe
was averted by a compromise
between Khrushchev and U.S.
president John F. Kennedy.
Under its terms, the Soviets
removed their missiles from
Cuba in return for an American
promise not to invade the
island.
Secretly, the US also agreed
that it would dismantle all US-
built Jupiter MRBMs, which
were deployed in Turkey and
Italy against the Soviet Union
but were not known to the
public.
When all missiles and
Ilyushin Il-28 light bombers
had been withdrawn from
Cuba, the blockade was
formally ended on
November 20, 1962.
The negotiations between
the United States and the
Soviet Union pointed out
the necessity of a quick,
clear, and direct
communication line
between Washington and
Moscow. As a result, the
Moscow–Washington
hotline was established. A
series of agreements
sharply reduced U.S.-Soviet
tensions for the following
Particularly after the frightening Cuban missile crisis of 1962,
both sides carefully avoided further nuclear provocation, even
while continuing the build up of their respective arsenals.
Moreover, because they feared that a conventional war would
escalate to the nuclear level, they implicitly agreed to sidestep
any direct military confrontation at all.
Cold War
NATO - WARSAW PACT
Berlin Wall
Soviet Bloc
Nixon to USSR & China
“Third World War” - Vietnam & Korea
Soviet Invasion Afghanistan, 1979
American-Iranian Hostage Crisis 1979
1980 Olympics - Ice Hockey
Reagan & Gorbachev
IMF Treaty
Perestroika & Glasnost
Berlin Wall comes down - suddenly
US - Lone “Superpower” ... but, unstable world.
Rise of China’s Economic Power
Present day Russia
Sochi Olympics 2014
YouTube: The Berlin Wall Comes Down, Tom Brokaw NBC News in Germany
YouTube: Stabbing of the Empire - Last Days of Soviet Russia from Russian TV
December 8th, 1991
YouTube: McDonalds Opening in Moscow, Soviet Union 1990 (2:00)
YouTube: 20 Years Ago McDonalds Arrives in USSR - 35,000 Customers in 1 day!
Two ladies in traditional Russian clothes pose after the Alpine Skiing World Cup men's
Downhill in Krasnaya Polyana, some 50km from Sochi, Russia, 11 February 2012.
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