The Russian Revolution

I. Before the Revolution

A. Empire

1. large amount of land

2. diverse groups of people

3. Russification = changing other cultures Russian

a. adopt language

b. adopt clothing

c. adopt customs

d. adopt religion

4. behind the times

B. Czars

1. absolute monarchs

2. sometimes abusive

3. spend money on their wants

4. Alexander III (1881-1894)

a. absolute monarch

b. wiped out revolutionaries

c. censorship on written materials

d. close watch on all

e. oppressed national cultures

f. pogroms = organized violence against Jews

II. Russian Revolution

A. Nicholas II

1. son of Alexander III

2. tried to keep all his power

3. wanted to move economy forward

a. raise taxes

b. foreign investments

c. built Trans-Siberian Railroad

4. Russo-Japanese War (1904)

a. Russia and Japan fight over territory

b. Japan wins

B. Revolution of 1905

1. Bloody Sunday

a. 200,000 approach the winter palace in St.

Petersburg

b. protesting for better working conditions and wages

c. soldiers order them fired on

d. 500 killed, 1000 wounded

2. Nicholas agrees to creation of Duma (parliament)

3. Russia is now a constitutional monarchy

C. World War II

1. dragged in by alliances

2. high costs

3. 4 million dead in one year

4. Nicholas goes to the front

5. Alexandria, his wife runs the government

a. Ill-trained

b. Advised by Rasputin

c. Emotionally stressed by husband’s absence and son’s hemophilia

6. Russian morale destroyed

7. Russia leaves the war

D. March 1917 Revolution

1. Czar Nicholas abdicated (steps down for himself and his son)

2. government sets up provisional government (temporary)

3. still in World War I at this time (people do not like this)

4. Lenin (a revolutionary leader) returns to Russia out of exile

E. Bolshevik Revolution

1. Bolsheviks were Marxists

2. “bread, peace, land” what they wanted

3. Nov 1917 take over the government

4. Czar and family executed

5. Farmland redistributed to peasants

6. Took control of factories

7. Took them out of WWI

8. Civil War begins (1918-1920)

a. reds vs. whites

b. 15 million die

c. red army wins

9. Lenin restored order with NEP

a. allows some private ownership

b. 1921

10. country renamed USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist

Republics)

a. communism begins