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Russian Revolution
Objectives
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Who was Czar Nicholas II?
Russo-Japanese War’s effect on Russia
Failure of the Duma
Bloody Sunday
Economic, Political and Social Causes of
the Russian Revolution
What is the Russian
Revolution?
• Term for a series of revolutions in Russia in
1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and
led to the creation of the Soviet Union
• The Tsar was overthrown and replaced by a
provisional government in the 1st revolution of
February 1917.
• In the second revolution, during October, the
Provisional Government was removed and
replaced with a Bolshevik (Communist)
government.
Czar Nicholas II (1894-1917)
Last Czar of Russia
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Nicholas II was a harsh, yet weak ruler
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Weakness of Tsar Nicholas II
•He was an absolute
monarch, meaning that he
had total power in Russia.
•Was a weak man. He
used his secret police, the
Okrana, to persecute
opponents.
• Books and newspapers
were censored. The
Church supported the Tsar
– the ‘Little Father of the
Russian people’.
•The Tsar’s undemocratic
government was a major
cause of the revolution.
The Romanov Family
• How was Russia
governed? Tsar;
Romanov family since
1613
• Nobles and Clergy:
Landowning class
• Serfs: 90%, lived in
750,000 small villages
• No political parties
• No legislator
• No constitution
Alexander
III
Nicholas II
Olga
Tatiana
Alexandra
III, wife of
Nicholas
Marie
Anastasia
Alexie
Russian Government Before
Revolution
• Monarchy: The Czar-Until 1905, Czar's powers were
unlimited.
• Russia had no constitution
• No political party system to check the Czar's power
• Had strong secret police which terrorized the people.
• Sharp class divisions existed between nobility and
peasants.
• Peasants were landless.
• Czar did not resolve complaints of peasants and
workers.
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Russo-Japanese War (19041905)
•Dispute with Japan over
Manchuria, which was located in
North East China
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Leading to Revolution
Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)
•Result of increasingly expansionist Russian foreign policy in the East
•Intended as a way to increase the prestige of the autocracy at home
and abroad, but resulted in a humiliating defeat for Russia.
•This war marked the first time any Asian power had defeated a
European power in a real war. Embarrassing, leadership blamed
•With the defeat, Japan emerged as a major threat to Russian interests
in the east and, in Russia, even moderates lost confidence in the old
regime.
•Poverty on the rise
Russo-Japanese War ends
• Treaty of Portsmouth
5 September 1905
– Japan: south Sakhalin, Korea,
Port Arthur
– Russia: evacuate Manchuria
(but no indemnity)
• Casualties:
– Japanese dead: 80,000 (in
combat 47,000; of disease
33,000)
– Wounded: at least 100,000
– Russian dead: 60,000 (47,500
in battle; 12,500 of disease)
– Wounded: 146,000
– Russia’s reputation as Great
Power
• First Asian victory over
European power, though at
great sacrifice.
Failure of the Duma
•In 1905 Russia lost a war with Japan.
This defeat caused strikes in the
Russian cities, the Tsar nearly lost
control.
•Nicholas II offered to call a Duma, or
parliament, with free elections. This was
accepted by the demonstrators.
When the Duma met, it criticized the
Tsar and demanded changes.
The Duma was dismissed and new
elections, controlled by the Tsar, were
called.
It became clear that the Duma would be
shut down if it criticized the Tsar. As long
as the Tsar had control of the army, his
power could not be broken.
Bloody Sunday
• Czarist troops open fire on a peaceful demonstration of
workers in St Petersburg. January 9, 1905
• Peaceful marchers in St. Petersburg carried a petition to
Tsar Nicholas II asking for:
–
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higher wages
Get out of the war
a shorter work day
better working conditions
a legislative assembly,
universal manhood suffrage
• In reaction, Nicholas II ordered his guards to fire into the
unarmed crowd; when news of 96 dead and hundreds
more wounded escaped, public opinion almost
universally turned against the old regime.
Bloody Sunday, January,
1905
th
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• About 300,000 people
• 1000 died, some shot, some
trampled.
Bloody Sunday (1905)
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What were the political groups
struggling for?
• Largely supportive of the Tsar
• Generations of repression and suffering left
intellectual groups seeking change
• Non-Russian minorities (Poles, Jews, Finns,
Ukrainians) wanted to free themselves from tsar
• Groups roughly divided into two categories:
• Liberal Reformers
• Socialists
Revolution of 1905
• Began in St. Petersburg in January
when troops fired on crowd of
workers marching to petition Czar
Nicholas II.
• This “bloody Sunday” was followed by
series of strikes, riots, assassinations,
naval mutinies, and peasant
outbreaks.
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Revolution of 1905
• These disorders, coupled with defeat
by Japan, revealed corruption and
incompetence of czarist regime, and
forced government to establish the
Duma, or assembly, elected by
limited franchise.
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Leading to Revolution
• 1905 October General Strike sweeps Russia
which ends when the Tsar promises a
constitution.
• 1905 December In response to the
suppression of the St Petersburg Soviet, the
Moscow Soviet organizes a disastrous
insurrection that the government suppresses
after five days
• 1906 The promised parliament, the Duma, is
dissolved when it produces an anti
government majority
• 1911-1914 A new wave of workers unrest
ends with the outbreak of the First World War
Russian failures in
the First World War
The weakness
of Tsar Nicholas
II
The
discontent
of the
peasants
The
discontent of
the workers
The
failure
of the
Duma
Factors that led to the
Russian revolution
in 1917.
Rasputin
and scandal
Opposition
of the
Communists
The February
Revolution
1917
The discontent of the Workers
Industrialisation began much later in Russia than in Western Europe.
Huge iron foundries, textile factories and engineering firms were set up.
Most were owned by the government or foreigners, and were located in
the big cities such as St Petersburg or Moscow. By 1900 20% of
Russians were workers living in cities.
Working conditions in the new industrial towns were hard. Pay was very
low. Although strikes and demonstrations were illegal, they often took
place. Strikers were frequently shot by the Tsar’s soldiers or secret police.
‘The whole day we pour out
our blood and sweat. Every
minute we are exposed to
danger.’
Union leaflet 1898
The discontent of the Peasants
Russia was a rural society with over 90% of the
people being poor peasants. Until 1861 the peasants
had belonged to their masters, who could buy and
sell them like animals. When the peasants were freed
in 1861 they were given small amounts of land for
which they had to pay back the government. As a
result most farmers were in absolute poverty.
Agriculture was in desperate need of modernisation.
In contrast, a small number of upper-class people
held most of the wealth and power. This aristocracy
had large town houses and country estates.
Very often the peasants do not have enough
allotment land. They cannot feed themselves,
clothe themselves, heat their homes, keep their
tools and livestock, secure seed for sowing and
lastly pay their taxes.
Police report into country conditions 1905
Russian failures in the First World War
In the first few months of the First World War, Russia
fought better than had been expected. Russian
forces attacked Germany and Austria-Hungary in
1914 and were only pushed back after fierce fighting
at the battle of Tannenberg.
In 1915, Tsar Nicholas II assumed personal
command of the Russian armed forces. This was a
risky policy; any defeats would be blamed on him.
As it turned out the Tsar was a poor commander.
The Russian army lost confidence in the Tsar after a
string of serious defeats. The Russian soldiers,
poorly trained and equipped, lacking in basic items
such as rifles and ammunition, suffered from
lowering morale. Thousands of men deserted.
Without the support of the army, the Tsar’s position
became increasingly precarious.
Rasputin and Scandal
While Tsar Nicholas II was absent
commanding Russian forces during
the First World War, he left the day to
day running of Russia in the control of
his wife Tsarina Alexandra.
Alexandra came increasingly under
the influence of Gregory Rasputin, a
‘holy man’ who appeared to be able to
heal the haemophilia of Prince Alexis,
the heir to the throne.
Rasputin used his power to win
effective control of the Russian
government. But this aroused envy
and he was murdered in 1916.
Rasputin’s influence undermined the
prestige of the royal family, but his
murder came too late to save them.
The opposition of the Communists
Many middle-class Liberals and Social Revolutionaries (who supported
the peasants) opposed the rule of the Tsar, but the most revolutionary
were the Social Democrats or Communists.
The Communists believed in the ideas of Karl Marx. Marx claimed that
history is all about the struggles between the classes. He claimed that
the capitalist system was unfair because the factory owners (bourgeois)
made profits from the toils of the workers (proletariat). Marx predicted
that the proletariat would violently overthrow the bosses and take
control of the country on behalf of the people.
The Russian Communists were divided into the Bolsheviks led by Lenin
and the Mensheviks led by Trotsky. Lenin believed that the small party
of Bolsheviks should seize power and control Russia on behalf of the
people. Before 1917 Lenin and many of the other Communist leaders
were in exile abroad, plotting to bring about a revolution in Russia
The February Revolution 1917
Russia fared so badly in the First World War there was
a spontaneous uprising against the Tsar in February
1917. This was sparked off by food riots, poor working
conditions and the failure to win the war. The Russian
army refused to shoot at the demonstrators and joined
forces with them. Lenin, in exile in Switzerland, raced
to Petrograd so that he could attempt to seize control
of the revolution.
In March 1917, without the support of the army, the
Tsar was forced to abdicate and a Provisional
Government was set up under Prince Lvov and
Kerensky. Lenin believed that this new government
was weak and would not impose communism on the
Russian people.
In October 1917, Lenin led an armed uprising against
the Provisional Government. His aim was to take
control of Russia and turn it in to a communist country.
The discontent of the Workers
Industrialisation began much later in Russia than in Western Europe.
Huge iron foundries, textile factories and engineering firms were set up.
Most were owned by the government or foreigners, and were located in
the big cities such as St Petersburg or Moscow. By 1900 20% of
Russians were workers living in cities.
Working conditions in the new industrial towns were hard. Pay was very
low. Although strikes and demonstrations were illegal, they often took
place. Strikers were frequently shot by the Tsar’s soldiers or secret police.
‘The whole day we pour out
our blood and sweat. Every
minute we are exposed to
danger.’
Union leaflet 1898
The discontent of the Peasants
Russia was a rural society with over 90% of the
people being poor peasants. Until 1861 the peasants
had belonged to their masters, who could buy and
sell them like animals. When the peasants were freed
in 1861 they were given small amounts of land for
which they had to pay back the government. As a
result most farmers were in absolute poverty.
Agriculture was in desperate need of modernisation.
In contrast, a small number of upper-class people
held most of the wealth and power. This aristocracy
had large town houses and country estates.
Very often the peasants do not have enough
allotment land. They cannot feed themselves,
clothe themselves, heat their homes, keep their
tools and livestock, secure seed for sowing and
lastly pay their taxes.
Police report into country conditions 1905
Russian failures in the First World War
In the first few months of the First World War, Russia
fought better than had been expected. Russian
forces attacked Germany and Austria-Hungary in
1914 and were only pushed back after fierce fighting
at the battle of Tannenberg.
In 1915, Tsar Nicholas II assumed personal
command of the Russian armed forces. This was a
risky policy; any defeats would be blamed on him.
As it turned out the Tsar was a poor commander.
The Russian army lost confidence in the Tsar after a
string of serious defeats. The Russian soldiers,
poorly trained and equipped, lacking in basic items
such as rifles and ammunition, suffered from
lowering morale. Thousands of men deserted.
Without the support of the army, the Tsar’s position
became increasingly precarious.
Rasputin and Scandal
While Tsar Nicholas II was absent
commanding Russian forces during
the First World War, he left the day to
day running of Russia in the control of
his wife Tsarina Alexandra.
Alexandra came increasingly under
the influence of Gregory Rasputin, a
‘holy man’ who appeared to be able to
heal the haemophilia of Prince Alexis,
the heir to the throne.
Rasputin used his power to win
effective control of the Russian
government. But this aroused envy
and he was murdered in 1916.
Rasputin’s influence undermined the
prestige of the royal family, but his
murder came too late to save them.
The opposition of the Communists
Many middle-class Liberals and Social Revolutionaries (who supported
the peasants) opposed the rule of the Tsar, but the most revolutionary
were the Social Democrats or Communists.
The Communists believed in the ideas of Karl Marx. Marx claimed that
history is all about the struggles between the classes. He claimed that
the capitalist system was unfair because the factory owners (bourgeois)
made profits from the toils of the workers (proletariat). Marx predicted
that the proletariat would violently overthrow the bosses and take
control of the country on behalf of the people.
The Russian Communists were divided into the Bolsheviks led by Lenin
and the Mensheviks led by Trotsky. Lenin believed that the small party
of Bolsheviks should seize power and control Russia on behalf of the
people. Before 1917 Lenin and many of the other Communist leaders
were in exile abroad, plotting to bring about a revolution in Russia
The February Revolution 1917
Russia fared so badly in the First World War there was
a spontaneous uprising against the Tsar in February
1917. This was sparked off by food riots, poor working
conditions and the failure to win the war. The Russian
army refused to shoot at the demonstrators and joined
forces with them. Lenin, in exile in Switzerland, raced
to Petrograd so that he could attempt to seize control
of the revolution.
In March 1917, without the support of the army, the
Tsar was forced to abdicate and a Provisional
Government was set up under Prince Lvov and
Kerensky. Lenin believed that this new government
was weak and would not impose communism on the
Russian people.
In October 1917, Lenin led an armed uprising against
the Provisional Government. His aim was to take
control of Russia and turn it in to a communist country.
Russia and World War I
• Russia declares war on AustriaHungary
• Rationing leads to starvation
• War becomes unpopular
• Nicholas II leaves St. Petersburg for
war front in 1915. (Hopes to boost
morale)
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WWI
• Patriotic gesture Nicholas
II goes to the front to
personally take charge
• 1915 over 2 million
Russians die on the front
• Soldiers do not have
sufficient rifles,
ammunition or medical
care
• While Nicholas II at front,
he leaves domestic
affairs to wife, Alexandra
Russia in Dire Straights
• Repeated military reverses, (Ex.=Battle of
Tannenberg)
• Acute food shortages,
• Appointment of inept ministers,
• Lack of industrial production for war,
• And intense suffering of the civilian
population create revolutionary climate by
end of 1916.
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Rasputin
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“Mad Monk”
• Alexandra relied on a
“holy man” Rasputin for
advise on ruling Russia
• Rasputin wasn’t trusted
by the government or
people and had many
enemies
Side Note: Cult of Rasputin
• Charismatic figure at court of Czar
• “Holy man” who helped Czar’s family deal with
hemophilia
• Had influence over Czar’s wife
• When Czar goes to war front, Rasputin gets
supporters in positions of power who are corrupt
and unqualified
• Attempt to poison him unsuccessful. Then he
was shot, and thrown into a river. His body was
later buried, then dug up and burned by
protesters during March Revolution.
40
March Revolution
• Marchers through the streets shouting
“Bread, bread, bread”
• Troops refused to fire
on demonstrators
• Czar abdicated (resigned) March 15th
1917
• Duma set up provisional government
eventually led by Alexander
Karensky
• Russia continued in WWI
• Revolutionary socialists plotted own
course. Many set up Soviets, councils
of workers and soldiers
October (Bolshevik) Revolution1917
• Lead by Vladimir Lenin
“Peace, Land, and
Bread”
• Won support of people
(especially peasants)
42
1918
• March 3rd 1918
Bolsheviks
accept Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk,
ending WWI with
Germany.
43
1919-1920
• 1919- White Armies (Supported Royal
Family and Menshevik troops) attack the
Reds (Bolsheviks) from all directions (with
the support of Czech, Japanese, British,
French, and American forces).
• Allied will to continue fighting after WWI is
limited. Forces leave occupied western
Russia by end of year.
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• 1920- Reds defeat Whites
Rule of Lenin 1920-1924
• Economic Reforms included the New
Economic Plan (NEP)
– Allowed some capitalist ventures
– State controlled large industries and banks
– Peasants controlled small plots of land and their own crops
• Political Reforms
-Bolshevik party became Communist Party
-Russia becomes the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics
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Communism
• A Form of Socialism
– Central Planning of the Economy by the State
• Government (Communist Party) makes
decisions on individual jobs and pay
46
1924
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Lenin Dies
Power Vacuum
Leon Trotsky vs. Joseph Stalin
Stalin takes control
Decides to create a totalitarian state
47
Quick Timeline
• 1917- Czar abdicated (resigned) March 15th 1917
• 1917- Duma set up provisional government eventually led by
Alexander (after Czar abdicates March 1917)
• 1917- October (Bolshevik) Revolution led by Lenin “Peace, Land
and Bread”
• 1918- March 3rd Bolsheviks accept Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending
WWI with Germany.
• 1919- Red Armies (Bolsheviks) vs. White Armies (Supported Royal
Family and Mensheviks)
• 1920- Red Armies defeat White Armies
• 1920-1924- Lenin in Power: NEP, Bolshevik  Communist Party,
Russia becomes Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
• 1924- Lenin dies, Trotsky vs. Stalin Stalin wins= Totalitarian state
Civil War
• Lenin signed Treaty of Brest Litovsk with
Germany. Gave up territory and population
• Civil war for 3 years
• Whites counter revolutionaries loyal to Czar
• Greens anarchists who favored socialism
without strong central government
• National groups Poland, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania able to break free
• National groups that were unable to break free
Allied Invasion
• Japan seized land in East Asia
• Britain, France and U.S. helped Whites because they
wanted Russia to continue in war against Germany
• Allied attempts failed and led to long term communist
distrust of the West