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The Russian Revolution
•Two revolutions occurred in 1917
•The 1st in March was unplanned
where angry mobs protested
“Bread & Peace!”
•A week after riots ended,
Nicholas II abdicated
•A Provisional Government set up
by the Duma – introduced
reforms but was powerless & lost
support when continued to fight
in WWI
The Russian Revolution
•Socialist revolutionaries
set up own organizations to
challenge Provisional
Government
•Called soviets – councils
made up of workers,
soldiers, & peasants
•Bolshevik party was active
in organizing soviets
The Russian Revolution
•Bolsheviks called for socialist
revolution and were led by
Vladimir I. Lenin
•Bolsheviks won support
among soldiers & workers
w/slogan calling for “Land!
Peace! Bread!”
•Prov. Gov. called for Lenin’s
arrest
The Russian Revolution
•Early Nov. – 2nd Revolution, A.K.A.
Bolshevik Revolution, occurred
•Bolsheviks captured gov’t bldgs &
arrested mbrs. of Prov. Gov’t
•Lenin told peasants they could
keep land they seized after March
Rev. & took Russia out of WWI by
signing Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
w/Germany in March 1918
Vladimir Lenin
• Read the works of Karl
Marx & adapted his
ideas for Russia
• Once Bolsheviks in
power, took steps to
eliminate all other
political parties
• Set up the Cheka, secret
police force
Russian Civil War
• 1918-1921 – Red Army
(communists organized by Leon
Trotsky ) vs. White Army
(opposition grps. made up of
capitalists & royalists &
supported by Britain, France,
and U.S.)
• Red Army won by ruthlessly
taking anything they needed
Russian Civil War
• 1922 – Communists had taken
control over most of the old
Russian Empire
• Reorganized Russia into a union of
4 republics and re-named country
the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, or the Soviet Union
• The Russian Soviet dominated union
• USSR grew to include 15 republics,
made up of more than 100
minorities
Russian Civil War
• 7 million died in civil war
• Crops, factories, & homes
destroyed
• USSR on verge of economic collapse
• Lenin announced New Economic
Policy (NEP) : gov’t stopped seizing
grain from peasants & allowed them
to sell surplus but continued to
control heavy industry allowing just
a few private businesses to operate
Joseph Stalin
• Took over when Lenin
died in 1924 after
struggle with Trotsky
(who was later
murdered by agents)
• Name means “steel”
• Set up brutal
totalitarian state
Joseph Stalin
• Scrapped NEP &
introduced 5-yr. Plans
• Communists believed
socialism was
important step to
reaching communism
• Set ambitious goals
for developing Soviet
industry & increasing
food production
Joseph Stalin
• Emphasized heavy
industry (steel, coal,
oil) over consumer
goods
• Factories operated by
forced labor & many
people worked to their
deaths
• Workers who didn’t
meet quota were
severely punished
Joseph Stalin
• Prison & slave-labor
camps in Siberia
• Propaganda
everywhere
• Collectivization of farms
to increase food
production
• Families would work
together
Joseph Stalin
• But in reality, was
disaster- peasants
resisted new system,
destroyed livestock &
crops
• Stalin responded with
violence – peasants shot
• Kulaks (prosperous
peasants) sent to labor
camps
• 5-10 million died as
result
Communist System of Gov
• Supreme Soviet – elected legislature
• All citizens expected to vote for
members but there was only 1 party
• In theory, Supreme Soviet made laws
but in reality, the Communist Party
ran the country
• Supreme Soviet met only 1x or 2x a
year & only to approve decisions
made by Communist Party
Communist System of Gov
• Communist Party operated at every
level
• Controlled factories, schools, & farms
• Central Committee was head of party
• It elected a Politburo, small executive
body, whose head was the general
secretary (most powerful person in
country)
• Totalitarian – all aspects controlled
Communist System of Gov
• Propaganda & terror used to
convince people to support gov’t
goals
• Mid-1930’s – “GREAT PURGE” – all
those considered enemies of Stalin
were charged with treason &
executed or imprisoned (thousands
disappeared)
• Many believe Stalin killed more
than Hitler ever did in WWII
World War II
• Hitler signed non-aggression pact
with Stalin in 1939 – Hitler free to
fight Britain & France and Stalin
free to expand territory
• Each invaded Poland & split it in 1939
& Stalin took the Baltic nations
• June 1941 – Hitler turned on Stalin &
invaded Soviet Union
World War II
• German siege of Leningrad (formerly St.
Petersburg) for 900 days – 1 million
Russians died
• Soviets finally stopped German advance
in Stalingrad & pushed Germans back to
Eastern Europe, taking over E. Europe
• More than 20 million Russians died in
WWII
• Stalin set up friendly communist gov’ts in
E. Europe to prevent Germany from ever
invading again