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Russia’s Revolutions Part I Background
1
FYI: Nicholas’s wife, Alexandra, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and King George V of England were first cousins, and
shared their grandmother, Queen Victoria of Great Britain. Czar Nicholas and King George V were first
cousins because their mothers were sisters. They looked liked twins.
Define: Nicholas II czar
Romanov socialist Leon Trotsky
Karl Marx
The Communist Manifesto
proletariat
bourgeoisie
capitalism Siberia
Vladimir Lenin Menshevik
Bolshevik
Answer the following questions in detail:
1. Specify the results of each war that took place during Tsar Nicholas II reign and what each led to.
2. What were Karl Marx’s ideas about labor put forth in The Communist Manifesto?
3. What were the revolutionaries’ differences within the socialist movement that sparked the revolutions?
Tsar Nicholas II with King George V of
Great Britain
After the death of Czar Alexander III in 1894, his son, Nicholas II became the last Romanov czar or emperor of
Russia. The Romanov family had ruled Russia since 1613 as autocrats. Nicholas II, who married Alexandra,
granddaughter of Great Britain’s Queen Victoria, was an absolute ruler, just like his autocratic ancestors.
During Nicholas’ reign, Russia was involved in 2 unsuccessful wars & 2 bloody revolutions. In 1904, Russia fought in
the Russo-Japanese War. In this war, Russia’s entire navy was destroyed by the Japanese. Russia suffered a
humiliating defeat and this war led to the first, but unsuccessful, revolution to overthrow the government in 1905.
The next war, World War I, proved to be fatal too. During the war, Russia accounted for 32% of all the Allied
deaths. One million civilians starved to death and another 500,000 died from warfare. Nine million casualties were
Tsar Nicholas II
recorded, with 1.7 million military deaths. The losses equaled 2% of Russia’s total population. As a result, a second
revolution started in 1917. This revolt led to the end of Czar Nicholas II and the Romanovs. Autocracy died and was replaced with a form
of socialism whose Russian roots began in 1900.
Revolutionary Roots: In 1900, industrialization in Russia was marked by grueling working conditions, low wages, long hours, & child
labor. Workers, feeling oppressed and helpless, organized protests. When the Russo-Japanese War was lost, discontent exploded. The loss
of the navy to Japan proved that Russian industry lagged behind the world. Despite this evidence, nothing improved, so 50% of industrial
workers engaged in protests. A rising political group, called socialists, led these strikes and demonstrations. A socialist is a person who
believes that the means of production should be owned by society not by private owners, it favors workers’ rights and opposes capitalism.
The socialist movement was led by Leon Trotsky, who
helped found the Russian Workers' Union in 1897 & served
prison time for inciting labor protests. He was introduced to
socialism in the 1848 book “The Communist Manifesto,”
coauthored by Karl Marx, a leading German socialist exiled
in London. Marx loathed rich capitalists. His book supported
the working class. It said that the value of goods is based on
the amount of labor that is put into them. He also believed
that all the profits that went to owners of industry, ought to
Karl Marx
Leon Trotsky
Vladimir Lenin
belong to the working class who created them.
The Manifesto called the working class: the proletariat. It said the proletariat was exploited by the bourgeoisie or the moneymaking
business owners. Trotsky liked Marx’s ideas. He agreed that laborers were used by capitalists to make money. The economic system they
opposed was capitalism, where the means of production is controlled by private owners & workers’ labor produces profits for the owner.
In 1897, Nicholas II’s government exiled Trotsky to Siberia, the vast barren, land east of the Ural Mts. known for harsh winters.
Trotsky escaped in 1901 & went to London & joined the socialist party. He worked with followers of Marx. The Russian Marxist leader
there was Vladimir Lenin, a radical socialist and communist revolutionary who would later replace Nicholas II as head of Russia. Lenin
was also convicted of revolutionary activities & sent to Siberia. In 1896 he fled to Germany and lived in exile on and off for 20 years.
Trotsky joined Lenin to lead the 2nd revolution in 1917, which deposed, imprisoned and executed the czar and his family.
Revolutionary Differences: Marxists believed that the industrial class
of workers would overthrow the czar and form “a dictatorship of the
proletariat.” But in 1903, the Marxists split into two groups because of
a disagreement in radicalism. The moderate Marxists - Mensheviks wanted a broad base of popular support for the revolution, meaning
more people should be involved in government. The radical Marxist Bolsheviks - wanted a small elite group of trained revolutionaries who
were willing to sacrifice everything for change. The Bolsheviks, led by
Lenin, wanted this elite party to be the leaders of the revolutionary
workers and the government. Lenin, a ruthless man & clever organizer,
wanted to be the elite’s leader. During his 20-year exile, Lenin kept in
contact with the Bolsheviks. He waited to return to Russia. In 1905 he
secretly slipped into Russia to lead the 1st revolution, which failed. He
fled to Switzerland in 1906, but returned in 1917 to lead a victorious
revolution and upend the czarist regime forever.
The Bosheviks leading the Revolution.
A painting by a Russian artist in 1920.
Russia’s Revolutions Part 2 Failure then Victory
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Define: Bloody Sunday Cossacks October Manifesto Duma Rasputin
March Revolution Alexander Kerensky Provisional Government soviets
1. Describe what happened on Bloody Sunday.
2. Explain what the czar said in his manifesto.
3. Why did the Duma and Revolution fail?
4.What were the consequences of WWI to Russia/ the government? 5. What role did Rasputin play in the downfall of the czar?
6. What other problems did the czar face in the war by 1917?
7.What are the causes and effects of the March Revolution?
The 1905 Russian Revolution: Trade unions were banned in Russia so in 1904 an Orthodox priest, set up a workers’ union. In January
1905, after 4 union members were fired, the priest called a strike. It peaked when workers marched on the Czar’s Winter Palace in St.
Petersburg to deliver a petition. The workers were met with violence and the 1st Russian Revolution began on Bloody Sunday.
Bloody Sunday: January 22, 1905, 150,000 demonstrators, armed with a petition, marched on the Winter Palace. The petition called for:
a reduction in the working day from 11 to 8 hours; the right to strike; universal suffrage; and an end to the Russo-Japanese War. These
marchers were not anti-czar. They were dressed in their best clothes, carried holy icons of Jesus, and portraits of the czar. They sang
hymns to Nicholas II, whom they called their ‘little father.’ They wanted to be heard in a peaceful manner. But the marchers were barred
from the palace by thousands of armed troops. The soldiers fired on the unarmed crowd. Cossacks, Russian soldiers on horseback,
charged, slashing people with their sabers. An eyewitness described: “the pools of blood on the white snow, the whips, the dead, the
injured, the children shot.” More than 200 were killed & 1000 wounded. Bloody Sunday, as it was called, sparked violence across the
country. Strikes and insurrections crippled industry. By October the czar issued his ‘October Manifesto’ to express his sorrow. It read:
‘The disturbances and unrest in St Petersburg, Moscow and in many other parts of our Empire have filled our heart with great
sorrow. The welfare of the Russian Sovereign and His people is inseparable and national sorrow is His too. The present
disturbances could give rise to national instability …The oath which We took as Tsar compels Us to use all Our strength,
intelligence and power to put a speedy end to this unrest… Fundamental civil freedoms will be granted to the population,
including real personal inviolability, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association.’
Nicholas promised reform and freedoms. He created a Duma, Russia’s first parliament. The Duma met in 1906. Its leaders wanted a
constitutional monarchy like Great Britain, but Nicholas did not want to share his power, so he dissolved the Duma after ten weeks. The
Duma was recalled and dis missed two more times until all the members agreed to let the czar rule as he wished. The revolution and the
Duma were failures! Nicholas remained an autocrat in charge of the nation.
WW I: In 1914, Nicholas II dragged an unprepared Russia into World War I. Weak generals and poorly equipped troops were victims of
German warfare. Machine guns and tanks mowed down Russians troops by the thousands. Defeat followed defeat. In less than a year,
Russia’s military suffered more than 4 million casualties. The people blamed the czar. In 1915, Nicholas, who insisted on leading the
army, moved his military headquarters to the front lines where he hoped to rally his troops. He failed.
Meanwhile his wife, Alexandria, ran the government. She ignored the czar’s advisers.
Instead, she fell under the spell of Rasputin, a mystical faith healer of peasant origin who
claimed to have magical powers to cure hemophilia. Alexei, the only son of the czar,
suffered from hemophilia, a hereditary condition in which blood clotting is difficult,
causing severe bleeding. Rasputin eased the boy’s suffering. The czarina considered him to
be a voice of God & listened to his advice. This was bad news..
Rasputin opposed all reforms. He secured powerful positions for his conservative
friends. Many opposition politicians vilified Rasputin’s association with the czar to
undermine imperial credibility and push for reform. Rasputin helped their efforts by
claiming to be a trusted advisor. But his lewd off-campus behavior emerged in the press.
His reputation was in shambles. In December 1916, three noblemen murdered Rasputin.
They poisoned his wine w/ cyanide, shot him in the stomach, the back, & the head. He still lived. One man continuously kicked him in the
head. He still lived. One beat him with a two-pound dumbbell. He still lived. They bound him with rope, wrapped him in a heavy cloth &
threw him into the freezing river. He still lived. His body floated below the ice. His final autopsy reveled that he died of exposure to cold.
A Second Revolution: By 1917 the war was going so badly that soldiers mutinied, deserted, or ignored orders. People were starving and
lost all faith in the government. People from all classes were clamoring for change and an end to the war. Nicholas & Alexandra proved
incapable of helping. Food, fuel, & supplies dwindled at home & on the frontlines. Soldiers, disheartened by loss, starving and cold, left
to fight no more. Inflation soared. In March 1917 the city of St. Petersburg was starving. On March 4th workers in the city’s largest
factory demanded a 50% wage increase to buy food. The management refused. Workers went on strike. On March 8th 30,000 workers
were locked out. Bread riots broke out. Strikers brought the city to a standstill. Nicholas was informed and the Duma pleaded with him to
release emergency food supplies. He refused. He ordered the police to put down the riots. On March 10th the police tried to carry out the
orders. People were killed. The Duma told Nicholas [at the front w/ his troops] of the failure. Soldiers, brought in to put down the rioters,
had joined them. So Nicholas disbanded the Duma. On March 11th the Duma disobeyed Nicholas - the first act of the Russian Revolution,
and called a meeting. Alexander Kerensky, a Duma representative, said 25,000 soldiers mutinied and were marching to the Duma to
support it. This was the height of the March Revolution.
The Duma formed a temporary government, the Provisional Government, to replace the czar. It forced Czar Nicholas II to abdicate
his throne on March 15, 1917. One year later revolutionaries executed Nicholas and his family. The 300-year rule of the Romanovs was
over. The March Revolution brought down the czar but failed to set up a strong replacement government. The Duma’s provisional
government, led by Kerensky was doomed. Kerensky’s decision to continue fighting in WWI was the wrong call. As war dragged on,
conditions worsened. Peasants demanded land to grow food. Workers demanded changes and grew radical. Socialists, formed soviets,
councils of workers, peasants, and soldiers to rule locally. In many cities, the soviets had more influence and power than the provisional
government. This temporary government was doomed by the return of Lenin and an October Revolution.