RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONchapter 11.5

CHARACTERISTICS OF

19TH CENTURY CZARS

• Autocracy

• Harsh measures against opponents

• Secret police

• Pogroms

• Oppression of non-Russians

• Resistance to change

EVENTS OF 1905

Bloody Sunday

• 200,000 workers march on czar’s winter palace

• Troops fire on crowd, 1,000 + killed

Creation of Duma

• First parliament of Russia

• Czar forced to share power; dissolved it after 10 weeks

NICHOLAS II’s MISTAKES

• Brought Russia into WWI

• Moved Headquarters to front in WWI

• Czarina Alexandra given power; she became influenced by Rasputin

• Rasputin was freaky, crazy, and corrupt

• People poor and starving; lots of unrest

• MARCH 1917 (February in Russian Calendar)

• 200,000 workers march on St. Petersburg (Petrograd) over bread and fuel shortages

• Czar’s soldiers joined the crowds

“DOWN WITH AUTOCRACY!”

PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

Temporary Government

Led by:

Alexander Kerensky

But the Provisional Government did not have as much power as the…

• Formed by social revolutionaries

• Local councils in cities

• Consisted of workers, peasants, and soldiers

MISTAKES OF PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

Biggest mistake: kept Russia in World War One

Also, did not help workers or peasants with food and fuel shortages

Lost all support!

NOVEMBER REVOLUTION

Led by:

Vladimir Lenin, leader of Bolshevik Party (Communists!)

His slogan:

“Peace, Land, and Bread”

• Bolshevik Red Guards took over gov’t offices; arrested Prov. Gov’t leaders

• Bolsheviks in power November 1917

• All farmland distributed to peasants

• Factories controlled by workers

• End Russia’s involvement in WWI

• Gained many opponents, leading to Russian Civil War

RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR1918-1920

RED ARMYRED ARMY• Bolsheviks(Communists!)• Led by…Leon Trotsky

WHITE ARMYWHITE ARMY• Opponents of

Bolsheviks in Russia; western nations like the USA

RESULTS OF THE CIVIL WAR

• Red Army crushes all opposition to Bolshevik rule

• Russian economy destroyed: no trade or industrial production

BOLSHEVIKS BECOME KNOWN AS…

THE COMMUNIST PARTY

(still led by Lenin)

THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY1921

To help Russia recover from the war Lenin allowed for a little bit of capitalism

• Peasants could sell surplus (extra) crops for profit

• Individuals could buy and sell goods for profit

• Some small factories, farms, and businesses allowed

NEW COUNTRY

• Lenin organized Russia into self-governing republics

• Central Government controlled them!• 1922: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

(USSR)• Capital: Moscow• Lenin had created a “Dictatorship of the

Communist Party”• This becomes known as Leninism

Soviet Union Moving Forward

• 1924 – Lenin dies

• Power struggle between Leon Trotsky & Joseph Stalin– Stalin wins, Trotsky murdered

• Stalin turns to ruthless measures to win dictatorial power