Chapter 14: Revolution and Nationalism

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Chapter 14 Revolution and Nationalism

• The Russian Revolution
• World History
• Coach Sparks

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What is a Revolution?

• A complete change in the way things are done
  (Agricultural Revolution, Industrial Revolution,
  Russian Revolution)
• Sometimes peaceful
• Sometimes violent
• Russian Revolution the overthrow of the Czars
  government and the establishment of Communist Rule

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Czar Nicholas II

• Not a strong leader
• Did not keep promises made to increase personal
  freedoms (free speech, freedom of religion,
  freedom of movement, freedom of language)

• Did not give DUMA (national parliament, much
  power)
• Easily influenced by Rasputin (click on photo of
  Rasputin)

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Events and Personalities Leading up the 1917
Revolution

• Karl Marx
• Spontaneous revolution of the working class
• Let the ruling classes tremble at the prospect
  of a communist revolution. Proletarians have
  nothing to lose but their chains. They have the
  world to win. Proletarians of all lands, unite!

• Vladimir Lenin
• Planned revolution by professional
  revolutionaries
• Revolution of all oppressed classes of society

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Bloody Sunday

• Unarmed peasants, led by Father Gapon, marched to
  Winter Palace singing, God Save the Czar
  carrying petition requesting shorter work days,
  minimum wage, calling of a constituent assembly
  to create a constitution for Russia.
• Palace Guards fired upon crowd killing hundreds,
  injuring thousands (without orders)
• Bond between Czar and his people broken forever

Click Here for Video
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World War I

• Russia unprepared for war
• Not enough supplies (food, weapons, clothing)
• Army poorly organized
• Soldiers didnt understand why they were fighting
• Czar Nicholas II and his ministers provided poor
  leadership and organization

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Events of the Revolution

• February 1917
• Spontaneous uprising of peasants
• Protesting shortage of bread
• Industrial strikes
• Tramcars (city transit) forcibly stopped
• Breaking of shop windows
• Waving red flags that read, Down with war!

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Revolutionaries Take Over

• When revolutionary leaders realized the
  revolution was actually happening, they tried to
  organize the events to their benefit.
• Leaders of Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, and Social
  Revolutionaries all joined together calling a
  three-day general strike
• At least 60,000 soldiers join the revolutionaries
• These leaders, together with soldiers set up a
  Soviet (council)
• Take control of Petrograd (St. Petersburg)
• Duma disobeys Czars orders to dissolve and form
  the Provisional Government to run Russia
• Czar Nicholas II steps down in favor of his son,
  Alexis, with Czars brother acting as regent
• Czars brother refuses succession
• Romanov line to Russian throne ends
• Romanov family placed under house arrest
  (confined to palace)
• Russia now governed by a Provisional Government

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Provisional Government

• Declared all Russian citizens equal
• Freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly
  given to all citizens
• Unions and strikes legal
• Planned on continuing war
• Provisional Government made these promises, but
  asked people to wait
• People tired of waiting and listened more
• and more to the revolutionaries

Flag of the Provisional Government
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Alexander Kerensky

• Leader of small socialist party became Russias
  Prime Minister in July
• Wanted to establish Parliamentary Democracy
• Well educated and an excellent speaker, he lacked
  strong leadership abilities

Click picture for video
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Kornilov Affair

• General Kornilov attempted to overthrow
  Provisional Government with military takeover
• To prevent this takeover, Kerensky freed many
  Bolshevik leaders from prison and supplied arms
  to many revolutionaries

Click on photo for more information
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Bolsheviks

• Believed that a small group of trained
  revolutionaries could lead the workers to
  overthrow the tsar and establish socialism in
  Russia
• Led by Lenin
• Tried to attract the people with slogans like,
  All Power to the Soviets and Peace, Land, and
  Bread

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Bolshevik Revolution

• By end of September, there was widespread peasant
  rebellion in Russia
• Lenin left Finland in disguise and attended a
  secret Bolshevik meeting in Petrograd
• Bolsheviks held mass meetings with thousands in
  attendance
• Kerensky declares Russia to be in a state of
  emergency and orders arrest of Trotsky and other
  Bolshevik leaders

Leon Trotsky
Click on photo for more information
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Events of Bolshevik Revolution

• Cruiser Aurora listens to Trotsky and disobeys
  Governments order to go out to sea
• Trotsky orders the removal of thousands of guns
  from the Fortress of Peter and Paul to arm the
  Red Guards (Bolshevik troops)
• Small bands of armed Bolsheviks seize important
  buildings (rail stations, telegraph exchanges,
  banks, printing plants, and powerhouses). Most
  regiments in Petrograd did not get involved.
• Trotsky declares Provisional Government
  overthrown, power now in hands of Soviets
• Kerensky escapes in American Embassy car
• Bolshevik troops surround Winter Palace and give
  ultimatum to surrender or be shelled ministers
  would not surrender
• Cruiser Aurora fires blank shells at Winter
  Palace to signal beginning of attack
• Bolsheviks (composed of soldiers, sailors, and
  workers) storm Winter Palace
• Bolsheviks encounter little resistance, mass
  confusion but few injuries
• Bolsheviks control Government, Lenin was new
  leader

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How Did Bolsheviks Win?

• Kerensky not a strong leader
• Provisional Government disorganized
• Other parties not as organized as Bolsheviks
• Bolsheviks composed of professional
  revolutionaries dedicated to their goals and
  capable of carrying them out

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What Did Lenin Do Upon Coming to Power?

• Immediately proposed an end to War (WWI) (what
  peasants wanted most was peace)
• Proposed the distribution of all land to
  peasants, landowners would not be paid for land
  taken from them
• Lenins proposals adopted
• After the 1917 revolution Russians revered him
  as
• Father of the Revolution

Click on the picture above to learn more!!!
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After the Revolution

• Bolsheviks encountered stiff resistance in some
  cities
• Bolsheviks defeated in Kiev (Ukraine)
• Bolshevik power weak in Siberia, Georgia,
  Armenia, and Central Asia
• Strongest in Central Russia and in large cities
  where many workers lived

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Democracy?

• November 25 elections held to form Constituent
  Assembly in Russia
• Socialist Revolutionary Party got more than twice
  the votes of the Bolshevik Party (peasants liked
  SRPs idea of peasant ownership of land)
• When Constituent Assembly met on January 18,
  1918, Bolsheviks posted their soldiers at the
  entrances preventing many Socialist
  Revolutionaries from entering
• During meeting, Bolsheviks were disorderly and
  succeeded in closing down the assembly
• Russias first chance at democracy short lived

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Ending WWI

• Bolsheviks needed peasant support to stay in
  power
• Lenin decided to get Russia out of WWI and send
  peasant soldiers home
• In March of 1918, Lenin signed treaty with
  Germany accepting German occupation of Ukraine,
  Belorussia, the Baltic's, and Finland
• Russia lost over one quarter of its farmland and
  one third of its population, almost all its coal
  mines, and more than half its industries
• Huge loss to Russias economy

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Civil War

• After signing peace treaty, Bolsheviks faced
  armed resistance to their rule
• Civil war lasted from 1918 to 1921
• Some non-Russian nationalities took up arms to
  win independence from Russia
• Great Britain, France, and the USA sent troops to
  Russia to defeat Bolsheviks because they did not
  want these ideas of revolution spread around the
  world
• Fight by Bolsheviks to establish communism in
  Russia, which was renamed the Russian Soviet
  Federated Socialist Republic (USSR) in 1918
• Bolsheviks changed their name to the Communist
  Part
• Bolsheviks defeated their enemys in 1921

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Bolshevik Success

• Their enemy was not united
• Trotsky created a well-organized and disciplined
  army increasing the size of the Red Army by
  conscripting thousands of workers and peasants as
  well as former Tsarist soldiers
• Bolsheviks increased their support among workers
  and peasants by promising land and a brighter
  future
• Used terror against opponents
• In newly conquered areas, Bolsheviks used secret
  police to destroy all opposition, arresting and
  executing people on the spot

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Results of Civil War

• Much of Russia in ruins
• Cities, land, factories destroyed after almost
  eight years of fighting
• Millions died or fled country
• Bolsheviks had mammoth task of rebuilding country

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End of Romanovs

• Taken to Western Siberia
• After Bolsheviks took power taken to
  Yekaterinburg (in Ural Mountains)
• Lenin sent telegram authorizing their execution
• Taken to cellar at 130 a.m. with family doctor
  and servants
• Nicholas and Alexandra fell first under the hail
  of bullets
• Bullets bounced off the daughters, diamonds found
  in their corsets
• Those who survived the bullets were killed by
  bayonets
• Bodies loaded onto truck, stripped of jewels,
  thrown into a mine
• Mine not deep enough to hide them, bodies dumped
  into a pit in a marshy area
• Even the family dog was killed

Click on the photo above for video
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Chapter Project

• Write a biography on either Leon Trotsky or
  Vladimir Lenin
• Write a story from the perspective of Lenin, a
  member of the royal family, a revolutionary,
  Kerensky, a peasant conscripted to fight for the
  Red Army detailing the events of the fall of
  Czarism
• Create a picture book (that also has some
  writing/captions) which sequences the significant
  events of the fall of Czarism
• Choose Two of the Three!!
• Project Due Date TBA

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Possible References

• This PowerPoint
• Your textbook
• The following websites
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_revolution
  
• http//www.historyguide.org/europe/lecture6.htm
  l
• http//www.historyguide.org/europe/lecture7.htm
  l
• http//www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/
• http//www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSlenin.h
  tm
• http//www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/l
  enin_vladimir.shtml
• www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/timeline/1900/191
  7-b.html
• http//www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUScivilwa
  r.htm http//en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladim
  ir_Lenin