The Russian Revolution

1
The Russian Revolution

• The story of Russia to USSR
• Readings Spodek, pp. 658-661

2
Nicholas I (1825-1855)

• Hated Industrial Revolution and French Revolution
• Wanted to make world safe for autocracy
• Fought against progress in Russia and Europe

3
Alexander II (1855-1881)

• Son of Nicholas I.
• He came to the throne during the Crimean War
• Emancipated the serfs in 1861

4
Alexander III (1881-1894)

• Increased the repressive powers of the police
• Limited the power of the local assemblies
• Pograms against anyone who was not Russian

5
Nicholas II (1894-1917)
6
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

• Imperialistic Conflict over Korea and Manchuria
• Russia trying to ward off rebellion

7
Bloody Sunday-January 22, 1905

• Began in St Petersburg
• Disaster of Russo-Japanese War revealed
  corruption and incompetence of czar
• Created Duma, limited economic reform

8
World War I/ Rasputin

• Had control over the Tsar Nicholas II and the
  Tsarina
• Was murdered in December 1916
• World War I was a disaster.

9
The Revolutions of 1917

• February Revolution (March 8, 1917)
• Czar Nicholas Abdicates

10
How Do Bolsheviks Get Power?

• Lenin arrives in Petrograd (St. Petersburg)April
  16. 1917
• Lenin calls for armed insurrection
• Oct. 16, 1917 (Russian Calendar)
• October Revolution begins, October 24, 1917
  (Russian Calendar), November 6, 1917 (Western
  European Calendar)
• Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin

11
Treaty of Brest LitovskMarch 3, 1918

• Lost 32 of the land
• Lost Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
• Much of the Ukraine
• Much of Belarussia

12
Civil War and Lenins Rule

• From 1918-1921
• Reds
• Whites

• Creation of USSR
• Nationalization of all land and banks
• New Economic Plan
• Lenin dies of a stroke

13
Power Struggle after Lenins Death and Stalins
Rule

• Forced collectivization
• The Great Famine
• The Great Terror
• Purges
• Gulag

14
Contemporary Problems

• Cold War with US from 1945-1991
• Mikhail Gorbachevs Glasnost allowed Democracy to
  Emerge
• Perestroikasocialism not possible in capitalist
  world
• Resigns December 25, 1991
• End of Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War

15
Boris Yeltsin

• Problems
• Economy was a mess
• Workers not paid
• National Debt
• IMF and World Bank Money to Cronies
• Politics a Mess

16
Today in Russia and the Former Soviet Union

• A weak Boris Yeltsin names Vladimir Putin, former
  KGB agent, Premier then President
• Communists Still Have Some Power Many want
  stability of Old System back

17
Todays Russia (continued)

• Ethnic groups want autonomy or Independence
• Putin has destroyed Chechnya
• Reports of rapes and pillage
• Nationalists want powerful Soviet Union
• Questions still needing answers

18
Winners and Losers

• Winners
• Communist Party
• Some Workers
• Massive Literacy Projectall those who learn to
  read and write
• Vastly improved health careall those who lived
  longer and healthier
• Women

• Losers
• Poorest peasants
• Traditional Russian upper classes
• Many of those in traditional Russian middle
  classes
• Those killed or imprisoned because of oppressive
  regime
• Jews, Muslims, other ethnic minorities