The Russian Revolution

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The Russian Revolution
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Russia Had Issues With Modernization in the 19th
Century

• All industrialized European powers had growing
  pains, aka ________________, on the way to
  modernization
• Russian aristocracy would like to find a way to
  have the modern life, without losing their
  special positions

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External Pressures Forced the Issue

• Humiliating Loss to Japan in 1905
• Led to rioting in Russia
• Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg
• Duma- symbolic Parliament, but largely powerless

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A Total War/ War of Attrition Wasnt So Great for
Russia

• Russians welcome it at first as a chance to
  restore honor (after loss to the Japanese)
• However, soon the Russians are sending soldiers
  to the front without rifles

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Lenin- His Radicalization

• Older brother executed for plotting against the
  Tsar
• Lenin became completely absorbed with pulling off
  a radical socialist revolution in Russia
• inspired by Karl Marx, among others
• Lenin was such a pain in the govts butt that he
  was eventually exiled from the country

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Lenins Form of Marxism (aka Leninism)

• Agreements with Marx
• Bourgeois are the problem
• Only violent revolution can solve the problem
• Disagreements with Marx
• Revolution can happen in an agrarian society
• Russia
• Revolution will not come about from natural
  historical forces
• Instead, a vanguard of die hard intellectual
  revolutionaries must lead the way

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Lenins Views on WWI

• International conflict is pointless
• It just gives the bourgeois an excuse to divert
  the common man from the internal problems caused
  by capitalist greed by focusing it instead on war
  with another people
• New nationalism-style, right?
• According to Lenin, the true fight is class
  warfare
• Foot soldiers in all countries should turn guns
  on

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UH, OH!
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Total War Growing Chaos in Russia An
Opportunity for Revolutionaries

• Russian Soldiers started to dissert a war that
  seemed to guaranteed only death
• Huge protests began in Russian cities on account
  of rationing and other hardship
• people are willing to start listening to radicals
  
• Plus, the central government isnt so
  well-defended at this point

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Poor Leadership by the Tsar Made Things Worse

• Journey to the front
• Rasputin
• Further Level of Chaos

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The March Revolution

• Finally, rioting became so bad that Tsar Nicholas
  II abdicated
• The Duma, which had been largely symbolic,
  declared the right to rule (Under Karensky)
• The Petrograd Soviet, a collection of workers who
  met (claimed to speak for the working class)
  declared themselves the rightful rulers
• The two shared power ? agreed on a very liberal,
  nearly socialist new govt
• Many natural rights and freedoms
• However, fatal mistake ? continued to fight WWI
  (which was the real source of Russias problems)

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Meanwhile, Germany and Lenin Worked Together

• Lenin- I am missing the revolution I am meant to
  lead
• He was in Switzerland
• He managed to convince Germany to send him back
  to Russia
• Why was Germany so easily convinced?

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St. Petersburg
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Lenins First Attempt to Seize Power Failed

• Lenin had to go into hiding

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Continued Anarchy Led to A Second Chance for
Lenins Bolsheviks

• Duma and Soviet continue to argue
• Duman makes a major error with Army Order 1
• Attempt to win popularity by weakening the
  hierarchy in the army
• led to chaos
• some of the army leadership marched their armies
  away from the front to overthrow the Duma
• Karensky armed the Bolsheviks to help him against
  the army

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Never, never, never, never, never, never, never.
give Lenin guns!

• The Bolsheviks promptly turned their guns on the
  Provisional Govt and seize power
• Known as the October or Bolshevik Revolution
  (2nd revolution)
• Trotsky was Lenins right hand man in all of this
  

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Lenin heres a gun. Help me fight the White
Army! You hate them, too!
Ha, ha, ha
Yes, but I hate everyone in charge even you!
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Seeds of Totalitarianism

• The Bolsheviks Claim They Will Hold a Vote to
  legitimate their rule
• They do badly in this vote and just ignore it
• Remember, Lenin believes in a dedicated vanguard
  to lead the people
• Even if they dont want to be led? Yes!

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The Russian Civil War

• Civil War Broke Out
• Bolsheviks aka the Red Army
• The Whites (Tsarists, aristocrats, conservatives)
• Lenins Reds Fought Effectively
• Dropped out of World War I
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
• Used Harsh Military tactics
• Eliminated the Romanov family

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• During the civil war, Lenins forces executed the
  tsar and his family. Why would they do this?
• No rallying point for the whites.
• Rumors existed for a long time after that one of
  the tsars daughters survived. Anybody know her
  name?
• Anastasia
• Lenins forces won the civil war. They renamed
  Russia the
• U.S.S.R. or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
  or Soviet Union
• Lenin had engineered the first successful Marxist
  revolution in history. The problem is that he had
  little time to enjoy his victory because
• He died of a stroke in 1922, only 5 years after
  the Revolution started
• Instead, the task of running the Russian
  Revolution fell to
• Joseph Stalin

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• Flags of Communist Nations

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The Treaty Of Brest-Litovsk
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Communist Russia Was Isolated as a Pariah

• U.S. even sent troops to help the Whites win
• Some historians have argued that this actually
  helped the Redshuh?
• Communism was seen as a terrible threat
• Preached international revolution
• No private property
• Russia was not invited to the treaty negotiation
  at the end of the war
• Irony?- theyd lost the most in the war