Russia

1
Russia The Road to Revolution
2
Czar Alexander II (1855-1881)

• Alexander was a liberal czar who saw the need for
  major reforms in Russia.
• He abolished serfdom with the Emancipation Act of
  1861.
• Despite his reforms, Alexander was assassinated
  in 1881 by an anarchist.

3
Czar Alexander III (1881-1894)

• Due to his fathers death, Alexander III ended
  all attempts at further reform.
• The former serfs became the working class and
  remained very poor.
• A program of Russification was begun which
  required all minorities under Russian rule to
  adopt Russian culture.

4
Nicholas II (1894-1917)

• Continued the oppressive policies of his father.
  Revolutionary forces grew dramatically during his
  reign wanting to bring change.
• The most radical group was the Bolsheviks who
  called for a violent overthrow of the Czarist
  government.
• In 1904, Russia went to war with Japan in the
  Russo-Japanese War and suffered a humiliating
  defeat.
• On January 6, 1905, 200,000 unarmed workers
  marched on the royal palace to ask Nicholas for
  labor reform. Soldiers fired on the crowd,
  killing 500. This became known as Bloody Sunday.
  It led to the Revolution of 1905.

5
The Revolution of 1905

• A general strike brought the country to a
  standstill.
• Workers demanded a representative assembly and
  formed councils known as Soviets.
• In October 1905, Nicholas created a
  representative assembly known as the Duma.
• The revolution ended, but problems persisted.

6
Rasputin and the Royal Family

• A mysterious peasant holy man named Rasputin
  gained tremendous influence over the royal
  family.
• Their only son and heir to the throne Alexis was
  hemophilic and often close to death.
• Rasputin was able to save his life on several
  occasions when doctors couldnt
• Rasputin grew close to the Czarina Alexandra and
  there were rumors of an affair.
• Rasputin became widely hated by the Russian
  public because of his decadent lifestyle. They
  were unaware of the health problems of Alexis and
  Rasputins role.
• Rasputin was assassinated by a member of the
  royal family in 1916.

7
Father Gregory Rasputin
8
Nicholas and Alexandra
9
The Last Royal Family
10
The Romanov Girls
11
World War I and Revolution

• In July 1914 Russia mobilized troops after
  promising support of Serbia following Archduke
  Ferdinands assassination
• Germany declared war on Russia.
• Russians were at first enthusiastic.
• Early in the war Russia suffered heavy casualties
  and food shortages developed on the home front.
  The war became unpopular.
• In March 1917, bread riots broke out in St.
  Petersburg. Nicholas was forced to abdicate on
  This was known as the March Revolution
• A provisional government headed by Alexander
  Kerensky took over but remained in the war.

12
Alexander Kerensky
13
The March Revolution
14
The Letter of Abdication
15
The Bolshevik Revolution

• As war conditions worsened the provisional
  government lost support.
• A leading Marxist and Bolshevik leader Vladimir
  Lenin returned from exile to Russia in April 1917
  and began preparing for a takeover.
• His slogan was Land, Peace, and Bread
• By the fall of 1917, soviet councils of workers
  known as the proletariat gained strength.
• In November, 1917 the Bolsheviks overthrew the
  provisional government and took control.
• They redistributed all land to the peasants.
• In March 1918, the communist signed the Treaty of
  Brest-Litovsk with Germany and withdrew from WWI.
• The treaty gave up a large part of Russian
  territory and angered many Russians. This led to
  civil war.

16
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin
17
Lenin Arrives in St. Petersburg April 1917
18
The Bolshevik Revolution November 1917
19
The Russian Civil War and the Birth of the Soviet
Union

• Opponents of the Bolsheviks formed an army called
  the White Army and began a civil war in 1918. The
  war raged from 1918 to 1920.
• The Bolsheviks were called the Reds and were led
  by a brilliant military leader Leon Trotsky.
• The Reds eventually defeated the Whites and took
  total control. The Bolsheviks became known as the
  Communists.
• In 1922 the country was divided into republics
  and named the Union of Soviet Socialists
  Republics (USSR).
• In 1924 Lenin died of a stroke and a power
  struggle ensued.

20
Joseph Stalin
21
Joseph Stalin, the Cold War, and Collapse of the
Soviet Union

• A power struggle for control of the Communist
  Party ensued between Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.
• By 1928, Stalin gained control and forced Trotsky
  into exile. He later had him assassinated in
  Mexico.
• Stalin ruled the Soviet Union as a dictator and
  led his country through World War II as a vital
  member of the Allies. He died in 1953.
• He and his successors led the Soviet Union
  through a long Cold War with the United States
  after World War II ended.
• After difficult economic, political, and social
  unrest, the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 with
  the resignation of Soviet Premier Mikhail
  Gorbachev and the Russian Federation was created
  under President Boris Yeltsin.