37
Russian Revolution, or Don’t Tell Me That History is Boring Romanovs, Rasputin, and Lenin

Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Russian Revolution, or Don’t Tell Me That History is Boring

Romanovs, Rasputin, and

Lenin

Page 2: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Part I: The Reign of Nicholas II

Czar Nicholas II and Czarevitch (Crown Prince) Alexei

Page 3: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

The Czar and Family

• Czar Nicholas II• Czarina Alexandra

• Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia

• Czarevitch (Crown Prince) Alexei

Page 4: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Czar’s Naiveté

• Thought Russia faced no serious threats

• Thought all Russians loved him as their “little father.”

• Shy, quiet man, isolated from society

• Czarina Alexandra domineering

• Czarevitch Alexei had hemophilia

Page 5: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

A Politically Unstable Russia

• Nicholas II absolute monarch

• Middle class liberals wanted constitutional monarchy

• National minorities (e.g., Poles, Lithuanians) wanted independence

• Peasants wanted land • Factory workers wanted

better working conditions“The Tsar, the Priest, and the Rich Man on the Shoulders of the Laboring People”

Page 6: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Part II: The 1905 Revolution

“Bloody Sunday”--1905

Page 7: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

“Bloody Sunday”--1905• Father Gapon led

peaceful march through St. Petersberg to Czar’s Winter Palace.

• Workers wanted constitution, better conditions, unions

• Thought Czar was their friend and would protect them

• Palace guards fired on workers, killing hundreds

Page 8: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

1905 Revolution

• Sparked by “Bloody Sunday”

• Riots throughout Russia

• Workers struck, soldiers and sailors mutinied, peasants burned and looted

• Russia completely shut down

• Czar isolated

Page 9: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

The First Soviets• Radicals organized

workers, peasants, and soldiers into soviets(councils)

• Grassroots committees spread revolutionary ideas

• “All Power to the Soviets!”

Page 10: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

The Duma• Czar created Duma

(parliament) in response

• Guaranteed freedom of conscience, speech, assembly, and press

• Between 1906 and 1916, Czar shut down 4 Dumas

• Czar kept his autocratic control

Czar Nicholas II

Page 11: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Stolypin’s Reforms

• Prime Minister 1906 to 1911

• Gave land to millions of landless peasants

• Assassinated in 1911 by anarchists

Page 12: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Part III: World War I in Russia

Page 13: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

WWI in Russia• Russia not prepared for

war

• Nicholas II led troops from front—bad idea

Page 14: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

The Russian Army

• Huge losses to Germans—170,000 at the Battle of Tannenberg alone

• Poor transportation• 1915—no more

rifles, used clubs• 15 million

mobilized by end of war

Page 15: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Nicholas at Front, Rasputin at the Court

• Czarina Alexandra controlled the day-to-day running of Russia

• Influenced by Rasputin, illiterate, adulterous monk

• Only person who could stop Alexei’s bleeding

• Engaged in wild orgies with members of court

• Life in Petrograd (St. Petersberg) became out of control with scandal after scandal

Page 16: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Death of Rasputin• Betrayed by disciple,

Prince Yussoporov• Given cakes and wine

laced with cyanide• Then shot with revolver

• Then knifed, kicked, clubbed

• Finally, stuffed in hole in ice in River Neva

• Coroner: death from drowning

Page 17: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Discontent

• People in cities had no food

• Peasants --no markets for food

• Average war losses—30,000 per month

• Thousands of troops deserting per month

Page 18: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Destruction During WWI

• 1,650,000 dead; 3,850,000 wounded; 2,410,000 taken prisoner

• Billions $ lost in loans, damage, expenses

• Huge loss of territory to Germany with Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

Russian prisoners after defeat in East Prussia

Page 19: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Part IV: The February Revolution (March 1917)

Alexander Kerensky, Provisional Government

Vladimir Lenin, Bolsheviks

Vs.

Page 20: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

The Women’s March• Thursday, February 23,

women demonstrated in Petrograd

• Demanded “bread and peace”

• Became a revolt• Factory workers,

soldiers and sailors joined

• Chanted “down with the monarchy,” “peace now,” “bread for all”

• Joined by some members of Duma

Page 21: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

The Petrograd Soviet

• Became center of authority in revolutionary Russia

• Soviets all over Russia sent representatives to Petrograd

• Executive Committee of Petrograd Soviet took charge

Page 22: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

The Provisional Government• Formed by Duma• Purpose: restore order,

continue the war• Goal: create

constitutional monarchy

• Competed with Petrograd Soviet for control

Women’s battalion, defending Provisional Government, near the Winter Palace in Petrograd, 1917

Page 23: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Czar Abdicates, March 2

• Czar out of touch at front

• Czar’s train blocked from returning to Petrograd by workers

• Abdicated (gave up power) to brother Michael

• Michael refused; Romanov dynasty ended

Grand Duke Michael

Page 24: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Alexander Kerensky

• Leader of Provisional Government

• Democratic socialist• Went to school with Lenin as

a boy• Key decision: keep Russia in

war, don’t give land to peasants

• Clashed with Petrograd Soviet

Page 25: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Part V: Lenin and the Great October Revolution (November

1917)

Vladimir LeninLeon Trotsky

Page 26: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Lenin’s Leadership• Real name: Vladimir

Ilyich Ulyanov• Exiled in Switzerland;

smuggled back to Russia by Germans

• Lenin’s Bolsheviks (“majorityists”) vs. Mensheviks (“minorityists”)

• Lenin only let career revolutionaries join; Mensheviks wanted everyone to join

Page 27: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Peace, Land, and Bread

• All power to the soviets of workers, peasants, and soldiers!

• Peace (for soldiers), land (for peasants), bread (for workers)

• Great speaker

• Gained support from common people

• Lost support from other parties and Mensheviks

Page 28: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

The Red Guard

• Lenin went into hiding in July 1917

• Trotsky commanded Bolshevik militia, the Military Revolutionary Committee or Red Guard

• Defended Petrograd against Russian army

• Gained weapons, ammunition, and experienceTrotsky saluting a Red

Guard

Page 29: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Russian (October) Revolution• Lenin planned to topple

Provisional Government• Kerensky thought it

wouldn’t work

• Most people so tired of war and confusion that they didn’t oppose Bolsheviks

• Trotsky’s troops seized most of Petrograd without a fight

• Lenin proclaimed a Bolshevik state

Revolution, by Kirakov (Storming the Winter Palace)

Page 30: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Civil War (1917-1921): Reds vs. Whites

• Revolution only succeeded in Petrograd at first

• Lenin abolished private property• No elections—commissars run

country• Lenin created Cheka, secret police, to

arrest and kill all enemies of Revolution

• Army officers, social democrats, nobles, capitalists opposed to Bolsheviks

• Opponents called the Whites• By 1922 Bolsheviks won Civil War

thanks to Trotsky’s leadership

Page 31: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Example of Lenin’s Use of Terror: “Hanging Orders” (don’t

have to copy this)"Comrades!...Hang (hang

without fail, so that people will see) no fewer than one hundred known kulaks, rich men, bloodsuckers.... Do it in such a way that... for hundreds of versts around, the people will see, tremble, know, shout: 'They are strangling and will strangle to death the bloodsuckers kulaks'. ...Yours, Lenin".

Banner: “We will liquidate the kulaks as a class.”

Page 32: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Death of Czar and family (don’t have to copy)

• Killed as Civil War was raging

• Lenin did not want them captured by Whites

• July 17, 1918 killed• Ana Anderson

Page 33: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Part VI: The Soviet Union Under Lenin

V.I. Lenin, 1922

Page 34: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Chaos in Russia

• Russia devastated after WWI and Civil War—lost ½ population

• High inflation, low wages, Western blockade

• Was communism destroying Russia?

Page 35: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

New Economic Policy, 1921-1928

• “One step backward, two steps forward”

• Peasants allowed to grow and sell their own food

• Small businesses allowed to operate

Page 36: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Communist Party• Lenin wanted to create

modern society• Equality of women; vote

for everyone; healthcare

• Abolished nobility and religion

• Bolshevik replaced by “Communist Party”

• Education key to industrialization

Page 37: Russian revolution, or don’t tell me that

Death of Lenin (don’t have to copy

this)

• Suffered many strokes

• Died in 1924

• Body preserved in Red Square

• Warning: Stalin had “unlimited authority concentrated in his hands” and suggested “comrades find a way to remove him from that post”