RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
Long live the Soviets. Down with the Czar.
The C(t)z(s)ar and the Missus
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Nicholas II (Romanov) – charming
simpleton, sheltered from
reality….people often said he’d have
been better off being a country
aristocrat
Wife Alexandra was granddaughter of
Queen Victoria and was a German
princess. Mildly hysterical, esp since
her son was a hemophiliac
Idealistic and patriotic, thought Russia
could “do this” (as in participate
successfully in WWI)
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Nicholas II and
his first cousin,
George V of UK.
They were also
cousins with
Kaiser Wilhelm II
of Germany
Also directly
related to
monarchs in
Greece and
Denmark
The Royal Fam
Rasputin #playa#illest#cray
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Illiterate “holy” man and preacher from
Siberia
Associated with orgiastic rituals and seen as a
degenerate even though he probably was not
actually engaging in these things
Came into favor with the czarina, who was
looking for a healer for her son, since doctors
had failed to cure him
 She
was a Russian Orthodox convert and took to
heart their belief in the healing power of prayer
99 Problems…
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Just like Louis XVI before the French Rev, Nicholas II
is a weak leader in an absolutist system
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Coronation in 1896 had a public festival planned that
ended in tragedy when 1400 were trampled and 1300 were
injured
Russo-Japanese War, 1904
Bloody Sunday , 1905
1905 Revolution
Formation of the Duma, 1905 (but not giving it the power)
Pogroms against Jews, 1903- 06
World War I – sending troops out to battle without rifles,
told to pick among the dead on the front lines (Russia,
FTW of being unprepared)
WW1 is a drag….
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Well, obvi things were not going well for
Russia
Summer of 1915 Nicholas II goes to the front
lines to rally the troops
Czarina Alexandra and Rasputin left in charge
 She
tries to recapture the absolutist spirit
 Aristocrats decide Rasputin needs to go
 Murder
him (kind of multiple times….)
March Revolution, 1917
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In March 1917, food shortages led to
riots in the city of Petrograd (St.
Petersburg) that soon spread
elsewhere
March 12, Duma declared a
provisional govt to be under
control. Alexander Kerensky held
spot of prime minister (socialist and
patriot)
 Considered
to be the “freest nation in
the world” for a time
End to an Era of Czardom
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Nicholas abdicated his throne – March 15,
1917
Went into hiding at the behest of the Kerensky
govt until a local Soviet weeded out the
“enemies of the state,” including his entire fam
Provisional Govt = FAIL
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Kerensky wanted to continue with the war to
minimize loss to Russian territory
Local Soviets (councils) popping up everywhere
Petrograd soviet led by workers and soldiers –
massive grassroots movement that tried to release
their own laws, weakening the power of the
provisional govt
Army Order 1 – stripped officers of their authority (to
try to get rid of hierarchy)
 Ended up with peasants slaughtering officers
 Desertion of front lines a massive issue
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Vladimir Lenin
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Socialist from the time of his
brother’s execution for treason
Major beliefs:
 1.
Capitalism must be destroyed by
violent rev, revisionist socialism was
worthless
 2. Socialist revolution possible if the
peasants were mobilized
 3. Necessity of a highly disciplined
workers’ party controlled by an
intellectual elite
Bolshe…wha?
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Bolsheviks – majority – believed that the party
should be ruled by elite few. Lenin’s belief
Mensheviks – minority – believed the party
should be run democratically
He’s Back Baby
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After being exiled for being a political agitator,
he spent time in Western Europe schmoozing
with socialists until WW1
 Disagreed
endeavor
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with WW1 – said it was imperialistic
Germans sent him back to Russia to stir up
trouble and help their own cause after the
March Rev
Another Revolution?
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Summer of 1917, Lenin takes advantage of an
internal issue between Kerensky and his top
general
Leon Trotsky, Lenin’s military mastermind,
seizes govt buildings and declares all power to
the soviets, with Lenin at the helm
 Appealed
to many who were tired of the anarchy
 Lenin also legally approved peasant control of
aristocratic lands
Civil War
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Lenin tried to allow for voting, but his
followers did not gain enough seats in the
Constituent Assembly, so he dismantled it
White Army – mishmosh of monarchists,
moderate socialists, old army, southern states
Red Army –Lenin’s supporters
Red ultimately won out in 1920
 Trotsky
ran a tight ship – drafted soldiers, shot
deserters
A New Russia?
Official End to WW1
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Treaty of BrestLitovsk signed with
Germany to end
war in March 1918
Ceded 1/3 of their
western lands to
Germany
Life in the New Era
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Lenin used Cheka
(secret police) to
weed out enemies of
the state
Rallied around
Ethnic Russians
Creation of USSR
officially in 1922