Czar Resist Change
• Alexander II was assassinated by
revolutionaries who were angry of
slow pace of reform in Russia
• Alexander III halted all reforms &
used autocracy (Govt. has all power)
• Strict censorship
• Secret police
• Russian official language
• Persecution of Jews (pogromsorganized violence of Jews)
Russia Changes
• Nicholas II becomes Czar 1894 &
continues autocracy
• Russia now begins to industrialize
• 1863-1900 Russian factories
doubled (still behind Europe)
• Russia builds the Trans-Siberian
Railway 1891-1916.
• Connects western Russia to ports
of the Pacific Ocean in the east
Russia Revolts
• Problems occur as Russia industrializes
• Poor working conditions, child labor, low wages and
unions outlawed
• Workers revolt through strikes
• People begin to follow the ideas of Karl Marx
• Proletariat would rise up & overthrow the govt. &
establish “dictatorship of the proletariat”
2 Groups of Revolutionaries Form
1. Mensheviks- moderate group of people who
wanted a broad base of revolutionary support
2. Bolsheviks- Radicals who would sacrifice
everything for change
• Led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin)
– Engaging Personality & Excellent Organizer
• Lenin fled to western Europe to avoid arrest
• Lenin would maintain contact until safe to return
to Russia
Crises in Russia 1904-1917
1. Russo-Japanese War (1904-05)
– Both competed for Korea &
Manchuria
– Japan attacks Russia after Russia
broke treaties that they signed
2. Bloody Sunday: The Revolution
of 1905
– 200,000 workers petition Czar for
better working conditions, personal
freedom and new legislature
– Soldiers open fire on the crowd
Crisis in Russia
• Strikes and riots continued until Nicholas promised
more freedoms & a new legislature
3. World War I
• Nicholas decision to go into the war with no
money, poorly equipped troops not good!
• Nicholas moves his HQ to the war front while his
wife Czarina Alexandra ran the government
• She ignored the chief advisers and relied on
Rasputin
Rasputin
• Self described “holy man”
• Nicholas son, Alexis suffered
from hemophilia
• Rasputin ease the symptoms
• Alexandra allowed Rasputin
to make political decisions
• Opposed reform in Russia
• 1916 Rasputin murdered by a
group of nobles