Name: ______________________
Date: ______
Section Three: Revolution in Russia (393-395)
Directions: As you read each section, takes notes in bullet form, in your own words under each of the headings. There is also a column for your
comments, connections, and predictions. Use it!!
The Russian Revolution
After the Revolution
Comments/connections…
-by the end of 1916, Russia was once again on the
edge of a revolution
-conditions in Russia worsened, people wanted
changed
-march 8 1917, unhappy citizens took to the streets of
Petrograd (Russian capital) to protest lack of food and
fuel
-police refused to shoot the rioters
-government was powerless
-czar Nicholas II ordered the Duma (Russia’s
legislature) to disband
-Duma defied order
-Czar basically lost control of the nation
-March 15 Nick is forced to abdicate as czar
-monarchy ends
-after, duma establishes a provisional (temporary)
government
-led by Aleksandr Kerensky
-Russians still unhappy w/ new leadership…
-government planned to continue fighting in WWI
despite the Russians growing tired of war
-leading the opposition to Kerensky’s prov. gov’t: the
Bolsheviks
-who wanted a fundamental change in Russian gov’t
and society (an immediate Marxist revolution)
-planned to abolish private property and enforce social
equality
-Bolshevism later became known as MarxismLeninism, after Bolshevik leader Vladmir Lenin
-after, Lenin set about ending Russia’s involvement
in WWI
-sent Leon Trotsky to negotiate peace w/ Central
powers
-Trotsky had to accept agreement that was harsh on
Russia
-Russia gained peace, had to give up big chunks of
its empire
-the acceptance of this upset a lot of Russians
-some of the Bolsheviks’ opponents organized into
what became the “White Army”
-opposed communism
-whites received some military help from countries
that opposed Bolsheviks: France and the US
-civil war between Red Army (Bol) and White army
for three years
-millions died in fighting and famines
-Bolsheviks triumphed in late 1920
-civil war pushed Russia’s collapsing economy to
the edge of total ruin
-Lenin introduced the New Economic Policy which
permitted some capitalist activity
-plan meant to encourage food production
-by 1922, economy starts to improve
-Russia reunited w/ several neighboring lands that
had been part of the Russian Empire before 1917
(new country called Soviet Union)
-Russia’s communist leadership dominated new
country
-Lenin dies, his death leads to a new struggle for
-even though I’m personally against
communism, Lenin’s plan for Russia
seemed to work the most
-why were the russian’s unhappy with
Aleksandr’s leadership of the Duma? I feel
like they were upset for the wrong
reasons… for the economic state that they
were in rather than the leadership. They
wanted to see change right away
-who was Russia engaged in war with?
-what is the “Eastern Front”? That might be
a dumb question….
-What is Russia now? Fragmented
countries?
-I feel like communist is hard when the
country is already unwealthy… it’s more
like share the poor…
-who had been exiled from Russia due to his
revolutionary ideas
-nonetheless, he returned to Russia in April 1917
-return was arranged by Germany, who hoped Lenin
would stir unrest in Russia
-1917, Kerensky gov’t orders a final military offense
against the Central Powers along the Eastern Front
-fails
-widespread rebellion within the Russian army
-army collapses
-Lenin leads a Bolshevik takeover, November, armed
Bols attack provisional gov’t
-(that was called the October Rebellion)
-Kerensky’s gov’t collapse
-Lenin is leader
-established a radical communist program
-private ownership of land = illegal
control