Infograph Activity
A.
• Read Pg 441-444
• Take notes
• What led to the Bolshevik Revolution (Russian
Revolution).”
Infograph Activity
B
• Working with your
partners you will create a
graphic organizer
• Bolshevik Revolution
• Use your notes
Rise of Soviet Union
FALL OF RUSSIAN EMPIRE
Topic Questions
• What were the major issues that led to the
Russian/ Bolshevik Revolution?
• Do you think the Russian Revolution helped
address those issues?
Romanov Tsar of Russia
Tsar Nicholas II
The last Tsar (King/Emperor)
of Russia
House of Romanov, Last Imperial Dynasty of Russia (1613-1917)
• Slow to Industrialization
– Unlike its neighboring empires, Russia was slow to industrialize. By the 20th
century, great majority of Russians still worked in farms as peasants.
– Feudalism was very much enact in the Russian empire
• Poverty
– Failure of capitalism led to economic problems
– Peasants and industrial workers lived in extreme poverty
– Only a few have power and live luxurious lives: Nobles, priests, and the royal
family
• Autocratic rule
– The Tsar held absolute power
– The Tsar and the Russian officials used the secret police to maintain order of
their subjects through fear and coercion
– Oppressed revolutionaries and reformers wanted to change the government
• Nationality problem
– Russian empire included multi-ethnic empire
– Non-Russian cultures were tolerated in the empire but not respected
Revolution of 1905
• Mass political unrest took place all over the
empire-- worker strikes, peasant unrest, and
military mutinies
• The Duma, a legislative body was created.
• The Russian Constitution was created.
– 1906 Russia became a Constitutional Monarchy
– Limited Constitutional Monarchy
World War I
• Russia enters the War to protect Bosnia and Serbia.
• Initially, the Russian people were happy to fight for
their empire and their Czar.
• Traditional duties of the Czar compelled Nicholas II
to lead the Russian army.
• Russians fought the Germans in the
Eastern Front.
– Poorly Equipped
– Poor Transportation
– Poor Commanding
– Russians suffered the
highest casualties
World War I (At Home)
• Tsarina Alexandra was put in charge at home
– German born (who were the Russians fighting in war?)
• Poverty and war shortages (food and fuel)
– How much money did the Iraq and Afghanistan cost?
• Gregory Rasputin
– Con-man
– Self proclaimed holy man
– drunkard
– Womanizer
– Assassinated
A New Russia
• March (Feb) Revolution – Unhappy Russians took
to the streets in protest (later joined by the army)
– Unhappy with the increase of food prices and
rationing
– Unhappy with the War
– Unhappy with the Tsar’s leadership
• Tsar Nicholas II was forced to return home, where
he abdicated his position in 1917
– He and his family were put under house-arrest
• Temporary Provisional Government was put into
place
– It was led by Alexander Kerensky
– It decided to continue the unpopular war
A New Russia
• Soviets “Councils”
– Small government bodies made up of representatives
from workers and soldiers
– Many Soviets challenged the authority of the
provisional government
– Mostly made up socialists and radicals
• One of the Soviets that would become the
dominant force was called the Bolsheviks –
Revolutionary Marxist Group
• November (Oct) Revolution—Bolsheviks takeover
the government
Review: Karl Marx
• Philosopher “Father of Communism”
• Anti-Capitalism
– Capitalism made people greedy, devalued human capacity,
created social and economic inequality, and was one of the
key causes of imperialism
• Industrial working class would rise and overthrow
capitalism
• Marxists like the Bolsheviks wanted to create a
classless society
• Leader of the Bolsheviks
• He believed that revolution
was necessary to end
capitalism
• He promised to end the
war
– He promised “Peace, land,
bread”
– Popularity and membership of
the party grew
• October Revolution
– Under his leadership the
Bolsheviks overthrew the
provisional government
– They renamed themselves the
Communists
Vladimir Lenin
• Red Police “Cheka” – Secret
police was created and
used to destroy opposition
– “Red Terror”
• War Communism–
government had complete
economic control
– Droughts and famine
– 5 million died
• New Economic Policy
(NEP)— Government
allowed controlled
capitalism
Vladimir Lenin
Russian Civil War
• Red Army: well
trained Bolshevik
army
• White army : antiBolshevik army
–
–
–
–
Old Imperial Generals
Poland, Estonia, Latvia
Mensheviks
Support from Britain,
France, & US
Assassination of the Royal Family
Legend of Anastasia Romanov
Soviet Union
• Bolsheviks change their name to Communists
• Communists became the sole dominant party
– Communism – Socialism in which one political party has complete
power
• Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)– Soviet Union
Who was next in line?
Leon Trotsky
• Marxist Revolutionary
• Top ranking Bolshevik
• Commissar of War and
the founder and first
leader of the Red Army
• Organized Oct
Revolution
• One of the founding
father of the Soviet
Union
– Hero of Soviet Union
Joseph Stalin
• Part of Politburo:
committee that
made laws
• Rivals with Trotsky
• Held position as the
General Secretary
–Appointed officials
• 1929: eliminated Bolsheviks
(opponents)
– Exiled and assassinated
Trotsky
• Five Year Plan
– Transformed Soviet Union in
to an industrial society
• Collectivization
– policy in which the Soviet
Union destroyed private
farms and took control of all
the previous farm lands.
– Government collected crops
and cattle from the farmers
– Many farmers resisted by
destroying their own crops
and cattle
– 10 million peasants died due
to famine 1932-1933
• Holodomor “Hunger extermination”
– man-made famine in the USSR 1932 and 1933
– Stopped transportation of food
– killed an estimated 2.5–7.5 million in Ukraine
alone
• Great Purge 1936 -1938
– Mass removal of
communist and
government members
– Anybody who could
pose political threat
were removed
(Generals and Central
Party Members)
– Civilians
– 8 million men and
women were arrested
– Many were sent to
forced labor camps
called Gulags
Result:
Animal Farm