The Russian
Revolution
Readings: Spodek, pp. 658661
Peter Builds New Capital
Nicholas I (1825-1855)

Hated Industrial
Revolution and
French Revolution

Wanted to make
world safe for
autocracy

Fought against
progress in Russia
and Europe
Decembrists
• Revolt against czarism
• Put down
• Revolutions of 1848
• Most of Europe but Russia
has some form of democracy
• Economy remains backward
Alexander II (1855-1881)

Son of Nicholas I.

One of better
czars – interested
in reform

Emancipated the
serfs in 1861
Alexander III (1881-1894)

Increased the
repressive powers
of the police

Limited the power
of the local
assemblies

Pograms against
anyone who was
not Russian
Nicholas II (1894-1917)
Wrong man,
wrong time
Little interest in
government
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)

Imperialistic Conflict over Korea and
Manchuria

Russia trying to ward off rebellion
Bloody Sunday-January 22,
1905



Began in St Petersburg
Disaster of Russo-Japanese War revealed
corruption and incompetence of czar
Created Duma, limited economic reform
World War I/ Rasputin
Had control over
the Tsar Nicholas
II and the Tsarina
 Was murdered in
December 1916
 World War I was
a disaster.

The Revolutions of 1917


February Revolution (March 8, 1917)
Czar Nicholas Abdicates
Kerensky forms Provisional Government
Lenin Arrives at Finland Station
How Do Bolsheviks Get Power?
 Lenin
1917
arrives in Petrograd (St. Petersburg)—April 16.
 Lenin
calls for armed insurrection
—Oct. 16, 1917 (Russian Calendar)
 October
Revolution begins, October 24, 1917
(Russian Calendar)

November 6, 1917 (Western European Calendar)
 Lenin,
Trotsky and Stalin
Treaty of Brest Litovsk—
March 3, 1918

Lost 32% of the land

Lost Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania

Much of the Ukraine

Much of Belarussia
Creation of Soviet Union
• Civil War, 1918-1921
• “Reds” vs “Whites”
• “Reds” (Bolsheviks, Communists) under Lenin win
• Supported by peasants, national/ethnic groups
• New Economic Plan
• Nationalization of banks and heavy industry, limited
ownership of small businesses
• Lenin dies 1923
Power Struggle after Lenin’s
Death and Stalin’s Rule
Forced
collectivization
 “The Great
Famine”
 “The Great
Terror”
 Purges
 Gulag

Contemporary Problems

Cold War with US from
1945-1991

Mikhail Gorbachev’s
Glasnost allowed


Democracy to Emerge
Perestroika—socialism
not possible in
capitalist world

Resigns December 25,
1991

End of Soviet Union and
the end of the Cold War
Boris Yeltsin

Problems:
Economy was a
mess
Workers not paid
National Debt
IMF and World Bank
Money to Cronies
Politics a Mess
Today in Russia and the Former
Soviet Union


A weak Boris Yeltsin names Vladimir Putin,
former KGB agent, Premier then President
New President Dmitri Medvedev, but Putin
still makes many decisions
Today’s Russia (continued)





Ethnic groups want
autonomy or
Independence
Putin has destroyed
Chechnya
Reports of rapes and
pillage
Nationalists want
powerful Soviet Union
Questions still
needing answers
Russian Revolution: Who Won, Who Lost?

Winners
Communist Party
Some Workers
Massive Literacy
Project—all those who
learn to read and
write
Vastly improved
health care—all those
who lived longer and
healthier
Women

Losers
Poorest peasants
Traditional Russian
upper classes
Many of those in
traditional Russian
middle classes
Those killed or
imprisoned because of
oppressive regime
Jews, Muslims
Other ethnic
minorities (maybe)
Russian Economy
Russian Democracy