AP EURO – Chapter 25: Imperialism, Alliances, and War
(pages 854-858)
 1. Multi-Ethnic &
Diverse
 2. Multi- Cultural
 100 different languages
spoken by the people
throughout the Russian
Territory
 Various faiths
 Type of Government:
 “AUTOCRACY”-
government in which 1
person rules with
unlimited authority
 Ruler: CZAR- means
“emperor” or “monarch”
derived from “Caesar”
 1. Peter the Great –
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ruled: 1682-1725
Modernized Russia
Built St. Petersburg
2. Catherine the Great –
ruled : 1762-1796
Territorial expansion
Suppressed Pugachev’s
Rebellion (1773-1775) an
uprising of serfs
 Official residence of monarchs 1732- 1917
 Serf – a Russian
peasant legally bound to
reside and work on
“lord’s” land
 “Un-free” status
 Bound peasants to rural
areas and to their land
lord
 Napoleon invaded Russia in
the winter
 Russian Soldiers were
exposed and influenced by
Western ideas during
Napoleonic wars
 “Secret Societies” emerged:
wanted economic reform, a
constitutional government,
AND freedom for serfs
 Strengthened the
autocracy (his power)
by:
 1. Censoring the Press
 2. Establishing a “Secret
Police”- allowed to arrest
& imprison people
without trial
 3. “Autocracy, orthodoxy,
and nationality!” -CNI
 He was Alexander I’s brother->
 The Decembrist
Revolt (1825) –
 A group of military
officials rebelled and
staged a coup
 Felt threatened by Czar
Nicholas I’s conservative
views
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXPP1j1yahg
 Czar Alexander II
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PFQ7Th_rAs
 “The Czar Liberator”
 1. 1861 signed
Emancipation
Manifesto - granted
Freedom to serfs
 2. Limited the authority
of secret police
 3. Modernized judicial
system
 4. expanded education
 5. re-organized the
Russian army
 6. Reduced military
service from 25 yrs to 6
yrs
 7. Promoted
industrialization
 95% of population were
peasants, most serfs.
 Free serfs received no
land, had no skills.
 Found themselves
homeless and
unemployed
 Landowners were
furious - they lost land
& power
 Radical Revolutionaries…
 1. Shot at Alex II (bullets
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missed him 1879)
2. Bombed Alex’s train (he
survived 1879)
3. Bombed palace 1880 (he
survived)
4. Threw bombs at his
carriage
Alex II survived initial
threat… but then
Stepped out of his carriage
and died in 1881
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PFQ7Th_rAs
Established a rule of fear
 1. “Russification”- persecuted
those who anyone who spoke a
language other than Russian or
followed a religion other than
Eastern Orthodoxy
 2. Established “Pogroms”-
organized massacres of
minority groups
 Inherited Russia’s long
history of social and
political problems
 Not prepared to rule
 Wife Empress
Alexandra
 4 Daughters: Olga,
Tatiana, Maria,
Anastasia
 1 Son : Alexis
 Suffered from
 “Hemophilia” – a
Disease which prevents
normal clotting of
blood
 No known treatment
 Disease kept secret from
public
Named RASPUTIN
* Self -proclaimed monk
& mystic Healer
* Empress hired him to
“heal” son
He was not who he
appeared to be!!!
Influenced Czar Nicholas
II politically
 Workers’ Peaceful march to
St. Petersburg turned
violent
 Protested food and fuel
shortages
 Soldiers opened fire to
unarmed crowd
 Russian press claimed 100
died, many wounded
 Protestors claimed 1,000
died
 Russia and Japan fought
over the province of
Manchuria
 Russian Ships vs.
Japanese ships
 Japan sanks2/3rds of
the Russian fleet
 Humiliating defeat for
Czar Nicholas II
 Czar Nicholas II Promised Reforms
 1. Constitution
 2. Civil Liberties/ Civil Rights
and a
 3. Duma or legislature
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-x4VcmHfxU
 Continued to influence
Czar Nicholas II and
the+ Czarina
 Claimed he “cured”
son’s hemophilia
 People were skeptical of
Rasputin …
 1916 nobles planned his
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assassination
They Poisoned him at
dinner…
He survived!
They Shot him…
Still alive!
They Beat him with a
candlestick!
He was Not dead
yet!
 Rasputin was thrown into an icy river…
 He was still breathing.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1W1b6j8U46k
 Socialism – belief that the means of production
capital, land, raw materials, factories should be owned
and controlled by society, not individuals
 Communism – a society without class distinctions or
private property (equality )
 “History advances through conflict”
 The Class that controls production is the ruling class
 This causes the gap between social classes
 Competition causes society’s problems
 Believed the Working
class should lead
revolution and seize
control
 Led by Vladimir Ilyich
Ulyanov “Lenin”
 Goal : to create a
socialist state with no
social classes, no private
property
 Food riots in St.
Petersburg
 Czar Nicholas II
ordered Duma
(legislative body) to
dissolve
 Czar ordered troops to
suppress disorder
 Neither obeyed the Czar
 Czar Nicholas II
abdicated the Throne
 Family was Evacuated in
August
 March 17, 1917 Russia
Proclaimed a republic
 Provisional government
was established
 Overthrew the
provisional government
in November , 1917
 “History will not forgive
us if we do not seize
power now”-Lenin
 Lenin Claimed absolute
power
 A Socialist State based
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on ideas of Karl Marx,
and Lenin
1. land re-distributed
amongst peasants
2. End of private
ownership of property
3. Workers gained
control of property
“equality”
 Re-named their political party the Communist party
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in 1918
1918-1920 civil war ensued in Russia
Communists “Reds” vs. “Whites” (Royalists)
Fought over political control
What about the Romanovs?
 Was Imprisoned in
Ipatiev House
 Forced to give up
luxuries
 Believed they would be
rescued
 were they???
 2:33 am
 Romanov family
 Their Doctor &
 3 servants
 were shot in a basement
 The Assassination
ordered by Lenin
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-qxWWRcN-4
 Did She Survive?
 In 1920 in Berlin
Germany
 A girl tried to jump off a
bridge
 was rescued
 no I.D., refused to give
her identity
 Sent to mental asylum
 Claimed to be
“Anastasia”
 Said she was Rescued by
a soldier
 And escaped Russia
 “She is similar, she is
similar”
 Relatives were careful to
believe her story
 Supporters helped her
 Anna Anderson claimed
she was Anastasia until
the day she died (1984)
 1977 court ruled not
enough evidence to
prove identity
 Recent DNA testing
proved she was not
Anastasia
 Romanov Family’s
bodies were exhumed
from their graves
 2 bodies missing !!
Anastasia or Maria ?
And Alexis
 1998 remains were given
proper burial
 2 Remains were
discovered
 By workers digging a
ditch in Russia – close
to where the original
remains were buried
 Actual remains found in
2007 
 DNA test results in 2008
concluded that the
remains were Alexis and
Anastasia
 Achieve “Sainthood”
 In Russian Orthodox
Church, 2000
 Considered Martyrs
 Anastasia, 1956
 Set in Paris 1928
 Russian immigrants
Transform a confused
Russian girl in an
asylum into the Grand
Duchess Anastasia in
order to claim reward
 Anastasia, 1997
 “I just want to know who I
am, if I am part of a family”
 Orphan with amnesia
 Dmitri & Vlad transform
confused girl into Anastasia
 Take her to Paris to reunite
with Grandmother
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 1. Long period of social repression & political unrest
 2. “Bloody Sunday” incident 1905
 3. Disastrous loss for Russia Russo-Japanese war 1905
 4. 1917 March Revolution – food riots, no one obeyed
Czar Nicholas II
AP European History
 Lenin and Communist
Party
 Gained absolute power
in 1918 defeated the
Royalists in 1920
 Established socialist
state
 No private property, no
social classes
 “War Communism”
 State took control of the
economy
 Complete social &
economic overhaul
 People worked for the
good of the whole,
(community/nation)
instead of themselves
 Of agriculture began in
1928
 Crops are turned over to
the state
 Peasants were paid in
crops, rather than money
 Millions of peasants
starved
 When Army confiscated
grains and other products
for re-distribution
 “ The Soviet
Union” / U.S.S.R
 Adopted constitution
based on dictatorship
 An elaborate tomb was
built
 Lenin was displayed for
“worship” in a glass
coffin
 Who should take his
place?
 Leon Trotsky or Joseph
Stalin?
 Placed supporters in top
jobs
 Managed to spread
rumors about Trotsky
 Stalin gained control,
and threatened Trotsky
 Trotsky fled into exile
1929
 Stalin sent an agent to
murder Trotsky
 Trotsky died in Frida
Kahlo’s house
 Mexico City, 1940
 1928:
 1. to Build heavy
industry
 2. to Improve
transportation
 3. to Increase farming
output
 1928-1939 large
factories, hydroelectric
power stations,
industrial complexes,
railroads built
 Standards of living
remained poor
 Some received food,
some did not
 Joseph Stalin’s “reign of
terror”
 Persecuted 4 million
people
 800,000 executed
 Accused of being
“counter revolutionaries”,
anyone who disagreed
with his rule, anyone
who was seen as a threat
 Atheism became official
policy
 Churches of any kind
were banned
 Religious leaders of
various faiths
persecuted
 Did people become
atheist overnight?
 Ensured Stalin’s
political power
 Government controlled
everything! what books
are read to what music
was heard!
 The complete opposite
of Freedom
 Massive propaganda
 Showed Soviet life in
positive light
 Showed 1 perspective
 Free education for all
(however, occupation
was chosen for the
student)
 Free medical care
 Women won equality
under the law
 In 1991
 Independent countries
were formed
 Russia is the largest
 Total control over the
lives of individual
citizens
 Forms of
totalitarianism:
 1. Communism (Soviet
Union)
 2. Fascism (Italy)
 1. Single party
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Dictatorship
2. State control of
Economy
3. Police spies
4. Strict Censorship
5. Use of schools & media
to indoctrinate citizens
6. Unquestioning
obedience to single ruler
 Fascists were:
 anti-democratic,
 anti-communist
 anti-parliamentary
 anti-Semitic
 Established Totalitarian
Rule
Founded National Fascist
Party 1919
 1921 elected to Italian
Parliament
 1922 appointed Prime
Minister
 1924 Fascist Party crowd
favorite
 Had elections, but
outlawed all other
political parties
 1. Severe economic crisis (Economic inflation, depression,
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unemployment)
2. The loss of 600,000 lives
3. “ little territory compensation” at the end of WWI
4. Peasants wanted land
5. Middle class feared a communist revolt
 1. his “Thundering
speeches”
 2. his Confident Strut
 3. his image - Always
wore military uniform
(had little or no real
military training)
 1.Lateran Agreement 1929- Vatican became
independent of Italy
 2. Women seen as “second class citizens” encouraged
to stay home, produce large families
 3. Divided aspects of the Economy into 22 areas or
“corporations” (think Hunger Games)
 4. Government dictated –working conditions, policies,
wages, prices
 Provisional Government
in place after WWI
 New Constitution July
1919 adopted in city of
Weimar
 Weimar Republic lasted
until Hitler came to
power 1933
 Failed due to:
 Political instability
 Severe economic
inflation (money lost its
worth) 1920’s
 Severe economic
depression 1930’s
 January 1919
 Uprising led by Russian
Communists
 Rosa Luxemburg & Karl
Liebknecht
 Belonged to Spartacus
League
 Jan. 1919, Berlin
 Provisional Government
crushed rebellion
1/13/1919
 Rosa Luxemburg and
Karl Liebknecht
executed without trial on
15th January, 1919
 1920, Berlin
 Led by conservative govt.
officials
 Supported by angry army
officers
 Tried to overthrow the
Weimar Republic
government
 Coup failed
 Germany could not meet reparations payment (WWI)
 Britain & France under pressure to repay the U.S.
 Could not pay the U.S. unless Germany payed them…
 Britain & France wanted Germany to pay in natural
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resources
French Premiere Raymond Poincare threatened to
occupy the “Ruhr Basin”
A German mining & steel center
1923 German Government ordered factory workers to
quit
French, Belgian troops mobilized
Germany printed more $ to pay off unemployed
workers =inflation
 League of Nations:
 Reworked Germany’s reparations payments
 Germany was furious at the international community
who blamed them for WWI
 They owed $35 million in war reparations
AP EURO
 Stock market crash in the
U.S. affected European
economy
 Americans:
 1. Stopped investing in
Europe
 2. Stopped purchasing
foreign goods
 1. Grain prices
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plummeted
2. Farmers could not
repay debt, or purchase
goods
3. Overproduction & low
prices
4. Widespread
unemployment
5. Inflation
 Kreditanstalt
 Large bank in Vienna
collapsed
 Primary lending
institution central &
Eastern Europe
 Collapse Placed pressure
on German banks
 The Worst of the
Economic Depressions
 Middle Class lost faith in
economic system, feared
communism
 People sought strong
leader
 Ran for President in 1932
 He lost 13 million votes
vs. 19 million
 President Hindenberg
named him Chancellor
in 1933
 40 Years old versus ,
Hindenberg who was 80
 40% of the party under
40
 Ideas of national
recovery, rapid change,
personal advancement
appealing to a desperate
population
 Delivered a scapegoat
 Hitler
 1. Captured full legal
authority
 2. Crushed opposition
 3. Purged Nazi party of
rivals
 Police surveillance
 “Protective Force”
 1933 = 52,000 members
 Heinrich Himmler,
Commander
 Burned down in 1933
 Hitler blamed the
“communist threat”
 Used the incident to pass
 Enabling Act (1933)suspends individual rights
for those accused of crimes
 *Allowed Hitler to rule by
Decree
 Boycotts against Jews
 Jews fired from
government jobs
including teachers,
University Professors,
Doctors, Lawyers, etc.
 Jews fired from jobs in
radio, theatres, and art
 Books written by Jews
burned in bonfires
 Prohibited from owning
land
 Defined “Jewish” as
having at least 1 Jewish
grandparent
 No religious connotation
 Legal basis for
discrimination
 Deprived Jewish
community of
citizenship rights
 Marriage between Jews &
“non” Jews banned
 Yellow star of David
 In Germany!!
 Hitler relaxed anti-
Semitic measures to
avoid criticism from
visitors
 Anti-Semitic (anti Jewish) violence, confiscation of
property,
 All Jews have to add “Sarah” and “Israel” to their I.D.
papers
 Jews banned from attending plays, concerts, having
driver’s licenses.
 Persecution increased
 Nov. 9-10 Nazis burned &
destroy ed thousands of
Jewish homes &
businesses, temples
 “night of broken glass”
 100 Jews killed
 7,500 Jewish homes,
businesses destroyed
 Hundreds schools,
cemeteries, synagogues
vandalized
 30,000 Jews arrested
 Jewish shops ordered to
close by December 31st,
1938