Russian Revolution, 1917 Russia in the 1900s The
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slide1. Russian Revolution, 1917<br>
slide2. Russia in the 1900s The Russia of this time was one of the most economically backward and least industrialized nations in Europe with a large population of peasants and a growing number of industrial workers. It was a place where serfdom (a system where landless peasants were forced to serve the land-owning nobility) was still practised, even though the practice had ended in most of Europe by the time of the Renaissance in the late 16th century. It was abolished in Russia in 1861 only.
Russia was being ruled by the imperial House of Romanovs from 1613 to 1917. The Tsar or czar was the head of the monarchy along with his wife the Tsarina.
It was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire and began during the First World War. It was one of the most significant events of the twentieth century that ended centuries of monarchy in Russia and brought forth the first constitutionally communist state in the world.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was actually two revolutions. The first revolution in February overthrew the imperial government. The second revolution in October placed the Bolsheviks in power till 1991.<br>
slide3. Causes of the Revolution Widespread suffering under autocracy—a form of government in which one person, in this case the czar, has absolute power
Weak leadership of Czar Nicholas II—clung to autocracy despite changing times Poor working conditions, low wages, and hazards of industrialization
New revolutionary movements that believed a worker-run government should replace czarist rule
Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904), which led to rising unrest
Bloody Sunday, the massacre of unarmed protestors outside the palace, in 1905
Devastation of World War I—high casualties, economic ruin, widespread hunger The March Revolution in 1917, in which soldiers who were brought in for crowd control ultimately joined labor activists in calling “Down with the autocracy!”<br>
slide4. Events leading to the Revolution The oppressive rule of most 19th-century tsars caused widespread social unrest for decades. Anger over social inequalities and the ruthless treatment of peasants grew.
Secret revolutionary groups were formed. These plotted to overthrow the government. In 1881, the angry student revolutionaries assassinated the reform-minded tsar, Alexander II.
The tsars’ unfair governing sparked many violent reactions like the Army officers revolted in 1825, and hundreds of peasants rioted.
Russia headed towards a full-scale revolution.<br>
slide5. World War-I and decline of the Russian Empire Russia joined its Serbian, French, and British allies against the Central Powers of Austria, Germany, and Ottoman Turkey in August 1914 during World War I.
Russia had not modernized its army even after the defeat in Russo Japanese war, and as a result, the war proved disastrous for Russia. Its casualties were far more than any other nation in the war.
The Russians were not enthusiastic about the war and the tension grew further when Tsar Nicholas decided to personally command the Eastern front in the war, Tsarina Alexandra was in charge of the governance and her German heritage made her unpopular among the people.
Above all, she was greatly under the influence of the self-styled ‘holy man’ Grigori Rasputin. She dismissed elected officials on his advice and governance fell into disarray along with mounting war causalities.
Rasputin was murdered by the nobles in 1916, but people’s resentment against the monarchy was at its peak.<br>
slide6. February Revolution The women textile workers in Petrograd led a citywide strike followed by riots over shortages of bread and fuel. Nearly 200,000 workers swarmed the streets. At first, the soldiers obeyed orders to shoot the rioters but later sided with them. The soldiers fired at their commanding officers and joined the rebellion.
It forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate his throne on 15th March 1917. A year later revolutionaries executed Nicholas and his family on 17th July, 1918. The Tsarist rule of the Romanovs, which spanned over three centuries, had finally collapsed.
The leaders of the Duma (lower house of Russian Federation Council) established a temporary government under Alexander Kerensky, who decided to continue with the war. This decision to continue with the war cost him support from the army as well as civilians. Meanwhile, the Social revolutionaries, competing for power, formed soviets i.e. the local councils which consisted of workers, peasants, and soldiers.<br>
slide7. The political scenario (February Revolution) Various revolutionary movements that grew in the Russian Society were inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx. They believed that the industrial class of workers would overthrow the Tsar and form a dictatorship of the proletariat.
In 1903, the revolutionaries got split into two groups- Mensheviks and
Bolsheviks.
Mensheviks wanted a broad base of popular support for the revolution.
Bolsheviks wanted a small number of committed revolutionaries who
could sacrifice everything for a Radical change.
The leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Lenin. In July 1900s, Lenin fled to Western Europe (Munich, London, Geneva) to avoid arrest by the Tsarist regime but maintained contact with other Bolsheviks.<br>
slide8. October Revolution, 1917 Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia (April 16, 1917) and led the communist revolutionaries to launch a coup against Kerensky’s government.
The new government under Lenin was composed of a council of soldiers, peasants, and workers. The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied key locations across St. Petersburg and Russia as a whole and soon formed a new government with Lenin as its head and renamed themselves as the ‘communist party’. Lenin became the dictator of the world’s first communist state.
Bolshevik government also decided to withdraw from the war. In March 1918 Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in which Russia surrendered a large portion of its territory to Germany and its allies. The humiliating terms of this treaty caused widespread anger and objection to the policies of the Bolsheviks.<br>
slide9. Consequences The government is taken over by the Bolshevik Party, led by V. I. Lenin; later, it will be known as the Communist Party.
Farmland is distributed among farmers, and factories are given to workers.
Banks are nationalized and a national council is assembled to run the economy.
Russia pulls out of World War I, signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, conceding much land to Germany.
Czarist rule ends. Nicholas II, his wife and five children are executed.
Civil war, between Bolshevik (“red”) and anti-Bolshevik (“white”) forces, sweeps Russia from 1918 to 1920. Around 15 million die in conflict and the famine
The Russian economy is in shambles. Industrial production drops, trade all but ceases, and skilled workers flee the country.
Lenin asserts his control by cruel methods such as the Gulag, a vast and brutal network of prison camps for both criminals and political prisoners.<br>
slide10. The Civil War (1918-1920) The opponents of the Bolsheviks formed the White army and a civil war was waged between them and the Red Army of the Bolsheviks. Several countries of the West including the United States sent military aid and forces to Russia to help the White Army. The civil war and the famine that followed claimed 15 million lives in a three-year struggle.
In the end, the Red Army of the Bolsheviks won and formed a stronger government and a super state called the Soviet Union.<br>
slide11. Reforms of Lenin In March 1921, Lenin launched the New Economic Policy (NEP) in which he temporarily put aside his plan for a state-controlled economy and resorted to a small-scale version of capitalism.
The reforms under the NEP allowed peasants to sell their surplus crops instead of turning them over to the government. Individuals could buy and sell goods for profit.
The government kept control of major industries, banks, and means of communication, but it let some small factories, businesses, and farms operate under private ownership.
Lenin also tried to encourage foreign investment.
Russia was a mixture of many nationalities and this was seen as an obstacle to national unity by the Communists. The Communist leaders also saw nationalism as a threat to unity and party loyalty.
To check nationalism, Lenin organized Russia into several self-governing republics (Soviets) under the central government.
In 1922, Russia was named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in honour of the councils that helped launch the Bolshevik Revolution.
The new capital of the union was Moscow.
In 1924, the Communists created a constitution based on socialist and democratic principles with the Communist Party holding all the power. The new policies and peace that followed helped USSR slowly recover and by 1928, the country’s farms and factories were producing as before World War I. The Soviet Union became a formidable player during the events of the Cold war in the coming decades.<br>
slide2. Russia in the 1900s The Russia of this time was one of the most economically backward and least industrialized nations in Europe with a large population of peasants and a growing number of industrial workers. It was a place where serfdom (a system where landless peasants were forced to serve the land-owning nobility) was still practised, even though the practice had ended in most of Europe by the time of the Renaissance in the late 16th century. It was abolished in Russia in 1861 only.
Russia was being ruled by the imperial House of Romanovs from 1613 to 1917. The Tsar or czar was the head of the monarchy along with his wife the Tsarina.
It was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire and began during the First World War. It was one of the most significant events of the twentieth century that ended centuries of monarchy in Russia and brought forth the first constitutionally communist state in the world.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was actually two revolutions. The first revolution in February overthrew the imperial government. The second revolution in October placed the Bolsheviks in power till 1991.<br>
slide3. Causes of the Revolution Widespread suffering under autocracy—a form of government in which one person, in this case the czar, has absolute power
Weak leadership of Czar Nicholas II—clung to autocracy despite changing times Poor working conditions, low wages, and hazards of industrialization
New revolutionary movements that believed a worker-run government should replace czarist rule
Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904), which led to rising unrest
Bloody Sunday, the massacre of unarmed protestors outside the palace, in 1905
Devastation of World War I—high casualties, economic ruin, widespread hunger The March Revolution in 1917, in which soldiers who were brought in for crowd control ultimately joined labor activists in calling “Down with the autocracy!”<br>
slide4. Events leading to the Revolution The oppressive rule of most 19th-century tsars caused widespread social unrest for decades. Anger over social inequalities and the ruthless treatment of peasants grew.
Secret revolutionary groups were formed. These plotted to overthrow the government. In 1881, the angry student revolutionaries assassinated the reform-minded tsar, Alexander II.
The tsars’ unfair governing sparked many violent reactions like the Army officers revolted in 1825, and hundreds of peasants rioted.
Russia headed towards a full-scale revolution.<br>
slide5. World War-I and decline of the Russian Empire Russia joined its Serbian, French, and British allies against the Central Powers of Austria, Germany, and Ottoman Turkey in August 1914 during World War I.
Russia had not modernized its army even after the defeat in Russo Japanese war, and as a result, the war proved disastrous for Russia. Its casualties were far more than any other nation in the war.
The Russians were not enthusiastic about the war and the tension grew further when Tsar Nicholas decided to personally command the Eastern front in the war, Tsarina Alexandra was in charge of the governance and her German heritage made her unpopular among the people.
Above all, she was greatly under the influence of the self-styled ‘holy man’ Grigori Rasputin. She dismissed elected officials on his advice and governance fell into disarray along with mounting war causalities.
Rasputin was murdered by the nobles in 1916, but people’s resentment against the monarchy was at its peak.<br>
slide6. February Revolution The women textile workers in Petrograd led a citywide strike followed by riots over shortages of bread and fuel. Nearly 200,000 workers swarmed the streets. At first, the soldiers obeyed orders to shoot the rioters but later sided with them. The soldiers fired at their commanding officers and joined the rebellion.
It forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate his throne on 15th March 1917. A year later revolutionaries executed Nicholas and his family on 17th July, 1918. The Tsarist rule of the Romanovs, which spanned over three centuries, had finally collapsed.
The leaders of the Duma (lower house of Russian Federation Council) established a temporary government under Alexander Kerensky, who decided to continue with the war. This decision to continue with the war cost him support from the army as well as civilians. Meanwhile, the Social revolutionaries, competing for power, formed soviets i.e. the local councils which consisted of workers, peasants, and soldiers.<br>
slide7. The political scenario (February Revolution) Various revolutionary movements that grew in the Russian Society were inspired by the thoughts of Karl Marx. They believed that the industrial class of workers would overthrow the Tsar and form a dictatorship of the proletariat.
In 1903, the revolutionaries got split into two groups- Mensheviks and
Bolsheviks.
Mensheviks wanted a broad base of popular support for the revolution.
Bolsheviks wanted a small number of committed revolutionaries who
could sacrifice everything for a Radical change.
The leader of the Bolsheviks was Vladimir Lenin. In July 1900s, Lenin fled to Western Europe (Munich, London, Geneva) to avoid arrest by the Tsarist regime but maintained contact with other Bolsheviks.<br>
slide8. October Revolution, 1917 Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia (April 16, 1917) and led the communist revolutionaries to launch a coup against Kerensky’s government.
The new government under Lenin was composed of a council of soldiers, peasants, and workers. The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied key locations across St. Petersburg and Russia as a whole and soon formed a new government with Lenin as its head and renamed themselves as the ‘communist party’. Lenin became the dictator of the world’s first communist state.
Bolshevik government also decided to withdraw from the war. In March 1918 Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in which Russia surrendered a large portion of its territory to Germany and its allies. The humiliating terms of this treaty caused widespread anger and objection to the policies of the Bolsheviks.<br>
slide9. Consequences The government is taken over by the Bolshevik Party, led by V. I. Lenin; later, it will be known as the Communist Party.
Farmland is distributed among farmers, and factories are given to workers.
Banks are nationalized and a national council is assembled to run the economy.
Russia pulls out of World War I, signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, conceding much land to Germany.
Czarist rule ends. Nicholas II, his wife and five children are executed.
Civil war, between Bolshevik (“red”) and anti-Bolshevik (“white”) forces, sweeps Russia from 1918 to 1920. Around 15 million die in conflict and the famine
The Russian economy is in shambles. Industrial production drops, trade all but ceases, and skilled workers flee the country.
Lenin asserts his control by cruel methods such as the Gulag, a vast and brutal network of prison camps for both criminals and political prisoners.<br>
slide10. The Civil War (1918-1920) The opponents of the Bolsheviks formed the White army and a civil war was waged between them and the Red Army of the Bolsheviks. Several countries of the West including the United States sent military aid and forces to Russia to help the White Army. The civil war and the famine that followed claimed 15 million lives in a three-year struggle.
In the end, the Red Army of the Bolsheviks won and formed a stronger government and a super state called the Soviet Union.<br>
slide11. Reforms of Lenin In March 1921, Lenin launched the New Economic Policy (NEP) in which he temporarily put aside his plan for a state-controlled economy and resorted to a small-scale version of capitalism.
The reforms under the NEP allowed peasants to sell their surplus crops instead of turning them over to the government. Individuals could buy and sell goods for profit.
The government kept control of major industries, banks, and means of communication, but it let some small factories, businesses, and farms operate under private ownership.
Lenin also tried to encourage foreign investment.
Russia was a mixture of many nationalities and this was seen as an obstacle to national unity by the Communists. The Communist leaders also saw nationalism as a threat to unity and party loyalty.
To check nationalism, Lenin organized Russia into several self-governing republics (Soviets) under the central government.
In 1922, Russia was named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in honour of the councils that helped launch the Bolshevik Revolution.
The new capital of the union was Moscow.
In 1924, the Communists created a constitution based on socialist and democratic principles with the Communist Party holding all the power. The new policies and peace that followed helped USSR slowly recover and by 1928, the country’s farms and factories were producing as before World War I. The Soviet Union became a formidable player during the events of the Cold war in the coming decades.<br>