The document summarizes the impact of World War I on Russia and the rise of communism. It discusses how Russia withdrew from WWI due to chaos and revolution. The Bolsheviks overthrew and murdered Czar Nicholas II. This led to the establishment of the USSR under communist rule. Lenin became the first dictator and encouraged communism through the New Economic Policy. Although ending the monarchy, the Russian Revolution left the economy in shambles and established an authoritarian communist state.

1. Wrapping Up The War
Russia
World War I

2. Just Do It!!
Crash Course 
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XPZQ0LA
lR4

3. Let’s Talk About Russia
• After WWI, Russia is pretty much in shambles
• Russia entered WWI an absolute monarchy with very distinct
social classes.
• Russia had to withdraw from the war in 1917 due to their total
state of chaos and revolution, as well as inadequate
administration of their role in WWI.
• Czar Nicholas II didn’t do enough to help the peasants, therefore
the Bolsheviks overthrow (and murder) him.
• This will be the beginning of a “new” Russian state known as the
USSR (United Soviet Socialist Republic)

4. The Russian (Bolshevik) Revolution
Causes of the 1917 Revolution
– Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 –
very embarrassing for the Russians to be beat
by the Japanese
– Landless peasantry- many Russians were
extremely poor peasants, owned no land, and
had no means of providing for themselves.
– Czar Nicholas II was considered incompetent –
most Russians felt he should have helped the
peasants somehow… they were starving to
death!!
– Failure and withdrawal from WWI-
embarrassing, wrecked their economy, and
overall was just bad.

5. Rise of Communism
• Due to all of these causes and the ultimate revolution
that occurred, communism will eventually rise as the
dominant political and economic theory.
– Communism = system where all economic and social activity
is controlled by the government.
• Vladimir Lenin was initially the leader of the Bolsheviks
and became the first dictator of the new USSR… he also
heavily encouraged the concept of communism with
something called the New Economic Policy.
– NEP = economic policy of state controlled business, with
some private businesses.
• Eventually Joseph Stalin will become Lenin’s successor
and revamp the NEP, but continue the concepts of
communism.

7. General Outcome of Russian
Revolution
• Overall, the Russian Revolution was bad, but good.
• Ended absolute monarchy in Russia, but replaced it with a
communist dictatorship.
• Ended the Russian Empire, but created the USSR
• Left the Russian economy in shambles… the goal was that
communism would repair this, but in reality, it did not.
• Semi-ended the landless peasants, because socialism and
communism created a classless society where everyone
was landless.
• Left a lot of Russians bitter about what had happened in
WWI, which would breed anger leading into WWII.

8. Post WWI Developments
• League of Nations
– Developed as an international cooperative
organization to monitor the world’s conflicts
with the hopes of preventing future world
wars.
– President Woodrow Wilson (USA) created this
concept, but then the USA did not join the
League… weird.
– Concept was good in theory, but was very
unsuccessful… did not have any police force or
support to back it up.
– Ultimately the League of Nations was a failure,
but it laid the foundation for the future
international agency known as the United
Nations (UN.)

10. The Mandate System
• After WWI, the mandate system was executed to divide up lands among many
of the Allied powers (mainly Britain and France)
– What’s a mandate? – area designated by the League of Nations to be ruled by a
European country, but eventually would gain their independence.
• These lands were typically areas that had once been part of the Austro-
Hungarian or Ottoman Empires, or were part of the very troubled Middle East
region.
• Areas that were divided up:
– Britain controlled what eventually became Iraq, Transjordan, Palestine
– France controlled what eventually became Syria and Lebanon
• Eventually, these divisions would lead to future conflicts, especially in the
Middle East… hello, heard of the Arab Israeli Dispute?