3. Pre-Revolutionary Russia
• Only true autocracy left in
Europe
• No type of representative
political institutions
• Nicholas II became tsar in
1884
• Believed he was the
absolute ruler anointed
by God
• Russo-Japanese War
(1904) – defeat led to pol.
instability
4. Czar Nicholas II
• Last Czar of Russia
• Exhausted nation’s
economy by involving
Russia in WWI
– This left the Russian
people poor and
starving, but the Czar
and his family lived
comfortably.
– The people were angry
with this, so they
decided to REVOLT!
5. Karl Marx
(1818 – 1883)
•He died long before
Revolution began, but
his political ideas of
communism lived on.
•Considered father of
communism
•People of Russia who
revolted adopted his
ideas
6. Communism
•Form of government
that has a classless
society
•Everyone is equal;
no rich and no poor
•The Bolsheviks, or
revolutionaries,
adopted this idea.
7. Bolsheviks
•The Bolsheviks - an organization formed by
the revolting people, or revolutionaries, of
Russia.
•Bolsheviks were led by Vladimir Lenin.
8. Vladimir Lenin
•A revolutionary who
led the Bolsheviks
(working class) to
freedom.
•They eventually were
able to overthrow the
Czar.
9. Czar is Overthrown
With the rise of the Bolsheviks, the Czar was forced
to give up thrown
•In 1918, the Czar and his entire family, wife and 5
children, were assassinated by an execution squad
set up by the revolutionaries
•The entire family was killed because they feared
one of them could rise to power again.
10. Lenin’s Death
•Lenin died in 1924,
leaving the
Bolsheviks leaderless.
•This caused a power
struggle between two
other revolutionaries,
Leon Trotsky and
Joseph Stalin.
11. Leon Trotsky
•A revolutionary
who was popular
with the people
•Wanted to make
life better for all
by industrializing
Russia
12. Josef Stalin
•Lied to people to gain
support
•People believed his lies
and promises, so he beat
Trotsky in the power
struggle
•Stalin had Trotsky
exiled from Russia. He
feared Trotsky would try
to regain power, so he
eventually had him
killed.
13. STALIN CONTINUED
•Stalin grew more
and more powerful
over the years.
•He began
eliminating anyone
who opposed him.
•He set up a secret
police to carry out his
deadly orders.
14. NKVD (KGB)
•Stalin’s secret police
•Killed, tortured,
starved, intimidated
anyone Stalin
ordered
•Completely loyal to
Stalin
15. Stalin’s Rule
•Stalin became so greedy, he
lost the original vision of
the revolutionaries
•Millions of innocent people
were killed under his rule
•Ironically, he made Russia
worse off than it had been
before the Czar
•Stalin became known as
one of the most ruthless
dictators in history,
comparable to Hitler
