The Russian Revolution of 1917 overthrew the Tsarist autocracy and established the world's first socialist state. Years of war had devastated Russia and unrest was growing due to food shortages and heavy casualties. In March 1917, widespread strikes and protests in Petrograd led the Tsar to abdicate. A provisional government took over but struggled to assert control as workers councils (Soviets) gained power. In October, the Bolsheviks seized power on behalf of the Soviets and established the Soviet Union under Vladimir Lenin. A civil war then erupted between the Bolsheviks and opposing forces. After several years of fighting, the Communists emerged victorious by 1921.

1. The Russian
Revolution
{
1917

2.  Russia was unprepared both
militarily and technologically for
the Great War
 Tzar Nicolas 2 insisted on taking
personal charge of armed forces
despite lack of ability and training
 Russian industry couldn’t produce
the weapons needed for the army
 Soldiers trained using broomsticks
and told to pick one up off of a
dead comrade in battle
 2 million soldiers were killed
between 1914-1916 and another 4-6
million wounded or captured
Background

3.  Tsar Nicolas 2 was an autocratic ruler who
relied on his army and bureaucracy to hold up
his regime
 His German born wife Alexandra had fallen
under the influence of Grigori Rasputin
 Rasputin was an uneducated Siberian peasant
who believed he was a holy man
Beginnings of Upheaval

4.  Alexandra relied upon Rasputin
because he seemed to be the only
one who could stop the bleeding of
her son Alexis
 Alexis had hemophilia
 With the tsar at the front Alexandra
made all of the decisions
 She insisted on consulting with
Rasputin
 “her beloved, never-to-be-
forgotten teacher, savior and
mentor”
 Rasputin was considered to be the
power behind the throne and did
not hesitate to interfere in
government leadership
Rasputin

5.  As Rasputin gained more power the people
grew more upset
 Aristocrats felt they needed to do something to
save the situation
 December 1916 Rasputin was assassinated
 He was shot three times, tied up and threw in the
Neva River
 He managed to untie the knots in the water before
he drowned
 His assassination was not enough to save the
monarchy
Rasputin

6.  A series of strikes led by working class women
broke out in the capital city of Petrograd
 The government had started to ration bread a
few weeks earlier after the price had
skyrocketed
 Women who stood in bread lines also worked
12 hour days
 March 8 10,000 women marched through the
city demanding “Peace and Bread” and “Down
with Autocracy”
 They were joined by other workers
The March Revolution
1917

7.  Together a general strike was held
 Strike shut down the factories till March 10
 Alexandra wrote to Nicolas “This is a hooligan movement. If the
weather were very cold they would all probably stay home.”
 Nicolas called out troops to break up crowds by shooting them
 Large numbers of soldiers joined in
The March Revolution

8.  The Duma was a legislative body that had been
dissolved by the tzar met anyway
 March 12 it established a provisionary
government
 Consisted of middle class Duma representatives
 The tzar was urged to step down
 March 15th he stepped down ending the 300 year
old Romanov Dynasty
Duma

9.  Alexander Kerensky was the head of the
government
 Decided to carry on in the war to preserve
Russia’s honor
 Had to deal with the soviets
 Soviets are the name used for several different
Russian political organizations , could substitute
the word council for soviet
 Composed of representatives of the workers and
soldiers
 Generally socialists
 Many different factions
Provisional Government

10.  Bolsheviks began as a small faction of the Marxist
party called the Russian Social Democrats
 Came under the leadership of Vladimir Ilyich
Ulianov or V.I. Lenin
 Lenin believed a violent revolution was necessary to
destroy the capitalist system
 1900-1917 he spent most of his time abroad
 Viewed March 1917 as the opportunity to seize
power
 April 1917 German military leaders (hoping to
create disorder) shipped Lenin to Russia
 Sent in a sealed train to prevent their ideas from
infecting Germany
The Rise of Lenin

11.  Lenin’s arrival opened a new state in the
Bolshevik Revolution
 He believed that soldiers, peasants and workers
were ready made instruments of power
 Wanted Bolsheviks to work towards gaining
power of these groups to take control
 Reflected on the discontent of the pople
 Promised to end war, transfer factories and
industries from capitalists to committees of
workers, redistribution of land and transfer of
governmental power to the soviets
The Rise of Lenin

12.  PEACE, LAND, BREAD!
 WORKER CONTROL OF PRODUCTION!
 ALL POWER TO THE SOVIETS!
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knjUx7A-
G3w
Rally slogans

13.  Party numbers grew as a result of Lenin’s work
 Leon Trotsky as the head of the Petrograd soviets the
Bolsheviks were able to claim power in the name of
all soviets
 November 6 Bolshevik forces seized the Winter
Palace
 Outwardly Lenin “turned over power” to the
congressional government
 March 3, 1918 Lenin sighed the Treaty of Brest-
Litovsk with Germany
 Gave up eastern Poland, Ukraine, Finland and the
Baltic States
Bolsheviks Seize Power

14.  Many people were opposed to the new
Bolshevik or Communist regime
 Allies against the communist take over were
joined by groups loyal to the tzar and also anti-
Lenin socialists
 Sent thousands of troops to various parts of
Russia in hopes of bringing Russia back into the
war
 Sent material
 1918-1921 Communist (Red) army was forced
to fight on many fronts against the Whites
Civil War

15.  Royal family was a victim of the war
 After the czar abdicated Nicolas, Alexandra and
their 5 children were taken into captivity
 July 16th they were murdered and their bodies
were burned in a local mine shaft
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXrb1rM2Tqo
Civil War

16.  Well disciplined Red Army
 Leon Trotsky was an organizational genius
 Soldiers who deserted or refused to obey were shot on the spot
 Disunity of the anti-communists
 Czarists vs. democracy
 No common goal
 War communism
 Government seized control of banks, grain, ect. In order to help the
war effort
 Revolutionary terror
 Red secret police
 Presence of foreign armies on Russian soil
 Patriotic Russians fought foreigners attempts to control the country
What led to the triumph
of the Communists?

17.  1921 the Communists were in total control of Russia
 Became a communist regime with a single party
dominating the political scene
 State was largely hostile to the Allies as they had tried
to help communist enemies in the civil war
Victory!