The document summarizes key events in Russia between 1871-1914 and during the Russian Revolution of 1917. It describes how Russia was an absolute monarchy in the late 19th century with a semi-feudal economy. Involvement in World War 1 exacerbated Russia's political and economic problems and led to two revolutions in 1917 - the February Revolution replaced the Tsar with a provisional government, while the October Revolution brought the Bolsheviks to power under Lenin. After a civil war, the Bolsheviks established the Soviet Union, implementing the first communist state based on a single-party dictatorship of the proletariat.

1. Almudena Corrales
Marbán

2. VOCABULARY
https://quizlet.com/almusociales
The First World War (La Primera Guerra
Mundial)
communist (comunista)
dictatorship (dictadua)
neutral (neutral)
arms race (carrera armamentística)
front (frente)
trench warfare (guerra de trincheras)
withdraw (retirarse)
ally (aliado)
abdicate (abdicar)
armistice (armisticio)
telegraph (telégrafo)
artillery (artillería)
shortage (escasear)
rationing (racionar)
black market (mercado negro)
conscript (reclutar obligatoriamente)
recruit (reclutar)
suffragette (sufragista)
ratify (ratificar)
Almudena Corrales Marbán

3. VOCABULARY
https://quizlet.com/almusociales
Almudena Corrales Marbán
air force (fuerza aérea)
reparations (reparaciones)
tsar (zar)
Menshevik (Menchevique)
Bolshevik (Bolchevique)
soviet (soviet)
protectorate (protectorado)
coup (golpe)
avant-garde (vanguardias)

4. 1. INTRODUCTION
Between 1871 and 1914, rivalries
between European countries had
resulted in the formation of two
powerful alliances that fought
against one another during the
First World War.
End of the
Franco-Prussian
War
Many 19th century industrial and
technological advances were used to
manufacture weapons and other military
equipment
Society was transformed by the war.
For example, while men were fighting in
the armed forces, many women
worked in the factories and also
helped in the battlefield.
Spain remained neutral during the
First War War, but the government had
to deal with a series of political,
economic and social problems, as well
as the military conflict in North Africa in
its colonial expansion.
Russia’s participation in the First
World War had servere effects on its
population. This was one of the causes
of the Russian Revolution.

5. Nurses helping
during the First
World War

6. FIRST
WORLD WAR
RIVALRIES
German Empire
and Autro-
Hungarian
Empire
Great Britain,
France and
Russian Empire
Economy and
society
Dominated and
transformed by
the war
Russian
Revolution
Politics
Triumph of the
Marxism
Economy
Communist
system
In the mid 19th century, Karl Marx introduced the
world to a radical form of socialism called Marxism.
Marx and Engels predicted that in the future the
proletariat would overthrow the upper classes in a
worker’s revolution which would destroy capitalism and
create a classless society.

7. THE FIRST WORLD WAR WAS FOUGHT BY TWO
OPPOSING ALLIANCES THAT INCLUDED VARIOUS
EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, AS WELL AS UNITED STATES
AND JAPAN, FEW YEARS LATER.

8. 2. THE CAUSES OF WAR
SOURCES
OF
TENSION
France wanted to
recover the region of
Alsace-Lorraine which
had lost to the German
Empire in 1871
Between 1878 and 1908
the Austro-Hungarian
Empire occupied and
annexed Bosnia-
Herzegovina. It angered
Russia, Serbia’s
traditional ally
Industrialised
European countries
expanded their empires
and competed for control
of colonies, especially in
North Africa.
Britain and Germany
became involved in a
naval arms race. Both
countries built a range of
powerful new battleships
known as dreadnoughts
(acorazados).

9. A German dreadnought

10. On the 28 June 1914, Archduke Franz
Ferdinand, the heir to the Austro-
Hungarian Empire, was assassinated by
a Serbian gunman in the Bosnian city of
Sarajevo. His death triggered the
sequence of events that led to the First
World War: the Austro-Hungarian
empire declared war on Serbia, blaming
the Serbs for the archduke’s death.

12. Princip shown shortly after his arrest. His group, Young Bosnia, had ties to
the Serbian extremist group Black Hand. He died in prison of tuberculosis
in 1918.
The bridge in which
the muder took place.
Sarajevo

13. 3. PARTICIPANTS IN THE WAR
THE CENTRAL POWERS: the Austro-Hungarian Empire was supported by
the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria.
THE ALLIED POWERS: Serbia was supported by Great Britain, France, and
the Russian Empire. Later, they were joined by Japan, Romania, the United
States, Greece and Portugal.
Altough ITALY was a member of the Triple Alliance, it remained
neutral at the beginning of the war. However, in 1915, Italy
joined the Allied Powers, hoping to adcquire territory that
belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
What
about
Italy???

14. 4. PHASES OF THE WAR
1. FIRST PHASE. INITIAL
GERMAN OFFENSIVES 1914-
1915.
The German Empire made several
rapid offensives, invading Belgium,
which was neutral, as well as the
north of France. At the same time,
German forces were fighting to
prevent Russian advances in the
east.

18. 2. SECOND PHASE. TRENCH
WARFARE AND NEW ALLIES 1915-
1917.
In 1915, the western front between
Germany and the Allies stabilised and
a period of trench warfare began.
In the 1917, the United States
entered the war in support of the
Allies, but the Russian Empire began
to collapse as a result of the Russian
Revolution.

19. 3. THIRD PHASE. ALLIED VICTORIES
AND THE ARMISTICE 1917-1918.
Russia withdrew from the war, but the
Allies achieved a number of victories
both in the east and the west. After, a
political revolution took place in
Germany , kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated
and the armistice was signed on 11
November 1918.

20. 5. ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
DURING THE WAR
ECONOMY
Most economic activity was directed
towards the military effort. Industry
produced supplies and equipment for the
armed forces: food, uniforms, weapons
and vehicles. Many recent inventions
were also used in the war: the telephone,
tanks, aeroplanes, grenades, machine-
guns, poison gas.
At the same time the production of
consumer goods decreased. As a result,
there were shortages of same products. In
response the governments introduced
rationing and the black market
appeared.
SOCIAL EFFECTS OF THE WAR
Men were conscripted or
recruited into the armed forces.
In European countries and their
colonies , advertisements were
often used to encourage
patriotism and convince more
young men to enlist in the
armed forces.
As soldiers, women worked at
war as nurses and helpers. In
addition, women continued
working after 1918, but they
were usually paid less than men.

22. OXFORD BOOK, Modern History, Year 4.

23. 6. THE POST WAR
6.1. THE PEACE SETTLEMENT
After the armistice, representatives of the
Allied Powers met at the Paris Peace
Conference (1919-1920) to decide the
conditions that would be imposed on the
defeated Central Powers.
The United States President Wilson,
proposed a peace agreement that would
promote reconciliation between the various
participants in the war, this was called the
League of Nations, origin of the UN.
However this idea was rejected by the Allied
countries that had been devastating, such as
France. Instead, they wanted the Central
Powers to compensate them for their losses.
The heads of the "Big Four" nations at the Paris Peace Conference,
27 May 1919. From left to right: David Lloyd George, Vittorio
Orlando, Georges Clemenceau and American president Wilson.

24. 621. THE PEACE TREATIES
The Allies ratified five treaties at the Paris
Peace Conference, which was signed by the
defeated countries. The Treaty of Versailles
established especially severe terms for
Germany:
 It could not have tanks or an air
force.
 It had to return Alsace-Lorraine to
France and the German region of East
Prussia was divided from the rest of
the country by a corridor of land that
was goven to Poland.
 It had to pay reparations to the
European allies
 It had to sign the war-guilt clause.
The Treaty of Versailles would become the
source of problems because the German
people felt humiliated by its harsh
conditions.

26. 7. THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE
GREAT WAR.
The war reduced
the population
and the available
work-force in
post-war Europe.
The fighting
destroyed cities,
factories,
farmlands,
infrastructures
such as roads,
bridges and ports.
Europe lost its
economic leadership
and needed loans
from the United
States. The United
States became the
world’s leading
economic power.
The map of Europe
changed dramatically
as a consequence of the
peace treaties. The
Autro-Hungarian and
the Ottoman Empires
ceased to exist and new
states were created.
By looking at
the next slide,
discover these
new states
and add them
to your notes
!!
The Paris peace treaties
gave Allied powers control
over colonies or regions
that had belonged to the
Central Power before the
war.
The countries that
benefited the most were:
Great Britain (Iraq, part of
Middle East) and France
(Syria and Lebanon)

29. 1. FROM ABSOLUTISM TO
REVOLUTION
Brief summary
Despite the liberal
revolutions of the 19th
century, the Russian Empire
continued to be an
absolute monarchy. Its
involvement in the First
World War worsened
(empeoró) the economic and
political problems that the
empire was already
experiencing. This led to a
revolution in the 1917 which
established the first
Communist state in history.
HOW WAS RUSSIA LIKE AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY?
 Absolute monarchy ruled by the tsar. Civil rights were
not recognised and political parties faced represion.
 Semi-feudal economy- a wealthy minority owned most
of the agricultural land , which was worked by a peasant
majority.
At the beginning of the 20th century; the Russian Empire,
ruled by Nicholas II, experienced serious problems.
• In 1898, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party
(RSDLP) was formed. Its aim was to establish a Social state
based on Marxist ideology.
• In 1903, the RSDLP divided into two factions: Mencheviks
(gradual reforms), and Bolcheviks (immediate revolution to
remove the tsar from power)
• In 1905, there were protests against absolutism which
were supressed by the government. In response, workers
and soldiers formed a revolutionary council (soviet) in St.
Petersburg. (Watch Battleship Potemkin, a film comissioned
in 1925 in order to commemorate 20 years of this protest)

30. Battleship Potemkin

31. 2. THE REVOLUTIONS OF FEBRUARY AND
OCTOBER 1917
From the 1914 to the 1917, Russia’s participation in the First
World War caused more discontent and protests because Russian
soldiers did not have enough food or military equipment, as a result,
many of them died.
The Russian Revolution began in February 1917, when protests involving
peasants, workers and soldiers forced Nicholas II to abdicate. At first, the
Mensheviks formed provisional government. This government declared
Russia a republic, and made political parties legal. However, Lenin’s
Bolsheviks opposed them, and established government based on the soviets.
In October 1917 there was another revolution. The Bolsheviks seized control
of the government and Lenin became the new leader of Russia. One of the
first actions was to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the German Empire
in March 1918.
FEBRUARY
1917
OCTOBER
1917

34. WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THESE REVOLUTIONS?
After taking power, the Bolsheviks began persecuting
their opponents. In July 1918, they killed the tsar and
his family. In response to these events, a civil war
broke between the White Russians, counter-
revolutionaries, and the Bolshevik forces, known
as the Red Army.
The Red army eventually won the civil war. In 1922,
Lenin established the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics, commonly known as the USSR or the
Soviet Union. He also approved a new constitution
based on Communist principles.
In the USSR, Marx’s ideas of the dictatorship of the
proletariat was put into practice through a system in
which workers’ interests were represented by one
political party: the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union (CPSU)
The state also controlled the means of production,
such as factories and energy sources, as well as trade
and finance.