1. Revolutions in Russia
Chapter 30, Section 1

2. Introduction
 The Russian Revolution was like a
firecracker with a very long fuse. The
explosion came in 1917, yet the fuse had
been burning for nearly a century. The
cruel, oppressive rule of most 19th-century
czars caused widespread social unrest for
decades. Army officers revolted in 1825.
Secret revolutionary groups plotted to
overthrow the government.

3. The Beginings
 In 1881,
revolutionaries angry
over the slow pace of
political change
assassinated the
reform-minded czar,
Alexander II. Russia
was heading toward a
full-scale revolution.

4. Czars Resist Change

5. End to Reform
 In 1881, Alexander
III becomes czar and
ends the reforms of
his father, Alexander
II.
 Alexander III institutes
autocratic rule ,
suppressing all
opposition and
decent.

6. Czars Continue Autocratic Rule
 Government censors written criticism;
secret police monitor schools
 Non-Russians living in Russia are treated
harshly

7. Anti-Jewish Pogroms
 Jews become target of government backed
pogroms (organized persecutions)
 Alexander III encourages Jewish emigration to
the United States during this time. The musical
Fiddler on the Roof is set in this era.

8. The Last Czar
 In 1894, Nicholas II
becomes czar and
continues autocratic
ways

9. Russia Industrializes

10. Rapid Industrialization
 Number of factories doubles between
1863 and 1900, but Russia still lags
behind other European countries.
 In late 1800s, new plan boosts steel
production and a major railway begins

11. The Revolutionary Movement Grows
 Industrialization breeds discontent over working
conditions and wages.
 Growing popularity of Marxist idea that
proletariat (workers) will rule
 Bolsheviks—Marxists who favor revolution by a
small committed group

12. Lenin
 Lenin—Bolshevik
leader—an excellent
organizer and
inspiring leader

13. Crisis at Home and Abroad

14. The Russo-Japanese War
 Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War in the
early 1900s causes unrest in Russia.

15. Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of
1905
 In 1905, 200,000
workers march on the
czar’s palace to
demand reforms
 The army fires into
the crowd, killing
many
 Massacre leads to
widespread unrest;
Nicholas if forced to
make reforms

16. The short lived Duma
 The Duma,
Russia’s first
parliament,
meets in 1906
 Czar is
unwilling to
share power,
dissolves the
Duma after
only 10 weeks

17. World War I: The Final Blow
 Heavy losses in World War I reveal
government’s weakness
 Nicholas goes to war front; Czarina
Alexandra runs government in his
absence

18. Man of Mystery destroys the
Autocracy
 Czarina falls under the
influence of Rasputin—a
mysterious “holy man”—
who she believes has the
power to heal her son.
 Nobles fear Rasputin’s
influence and murder him
 Army losing
effectiveness; people at
home are hungry and
unhappy

19. The March Revolution

20. First Steps
 In March 1917, strikes expand; soldiers refuse to
fire on workers.
 Most of the tension is caused by Nicholas II
personally taking command of the military in
World War I, and the war going so badly.

21. The Czar Steps Down
 March Revolution—protests become
uprising; Nicholas abdicates throne
 Duma establishes provisional, or
temporary government
 Soviets—committees of Socialist
revolutionaries—control many cities

22. Lenin Returns to Russia
 In April 1917,
Germans aid Lenin in
returning from exile to
Russia (pictured in
disguise with his
goatee shaved and
wearing a wig).

23. The Bolshevik Revolution

24. The Provisional Government Topples
 In November 1917, workers take control of
the government

25. Bolsheviks in Power
 Lenin gives land to peasants, puts
workers in control of factories
 Bolsheviks sign treaty with Germany;
Russia pulls out of World War I
 Treaty of Brest-Livoscks 1917

26. Civil War Rages in Russia
 Civil War between Bolsheviks’ Red Army
and loosely allied White Army
 Red Army wins three-year war that leaves
14 million dead

27. Comparing World Revolutions
 Russian and French Revolutions are
similar—both attempt to remake society
and use violence against citizens who
resist these changes.

28. Lenin Restores Order

29. New Economic Policy
 In March 1921, Lenin launches New
Economic Policy; has some capitalism
 NEP and peace restore economy
shattered by war and revolution
 By 1928, Russia’s farms and factories are
producing again

30. Political Reforms
 Lenin creates self-governing republics
under national government
 In 1922, country renamed Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.)
 Communist Party—new name taken by
Bolsheviks from the writings of Marx

31. Stalin Becomes Dictator

32. A New Leader
 Trotsky and Stalin
compete to replace
Lenin after Lenin’s
death
 Joseph Stalin—
Leon
Trotsky
cold, hard
Communist Party
general secretary
in 1922
Joseph Stalin

33.  Stalin gains power
from 1922 to 1927
 Lenin dies in 1924
 Stalin gains complete
power in 1928; Room where
Trotsky is forced into Trotsky was
murdered
exile. (above);
Trotsky’s
 Trotsky is murdered murderer,
in Mexico City in 1940 NKVD agent,
Romón
by an NKVD agent. Mercader
(right).