The Russian Revolution overthrew the Russian monarchy and established the Soviet Union. The conservative Tsar Nicholas II led Russia during World War I but heavy losses and an inability to supply their forces caused unrest at home. A lack of food and inflation led to strikes by workers and peasants demanding redistribution of land. Nicholas abdicated in February 1917 and a provisional government formed but failed to improve conditions. Radical Bolsheviks like Lenin gained support by calling for "Bread, peace and land." In October 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd and established the world's first socialist state with Lenin as its leader.

1. The Russian Revolution

2. Russian Monarchy Before the First World War Russia was a monarchy rule by Tsars At the time of the war Russia’s Tsar was Nicholas II Nicholas was very conservative and wanted Russia to follow the old system of social classes This mean that Russia was not as industrialized as many other countries

3. Russia in WW1 The First World War was the first major industrial war This meant that Russia could not keep up with the amount of supplies needed by its forces, including: Rifles, ammunition, artillery and even food Because of their inability to supply their soldiers the Russians were suffering heavy losses in battle

4. Revolution Beginnings Because of the war there were food shortages across Russia and inflation was out of control Workers became politically involved and formed groups known as “soviets” Almost 400,000 on strike workers were joined by peasants and thousands of deserting soldiers They demanded the redistribution of land from wealthy landowners to common people On February 28, 1917 Tsar Nicholas abdicated his throne and a provisional government was formed

6. Socialist Soviets The Provisional government wasn’t doing much better, food was scarce and they were still doing poorly in the war More radical members of the Soviets, such as Vladimir Lenin provoked workers and soldiers with statements like, “Bread, peace and land!” Lenin and his followers became known as the Bolsheviks

8. Soviet Union In September of 1917 Bolsheviks win a majority in the provisional government On October 25 Bolshevik soldiers capture key buildings in Petrograd (the capital) and the Tsar’s old Winter Palace On October 26 the Bolsheviks gave themselves state power and local authority to the soviets They abolished capital punishment, got Russia out of the war and formed a Bolshevik government with Lenin as Chair