There is a worksheet to be filled in by students during the slideshow. This is a basic overview of things that will be covered in later slides as an introduction for the Russian Revolution Unit. It should follow the slide show on vocab words for this unit.

1. Russia overview
Important people, places and things
in Russia

2. • Moscow is the capital of Russia.
• During Tsar Nicholas the II’s time the capital was St
Petersburg.
• Lenin moved the capital to Moscow and it has stayed
there ever since.
Moscow

3. Tsar Nicholas II
• He was the last Tsar of
Russia.
• A Tsar is another word
for king.
• He was killed by the
Bolsheviks in
Communist Revolution.

4. Red Square
• Red Square is in Moscow.
• It is called “red” because
the Russian word
Kryasnaya which is the
square’s name means both
red and beautiful.
• There are many important
places here.
– The Kremlin
– Lenin’s Mausoleum
– St. Basil’s Cathedral

5. The Kremlin
• The Kremlin is a beautiful building in Red Square.
• It is in Moscow.
• Inside is where the government meets.
• Tsar Nicholas the II used it, then Lenin, then Stalin.

6. St. Petersburg
• St Petersburg was called
Petrograd when Tsar
Nicholas II ruled
• When Lenin died it was
renamed Leningrad.
• After the USSR fell, it
was renamed St.
Petersburg.
• The Winter Palace is
here.

7. • The Russian Royal flag The Flags of
of Nicholas II
Russia
The flag of the USSR
The current flag of Russia

8. USSR
• The USSR stands for
Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics
• When talking about
Soviet Russia people
will call it many things.
– Soviet Russia
– USSR
– Bolshevik Russia
– The Soviet Union

9. Iron Curtain
• The Iron Curtain is a
figurative thing.
• It is an imaginary line
between communist
countries and non-
communist countries.
• People who lived in
communist countries
weren’t allowed to
leave, so everyone said
there was an “iron curtain”
that kept people in.

10. Karl Marx
• Wrote the Communist
Manifesto.
• All Communist leaders
are influenced by his
writings.

11. Lenin
• Lenin was a Bolshevik
leader during the
Communist Revolution.
• He followed Marxist
beliefs.
• He was the leader of
the Soviet Union until
he died.

12. Joseph Stalin
• Joseph Stalin was a
Bolshevik Leader.
• He helped organize the
October Revolution.
• When Lenin died he
ruled the USSR.
• He was known as a
tyrant and killed over
100,000 people who
disagreed with him.
• He named a city
Stalingrad after him.

13. The October Revolution
• The Bolsheviks took
over control of Russia.
• They set up the Union
of Soviet Socialist
Republics.
• It was after the October
Revolution that Russia
became Communist.
• It happened at The
Winter Palace in St
Petersburg.