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Revolutions in the Romanov Empire, 1917-1921

Explore the turmoil that led to the downfall of the Romanov Empire between 1917 and 1921, from social cleavages to the Bolshevik revolution, civil war, and the establishment of the Soviet Union. Uncover the key events, players, and impacts of this pivotal period in Russian history.

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Revolutions in the Romanov Empire, 1917-1921

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  1. Revolutions in the Romanov Empire, 1917-1921

  2. Romanov Empire before WWI Social cleavages: • urban society versus ruling elite • working class versus all elites • City versus countryside • Peasants • Overpopulation • land poor • Nicholas II unwilling to reform

  3. Tsar Nicholas II and family

  4. Russia during the war • Front experience • Soldiers radicalized • Increasingly refused to fight • Home front • impoverished (food and clothing supply) • Tsar and his government losing war and legitimacy • KEY: Summer 1915 Nicholas decided to go to the front • Tsarina Aleksandr • Rasputin

  5. February (1917) Revolution • February 23 (March 8), 1917: International Women’s Day • Petrograd (St. Petersburg) • Women joined by locked-out workers • Police over-reacted • Revolution broke out • March 2 (15), 1917: Tsar Nicholas II abdicates. • March 3 (16): Mikhail declines the throne.

  6. Dual Power, March-October 1917 1. Petrograd Soviet: • Grass-roots organization • Workers • Soldiers • Radical left parties: • Bolsheviks • Mensheviks • Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs)

  7. Petrograd Soviet

  8. Dual Power (cont.) 2. Provisional Government (official government) • Middle classes, urban dwellers • Liberal democratic parties • Prince Lvov • Aleksandr Kerensky • Mistakes: • Continued the war effort • Refused to give land to peasants • Failed to solve food supply problem

  9. Provisional Government

  10. Peasant Revolutions • Seized: • Land • Forest • Fought over the spoils • Localism

  11. October (1917) Revolution Bolsheviks V.I. Lenin L. Trotsky Marxists Tightly organized Led and followed the masses Slogans: “Bread, Peace, Land!” “All Power to the Soviets!”

  12. “All Power to the Soviets!”

  13. V.I. Ulianov, a.k.a. LENIN, 1870-1924

  14. LEON TROTSKY (born Lev D. Bronstein), 1879-1940

  15. Civil War, 1918-1921 • Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government • Most applauded • All-Socialist Coalition Government • Lenin refused • January 1918: Constituent Assembly • March 1918: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

  16. Civil War (cont.) • Reds (pro-Bolshevik troops) • Whites (anti-Bolsheviks from SRs to Army officers) • Greens (peasant insurgents) • Nationalists • Western Allies

  17. Civil War (cont.) Why did the Bolsheviks win? • Strategic, industrial center • Red Army (Trotsky) • Peasants’ and workers’ support • Whites • on periphery • lacked unity • refused to cooperate with nationalists

  18. Civil War (cont.) • Nationalists • on periphery • lacked unity • popular support • Peasants • poorly organized • local concerns • Sometimes supported Reds • “Soviet Power” (local power)

  19. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

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