RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

1. RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

2. RUSSIA FROM 1815 - 1853

3. TSAR ALEXANDER I (1801 – 1825) • Alexander I initially favored some liberal ideals and Enlightened despotism • In 1803, gave nobles permission to free their serfs but few nobles agreed to do so • Prussia had earlier freed their serfs leaving Russia as the only major country with serfdom • Created a more efficient regime from top to bottom. • After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, Alexander grew increasingly reactionary. • He proposed the “Holy Alliance” after the Congress of Vienna • First major post-Napoleon attempt to stop growth of liberalism • Proposed for all monarchs to sign a statement agreeing to uphold Christian principles of charity and peace • Liberals saw it as a sort of unholy alliance of monarchies against liberty and progress.

4. DECEMBRIST UPRISING 1825 • Alexander’s death led to a power struggle. • His brother, Constantine, was supported by liberal nobles but Constantine did not want the throne. • Younger brother, Nicholas, was next in line to the throne and was supported by conservatives • Decembrists (junior military officers): liberal upper-class opponents of the autocratic Russian system of gov’t supported popular grievances among Russian society. • First upper-class revolt against Russia’s autocratic system of government • Sought to prevent Nicholas I’s assumption of the throne • Revolt eventually suppressed by Nicholas I and Decembrist leaders were executed

5. NICHOLAS I (1825 – 1855) • Became Europe’s most reactionary ruler • The principles of autocracy, orthodoxy and nationality became the foundation of the state • Russia became a police state with censorship, a secret police (the “Third Section”), and state-sponsored terrorism • Intellectuals developed two opposing camps in this period • Slavophiles • Westernizers

6. RUSSIA DURING THE AGE OF MASS POLITICS

7. DEFEAT IN THE CRIMEAN WAR • Turning point in Russian history towards modernization • Russia realized it had to modernize or remain vulnerable militarily and economically • Russia lacked a sizeable middle class that promoted liberalism economically, politically and socially

8. ALEXANDER II (1855 – 1881) • Perhaps the greatest reform-minded czar since Peter the Great • Believed serfdom had delayed Russia’s modernization: agriculture had been poor for centuries • Emancipation Act (1861) • Mirs • Zemstvos • Other reforms • Judicial system, terms of military service, eased corporal punishment, censorship relaxed and education liberalized • Industrialization in Russia was stimulated by railroad construction

9. CRITICS OF ALEXANDER II • Increasingly became more conservative and autocratic • Anarchists • Nihilism • Utopian agrarian order emerged as response to nihilism • Alexander II assassinated in 1881 by radicals who bombed his carriage in St. Petersburg

10. ALEXANDER III (1881 – 1894) • Became the most reactionary czar of the 19th century • Sought to rule through “autocracy, orthodoxy and russification” • Count S. Y. Witte oversaw Russian industrialization in the 1890s • Used Western capital, gold standard • Huge steel, petroleum exports • Despite economic and social reforms, Russia’s economic problems were still profound by 1900 • 1/3 of farmland used – could not keep up with population • Depression of 1899 • Aggravated by Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05

11. NICHOLAS II (1894 – 1917) • Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) • Revolution of 1905 • Growth of liberalism • “Bloody Sunday” • October Manifesto of 1905 – created the Duma • Russia experienced mild economic recovery between 1907 – 1914 • Peter Stolypin – prime minister • Russia’s poor showing in WWI directly led to the Russian Revolution

12. RISE OF SOCIALISM IN RUSSIA

13. 1898 – SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC WORKER’S PARTY • Founded in Minsk, Vladimir Lenin as leader • 3 basic ideas central to Lenin’s philosophy • Capitalism could be destroyed only by violent revolution • Social revolution was possible under certain conditions • Necessity of a highly disciplined workers’ party • 1903 – Social Democrats split into two factions • Mensheviks (minority) • Bolsheviks (majority) • In light of 1905 Revolution (Bloody Sunday), Bolsheviks in exile planned a revolution • Lenin and Leon Trotsky

14. THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION, 1917

15. CAUSES FOR THE OVERTHROW OF NICHOLAS II • Russia’s poor showing in Russo-Japanese War earlier had damaged regime’s credibility • After 1905, widespread discontent with regime continued due to lack of consistent reforms • Most important cause: tremendous human and economic toll on Russia during WWI • Rasputin • Tsarina believed Rasputin had mystically saved her son • Government ministers increasingly frustrated by his hold on the royal family

16. REVOLUTION BEGINS • Centered in St. Petersburg • Started by massive strikes in January and February • Largely caused by food shortages • Nicholas II abdicated his throne March 2 • Royal family placed under house arrest • Only about 1,000 Russians died during the revolution • The Duma responded by declaring a provisional government on March 12, 1917

17. THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT • A dual government ruled Russia • The Provisional Government • Constitutional Democrats and liberals, many wanted to continue the war • Petrograd Soviet • Workers and soldiers who had overthrown the tsar • Mensheviks led its organization

18. ALEXANDER KERENSKY • Became leader of the Provisional Government • Participation and that of other socialists gave the new coalition government more legitimacy • No longer an exclusively bourgeoisie institution • Sought peace in the war without losing land to Central Powers • Implemented liberal programs • Equality before law, freedom of speech, religion, assembly, union rights, local elections, 8-hr work day • Rejected outright social revolution

19. ARMY ORDER #1 • March 1, 1917 • Issued by the Petrograd Soviet seeking to replace military officers loyal to the tsar and place Soviet in firm control of the army • Led to the collapse of army discipline • Anarchy effectively plagued Russia by summer of 1917 • Russian peasants began to take land from the lords, often violently – GREAT FEAR 2.0

20. OCTOBER REVOLUTION

21. RISE OF VLADIMIR LENIN • Germany arranged for Lenin to be transported back to Russia – April 1917 • April Theses – Lenin rejected all cooperation with the “bourgeois” provisional government • called for a socialist revolution • Nationalization of banks and landed estates • “all power to the Soviets; all land to the peasants” • Provisional government sought to repress the Bolsheviks but were largely ineffective • Bolsheviks gained slim majority in Petrograd Soviet by summer 1917

22. FALL OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT • Kornilov Affair – August 1917 • Conservatives plotted an overthrow of Kerensky’s government • Plot eventually failed • Kerensky lost all credit with army • Fear of right-wing counter revolution played into Bolshevik’s hands – able to cast themselves as defenders of the revolution • Kerensky’s refusal to end the war and prevent anarchy led to fall of Provisional Government

23. TROTSKY AND THE RED ARMY • October 25, Leon Trotsky, leader of the Petrograd Soviet (Red Army), led the Soviet overthrow and arrest of the provisional government • Trotsky was the second most important figure in the October Revolution • The Provisional Government collapsed with relatively little bloodshed • October 26 – Bolsheviks officially take control of the government

24. BOLSHEVIKS • Opponents of the Bolsheviks were arrested, including many mensheviks • Cheka – secret police, created in December to eliminate opponents • New elections for the Constituent Assembly • Lenin’s campaign: “Peace, Land, Bread” • Bolsheviks lost, but overthrew new government with Red Army • Bolsheviks renamed the Communist Party

25. LENIN’S REFORMS • Lenin gave land to peasants • Now perceived as friend of peasants • Lenin gave direct control of factories to local workers’ committees • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk – March 1918 • Took Russia out of WWI • Clear that Russia had lost the war to Germany • Provisions • Russia lost 1/3 of its population and 25% of its land • Germany’s defeat by the allies nullified the treaties • Lenin moved government from Petrograd to Moscow • Trotsky reorganized the army • Resulted in much opposition to Bolsheviks – Russian Civil War

26. RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR (1918 – 1920)

27. START OF THE WAR • “Reds” (Bolsheviks) vs“whites” (included officers of the old army, and 18 groups proclaiming themselves the real government of Russia – no leader to unify them) • many peasants feared the whites and thus supported the reds • Both sides proved to be extremely brutal • Over 2 million left Russia due to revolution and civil war

28. PREVENTING COMMUNIST VICTORY • Allies sent troops to help “whites,” hoping to get Russia back into the war • Archangel Expedition – sought to keep military supplies from falling into German hands • Allies also sent troops into Siberia to save thousands of marooned Czech troops, prevent Bolsheviks from gaining supplies and prevent Japan from taking control of Siberia • Russian communists never forgot the fact they had been invaded by the US and the Allies

29. WAR COMMUNISM • Bolsheviks mobilized the home front for the civil war • Earliest form of socialism in the Soviet Union • Applied a “total war” concept to civil war • Declared that all land was nationalized • State took control of heavy industries and ended private trade • Resulted in huge decline in production • Forced peasants to deliver food to towns • Cheka hunted down and executed thousands of opponents, such as the tsar and his family and other enemies of the proletariat

30. COMMUNIST VICTORY • By 1921, the Reds were victorious • Communists extremely well organized and highly disciplined • Red Army prevailed under Trotsky’s leadership • Whites were divided and poorly organized • The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was created in 1922

31. RESULTS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION • COSTS: 15 million dead, economy ruined, international trade gone, millions of workers fled the country • Creation of the world’s first communist society: one of the monumental events of the 20th century