Transcript Revolution and Civil War in Russia

REVOLUTION AND CIVIL
WAR IN RUSSIA
RADI CAL
CHANGES COME SWEEPI NG THROUGH RUSSI A I N THE EARLY
1900S
CHAPTER 14, SECTI ON 5
QUICK-WRITE 1/31
• What conditions existed in Russia between 18151905 that led to Revolution?
MARCH REVOLUTION ENDS TSARISM
• Russian empire stretched from Eastern Europe to the
Pacific Ocean
• Russia was slow to industrialize
• Landowning priests, nobles, and an autocratic tsar
controlled the government and economy
• Large peasant population endured poverty
PROBLEMS IN RUSSIA (1905)
• After revolution of 1905 Russia endured many
problems:
• Elected Duma set up after war had no real power
• Moderates pressed for a constitution
• Nicholas II used secret police to block attempts to limit his
authority
• Marxists tried to rally a revolution amongst the proletariatworking class
WWI IMPACT
• Outbreak of war sparked feelings of nationalism
amongst Russians
• World War I quickly took its toll on them- resources
depleted very quickly, by 1915, almost two million
Russian soldiers died
• Nicholas II went to take charge on the front lines.
• While he was away tsarina Alexandra relied on advice
from Gregory Rasputin.
• Fearing the influence of Rasputin, nobles killed him on
December 29, 1916.
TSAR STEPS DOWN
• In 1917, after disaster on the battlefield and disaster
at home, Nicholas II steps down
• Duma set up a provisional government, preparing a
new constitution for Russia
• Revolutionary soviets set up soviets, who worked
within the government. Eventually, the Bolsheviks
took charge of this group
LENIN AND THE BOLSHEVIKS
• Vladimir Lenin studied Karl Marx as a young man,
and tried tirelessly to spread Marxist ideas to
Russians
• Lenin stressed that revolution was necessary to bring
about change- elite group named “Bolsheviks”
which means majority
• Germany helped bring Lenin home from exile
because they thought it would weaken Russia
NOVEMBER REVOLUTION
• The provisional government was led by Alexander
Kerensky
• By 1917, soldiers were tired of fighting, and some
mutinied. Peasants seized lands from fearful landlords.
• In November 1917, the Bolsheviks, along with mutinied
soldiers attacked the provisional government, and easily
take them over
• Bolsheviks also take over Moscow, which they make their
headquarters
BOLSHEVIK CHANGES
• Bolsheviks:
• Ended private ownership of
land and distributed land to
peasants
• Workers were given control of
factories and mines
• A new red flag with an
entwined hammer and sickle
symbolized union between
workers and peasants
• Bolsheviks soon take over
people’s lives throughout
Russia
RUSSIA PLUNGES INTO CIVIL WAR
• Lenin quickly made peace with Germany and fled
from World War I.
• For three years, civil war raged between the “Reds”
(communists) and the “whites” (Mensheviks- people on
the side of tsarist Russia)
• Communists used brutality and terror against whites,
and also to control their own people
• Organized the Cheka- secret police force sent out to kill people
who were planning to take action against the revolution
“WAR COMMUNISM”
• The Communists took over banks, mines, factories,
and railroads
• Peasants were ordered to deliver their crops to feed
the army and hungry people in the cities
• Peasants were drafted into the military
• Leon Trotsky led the “reds” to ultimately defeat the
counter-revolutionary “whites” and take control of
Russia
COMMUNIST SOVIET UNION
• In 1922, Lenin united much of the old Russian empire
into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
Soviet Union
• New Russian Constitution:
• Set up an elected legislature (Supreme Soviet)
• Gave all citizens over 18 the right to vote
• All political power, resources, and means of production
would belong to workers and peasants
• Still used secret police to enforce its will.
STALIN TAKES OVER
• Lenin died at age 54 in 1924.
• His death set up a power struggle between Soviet
leaders, specifically Trotsky and Josef Stalin
• Trotsky supported a worldwide revolution for
communists, while Stalin wanted to concentrate on
building socialism at home
• Stalin eventually takes over Communist Russia, and
uses many ruthless tactics to win dictatorial power.