Transcript From Russian Empire to Soviet Union

From Russian Empire
to Soviet Union
Russia’s Problems
• Russia had failed to
industrialize and
remained incredibly poor
• Social order was
dominated by landowning nobles, powerful
Russian Orthodox priests,
and the czar
• Majority of Russians were
poor rural peasants
• Duma (legislature) set up
by Nikolai II in 1905 had
no real power
Political Unrest
• Revolutionaries, including
socialists and anarchists,
were everywhere – some
wanted to lead the
peasants in widespread
revolt while others
believed that leading the
small community of
factory and railroad
workers in the cities would
be more effective
WWI: Bad Idea
• Outbreak of WWI
illustrated to Russians just
how behind the rest of
Europe their country was
– the few factories that
existed in Russia could not
produce enough war
supplies
– supplies that were
produced could not reach
the front because too few
railroads had been built
– casualty rates soared due
to lack of rifles,
ammunition, etc.
A Russian “Tank”
Nikolai’s Mistake
• Nikolai’s generals all failed
to win any major gains or
to stop the massive loss
of Russian soldiers
• Nikolai decided to go to
the front and lead the
Russian army himself,
leaving behind his
German wife Alexandra to
govern the country
Alexandra’s Mistake
• Alexandra began to rely on
the advice of a mysterious
“monk” named Grigori
Rasputin; Rasputin was a
“healer” and, most likely, a
skilled con-artist
• Alexandra became
convinced that Rasputin
could heal her hemophiliac
son (and heir to the throne)
Alexei, and moved Rasputin
into the palace
• Soon, it was Rasputin and
not Alexandra who was
making all the decisions
Grigori Rasputin
• 1869 – 1916
• “The Mad Monk”
• Alexandra’s closest
advisor
• Was he a mystic healer?
• Did he have supernatural
powers?
• Nearly all the facts about
Rasputin are clouded due
to the large amount of
mythology and folklore
which surrounds his
history
Rasputin’s Murder
•
December 1916: a group of Russian
nobles murdered Rasputin to end
his influence:
– First they poisoned him with a
massive dose of cyanide
– They then shot him in the
chest, but Rasputin got up and
ran away, so they shot him
again
– They then beat him with clubs
until he was unconscious (and
presumed dead)
– They then threw his body into
the river
– When the body later washed
up, an autopsy ruled that he
had actually died from
drowning!
The February Revolution
• WWI was going too
badly for Russia:
– casualties were high
– food and fuel shortages
at home
– desperate workers went
on strike
– soldiers refused to fire
on strikers or on political
protesters
Nikolai Steps Down
• Nikolai II was convinced by his
advisors to step down and give
control to the Duma
• The Duma set up a provisional
democratic government
– made up of mostly middleclass liberals
– began to write a
constitution
– Elected Aleksandr Kerensky
as prime minister
– but did NOT pull Russia out
of the war (BIG MISTAKE!)
The October Revolution
• Under the provisional
government, socialists
began to organize
themselves by creating
“soviets” or councils of
workers and soldiers
• The socialists came to
be dominated by a
radical sect called the
Bolsheviks
Lenin
• The Bolsheviks were led by the
Marxist, Vladimir Ilyich
Ulyanov (Vladimir Lenin)
– Lenin’s brother had been
executed for plotting to kill the
czar
– Lenin himself was arrested in
1895 and exiled to Siberia for
participating in illegal protests;
when released, he moved to
Switzerland
– Returned after the fall of the
czar in 1917; Germany actually
helped him get home, because
they knew that he would create
political instability in Russia
Kerensky Falls
• The provisional
government had failed to
end the war and had
failed to listen to the
demands of the peasants
for land reform (the
nobles still owned almost
all of the land), so ….
• Lenin’s Bolsheviks
overthrew the
government and seized
power
Russia Exits WWI
• Lenin made a
quick peace with
Germany in 1918,
surrendering a
huge amount of
territory by signing
the Treaty of
Brest-Litovsk
The Soviet Union
• Russian government
became communist, with
Lenin as head of state
• All land became state
property and was
distributed to the peasants
to farm on
• Control of all factories and
mines was given to the
workers
• Russia was renamed the
Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR), or the
Soviet Union, in 1922
Russian Civil War
• 1918-1921: Civil war fought
between the “Reds”
(communists) and the “Whites”
(czarists)
• The Entente Powers (Britain,
France, & the U.S.) intervened
on behalf of the Whites,
sending troops and supplies
– This actually hurt the Whites
because most Russians
disliked foreigners
– It also led to icy relations
between the US and the
Reds after the Reds won
Death of the Romanovs
• July 17, 1918
• Nicholas, his wife
Aleksandra, daughters
Olga (22), Tatiana (21),
Maria (19), and Anastasia
(17), son Alexei (13),
family doctor and 3
servants were all
executed without warning
to prevent the Whites
from ever putting the czar
back in power
“The Red Menace”
• By 1921, Lenin and
the communists had
defeated the Whites
and had full control
of the nation –
Russia would remain
under communist
rule for the next 70
years
?!?!?!?!?!?!?