Russia “The Road to Revolution”
Czar Alexander II (1855-1881)
Alexander was a liberal czar who
saw the need for major reforms in
Russia.
 He abolished serfdom with the
Emancipation Act of 1861.
 Despite his reforms, Alexander was
assassinated in 1881 by an anarchist.
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Czar Alexander III (1881-1894)
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Due to his fathers death, Alexander III
ended all attempts at further reform.
The former serfs became the working
class (Proletariat)and remained very
poor.
A program of Russification was begun
which required all minorities under
Russian rule to adopt Russian culture.
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Nicholas II (1894-1917)
Continued the oppressive policies of his father.
Revolutionary forces grew dramatically during his
reign wanting to bring change.
The most radical group was the Bolsheviks who
called for a violent overthrow of the Czarist
government.
In 1904, Russia went to war with Japan in the
Russo-Japanese War and suffered a humiliating
defeat.
On January 6, 1905, 200,000 unarmed workers
marched on the royal palace to ask Nicholas for
labor reform.
 Soldiers fired on the crowd, killing 500. This
became known as Bloody Sunday. It led to the
Revolution of 1905.
The Revolution of 1905
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A general strike brought the country to a
standstill.
Workers demanded a representative
assembly and formed councils known as
Soviets.
In October 1905, Nicholas created a
representative assembly known as the
Duma.
The revolution ended, but problems
persisted.
Rasputin and the Royal Family
A mysterious peasant holy man named
Rasputin gained tremendous influence over the
royal family.
 Their only son and heir to the throne Alexis
was hemophilic and often close to death. The
Russian people were unaware of this.
 Rasputin saved his life on several occasions
and gained the trust of the royal family.
 Rasputin became widely hated by the Russian
public because of his decadent lifestyle and
didn’t understand why he was an “insider”.
 He was blamed for the problems of Russia.
 Rasputin was assassinated by a member of the
royal family in 1916.
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Father Gregory Rasputin
Nicholas and Alexandra
The Last Royal Family
The Romanov Girls
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World War I and Revolution
In July 1914 Russia mobilized troops after
promising support of Serbia following
Archduke Ferdinand’s assassination
Germany declared war on Russia.
Russians were at first enthusiastic.
Early in the war Russia suffered heavy
casualties and food shortages developed on the
home front. The war became unpopular.
In March 1917, bread riots broke out in St.
Petersburg. Nicholas was forced to abdicate on
This was known as the March Revolution
A provisional government headed by Alexander
Kerensky took over but remained in the war.
The Russian Revolution and Allied Victory
1917-1918
Revolution and Civil War in Russia, 1914-1920
Alexander Kerensky
The March Revolution
The Letter of Abdication
The Bolshevik Revolution
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As war conditions worsened the provisional government
lost support.
A leading Marxist and Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin
returned from exile to Russia in April 1917 and began
preparing for a takeover.
His slogan was “Land, Peace, and Bread”
By the fall of 1917, councils of workers known as soviets
gained strength.
In November, 1917 the Bolsheviks overthrew the
provisional government and took control.
They redistributed all land to the peasants.
In March 1918, the communist signed the Treaty of BrestLitovsk with Germany and withdrew from WWI.
The treaty gave up a large part of Russian territory and
angered many Russians. This led to civil war.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov Lenin
Lenin Arrives in St. Petersburg April 1917
The Bolshevik Revolution
November 1917
The Russian Civil War and the Birth
of the Soviet Union
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Opponents of the Bolsheviks formed an army called the
White Army and began a civil war in 1918. The war
raged from 1918 to 1920.
The Bolsheviks were called the Reds and were led by a
brilliant military leader Leon Trotsky.
The Reds eventually defeated the Whites and took total
control. The Bolsheviks became known as the
Communists.
In 1922 the country was divided into republics and
named the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR).
In 1924 Lenin died of a stroke and a power struggle
ensued.
The Last Royal Family
The entire Romanov royal family was executed by the Yuri Soviet
in Siberia in 1918.
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin and the Soviet Union
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A power struggle for control of the Communist Party ensued
between Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.
By 1928, Stalin gained control and forced Trotsky into exile.
He later had him assassinated in Mexico.
Stalin ruled the Soviet Union as a dictator and led his
country through World War II as a vital member of the
Allies. He died in 1953.
Joseph Stalin, the Cold War, and
Collapse of the Soviet Union
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He and his successors led the Soviet Union through a long
Cold War with the United States after World War II ended.
After difficult economic, political, and social unrest, the
Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 with the resignation of Soviet
Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and the Russian Federation was
created under President Boris Yeltsin.
Soviet Realism
Soviet Leaders
Vladimir Lenin
(1917-1924)
Josef Stalin
(1929-1953)
Nikita Khrushchev
(1953-1964)
Soviet Leaders
Leonid Brezhnev
(1964-1982)
Yuri Andropov
(1982-1984)
Konstantin Chernenko
(1984-1985)
Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991)
Boris Yeltsin (1990)
The Soviet Communist Party
General
Secretary
Dominated Party and
Soviet Government
Politburo
Determined Policy
Secretariat
Directed PartyWork
Central Committee
All Union Party Congress
Met every four years
Cells
Local organized units in factories, schools, offices