The Russian Revolution
• Bolshevik
• collectivization
• kulaks
• purges
• totalitarianism
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
terms to define
Other terms to Know• Politburo - principle policy making committee of the communist
party in Russia
• Commissar - An official in the communist party who was responsible for education. The Commissar kept an eye on every department for Stalin (including the military and police)
• NKVD - was the leading secret police organization of the Soviet Union that was responsible for repressions during Stalinism
• Gulag - the government agency that administered the penal labor camps. Often found in the cold harsh climate of Siberia
• Red Army - military arm of the Bolsheviks created by Trotsky
• White Army - loyal to the Czar. Would fight with British, American, and Canadian soldiers to defeat communism
Gulags
The Causes
• Czar Nicholas II failed to win a victory against the Japanese in 1905
• Bloody Sunday - Bread riots break out in the streets . The Czar sends in the troops. Over 200 are killed.
Causes Continued- Tannenberg
• Russia entered the war in 1914
• They would suffer a humiliating defeat at the battle of Tannenberg
• 95000 captured
• 30 000 killed
• 500 heavy guns captured
Russian Society• 85% Peasant farmers
• 100 years behind in industrialization (i.e.: no hospitals, roads, running water)
• Czar’s ruled their people with an Iron Fist
• Wealth concentrated in 1%of society
Issues with the Czar
• Married a German princess
• His heir was deathly ill
• they be friend the strange and morally repugnant Rasputin, who supposedly used magic to heal the Czar’s son
the end of the Romonav Dynasty
• The Czar had failed against Japan and now against the Germans
• The army, the only thing that he could oppress the masses with, no longer would follow his orders.
• March 15th, 1917 he steps down from the throne
The Provisional Government
• Alexander Kerensky would Lead the new government (Duma = Russian Parliament
• Failed to gain victories in the war
• Failed to give land to the Peasants
• Revolutionary fever was beginning to grow (France all over)
Vladimir Lenin
• Germans sneak a Russian Revolutionary into Russia
• His Bolsheviks will grow from 20 000 in April to 200 000 in the fall
• They would be known as the Red Army and they were becoming the voice of the people
Russian Army Revolts• The Russian army was still
suffering heavy casualties at the front
• Lavr Kornilov marches the Russian army on the Provisional government in Moscow
• Kerenski needs help to save Russia from a dictator. He turns to Lenin and the Red Army
• Kerenski gives the Bolsheviks positions of power in the government
The October RevolutionThe October RevolutionThe October RevolutionThe October Revolution
More and more people upset with the lack of success of the new government. It was time for the Bolsheviks to strike
Lenin promised land, an end to the war and bread
In October the Bolsheviks seize the telegraphs, radio, train stations, newspapers and police stations
Kerenski fled but Lenin and Trotsky would fight a five year civil war to firmly establish communism in Russia
More and more people upset with the lack of success of the new government. It was time for the Bolsheviks to strike
Lenin promised land, an end to the war and bread
In October the Bolsheviks seize the telegraphs, radio, train stations, newspapers and police stations
Kerenski fled but Lenin and Trotsky would fight a five year civil war to firmly establish communism in Russia
Impact Of the RevolutionImpact Of the RevolutionImpact Of the RevolutionImpact Of the Revolution
By 1922 the Communists in firm control
USSR until 1992
By the end of WW2 the USSR will make up one of the Superpowers that will polarize politics for the last 50 years of the 20th Century
By 1922 the Communists in firm control
USSR until 1992
By the end of WW2 the USSR will make up one of the Superpowers that will polarize politics for the last 50 years of the 20th Century
The BolsheviksThe Bolsheviks
Vladimir Lenin
• Mastermind of the Bolshevik take over of Russia
• First Head of the Soviet State
• Lenin demonstrated a chilling disregard for the sufferings of his country men and crushed all opposition
Josef Stalin• Took over from Lenin
• Ruthless, killing millions of his own people that stood in his way
• Responsible for building the Soviet Union into a Superpower and building the war machine that would lead to the defeat of the Nazi’s
Leon Trotsky• He was Lenin’s right hand
man in the take over of Russia
• Made war commissar and built the Red Army
• Stalin, with the help of the NKVD, turns the party against him and he escapes to Mexico
• Stabbed with an ice pick in Mexico by an NKVD agent in 1939
Lavrenty BeriaStalin’s Little Spy
