RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

CAUSES OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

• Political – involvement in WWI and a lack of confidence in the czar

• Economic – financial problems brought on by the war, food shortages, inflation

• Social – inequality of social classes, workers strikes

GROUPS INVOLVED

• Czar – used the military and bureaucracy to hold up his regime. He was an autocratic ruler out of touch with the people

• Duma – legislative body that wanted a government without the czar (they asked him to step down) so they implemented a provisional government

Cont.

• Bolsheviks – dedicated to a violent revolution. They wanted to destroy the capitalist system and implement socialism

• White Forces – anti-communists made up of groups loyal to the czar, anti-Leninist socialists, and Allies fighting the communist take over

IMPORTANT LEADERS AND THEIR INFLUENCE

• Czar Nicholas – a weak autocratic leader who used the military for control. Stumbled through a series of military and economic disasters. Allowed his wife (influenced by Rasputin) to make decisions while he was fighting the war

• Alexander Kerensky – head of the Duma. Decided to remain in the war which was a costly mistake.

Cont.

• V.I. Lenin – leader of the Bolsheviks. Led the political take over of Russia from the provisional government by the Red Forces

• Leon Trotsky – Commissioner of War for the Red Forces. Reinstated the draft and rigid discipline. Largely responsible for the success of the Red Forces

TIMELINE OF KEY EVENTS

• March 8, 1917 – women’s march in Petrograd• March 10, 1917 – strikes shut down all the factories in

Petrograd• March 12, 1917 – Duma established a provisional

government• November 6, 1917 – Bolsheviks seized the Winter

Palace causing the collapse of the government• March 3, 1918 – Lenin signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

ending Russia’s involvement in WWI• July 16, 1918 – Royal family murdered by the soviets• 1921 – Communists in total control of Russia

HOW MUCH DID RUSSIA CHANGE AFTER THE

REVOLUTION?• A LOT!

Russia was transformed into a communist state

The people of Russia were oppressed by the government.

Lenin executed thousands of people

Russia became hostile toward Allies and a threat to democracy