History 4 Essays
The Russian Revolution
Peter Builds New Capital
Nicholas I (1825-1855)
Hated Industrial Revolution and French Revolution
Wanted to make world safe for autocracy
Fought against progress in Russia and Europe
Decembrists
- Revolt against czarism
- Put down
- Revolutions of 1848
- Most of Europe but Russia has some form of democracy
- Economy remains backward
Alexander II (1855-1881)
Son of Nicholas I.
One of better czars – interested in reform
Emancipated the serfs in 1861
Alexander III (1881-1894)
Increased the repressive powers of the police
Limited the power of the local assemblies
Pograms against anyone who was not Russian
Nicholas II (1894-1917)
Wrong man, wrong time
Little interest in government
- Imperialistic Conflict over Korea and Manchuria
- Russia trying to ward off rebellion
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Bloody Sunday-January 22, 1905
Began in St Petersburg
Disaster of Russo-Japanese War revealed corruption and incompetence of czar
Created Duma, limited economic reform
World War I/ Rasputin
Had control over the Tsar Nicholas II and the Tsarina
Was murdered in December 1916
World War I was a disaster.
The Revolutions of 1917
February Revolution (March 8, 1917)
Czar Nicholas Abdicates
Kerensky forms Provisional Government
Lenin Arrives at Finland Station
Lenin arrives in Petrograd (St. Petersburg)—April 16. 1917
Lenin calls for armed insurrection
—Oct. 16, 1917 (Russian Calendar)
October Revolution begins, October 24, 1917 (Russian Calendar)
November 6, 1917 (Western European Calendar)
Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin
How Do Bolsheviks Get Power?
Treaty of Brest Litovsk—
March 3, 1918
Lost 32% of the land
Lost Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
Much of the Ukraine
Much of Belarussia
Creation of Soviet Union
- Civil War, 1918-1921
- “Reds” vs “Whites”
- “Reds” (Bolsheviks, Communists) under Lenin win
- Supported by peasants, national/ethnic groups
- New Economic Plan
- Nationalization of banks and heavy industry, limited ownership of small businesses
- Lenin dies 1923
Power Struggle after Lenin’s Death and Stalin’s Rule
Forced collectivization
“The Great Famine”
“The Great Terror”
Purges
Gulag
Contemporary Problems
Cold War with US from 1945-1991
Mikhail Gorbachev’s Glasnost allowed
Democracy to Emerge
Perestroika—socialism not possible in capitalist world
Resigns December 25, 1991
End of Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War
Boris Yeltsin
Problems:
Economy was a mess
Workers not paid
National Debt
IMF and World Bank Money to Cronies
Politics a Mess
Today in Russia and the Former Soviet Union
A weak Boris Yeltsin names Vladimir Putin, former head of the KGB, Premier then President
Dmitri Medvedev replaced him, but Putin still made many decisions. Putin is now President again after elections many think were rigged.
Today’s Russia (continued)
--Ethnic groups want autonomy or Independence
--Putin has destroyed Chechnya, Dagestan
--Reports of rapes and pillage
--Nationalists want powerful Soviet Union
--Questions still needing answers
Winners
Communist Party
Some Workers
Massive Literacy Project—all those who learn to read and write
Vastly improved health care—all those who lived longer and healthier
Women
- Losers
- Poorest peasants
- Traditional Russian upper classes
- Many of those in traditional Russian middle classes
- Those killed or imprisoned because of oppressive regime
- Jews, Muslims
- Other ethnic minorities (maybe)
- Russian Economy
- Russian Democracy
Russian Revolution: Who Won, Who Lost?