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-Seeked to make minorities "more Russian" by banning their languages and religions other than Eastern Orthodoxy
-targeted Jews in Pogroms
-censored and arrested revolutionaries
-pro-autocracy; no reforms!
-very traditional; did not keep up with the times
-working class/peasants grew unhappy with the lack of reforms and oppression
-he influenced his son, Nicholas II to follow in his footsteps -
-pro-autocracy; opposed democracy (the participation of his people in government)
-did not listen to his advisors
-was oblivious to the needs and troubles of his people
-industrialized the country, but that led to horrible working conditions for the workers
-censored his people and suppressed protests
-made the Duma but it was a facade
-refused to end WW1, despite the many casualties + famines -
-Russia & Japan went to war over Manchuria and Korea after Russia broke their peace treaties in that region
-Japan had more troops, better navy and shorter distance to cover, so they won
-Russia had a hard time getting supplies there via the Trans-Siberian Railway because of the distance
-There was civil unrest, so Czar Nicholas II to back out of the war
-Russia lost territories
- war contributed to the people's growing dislike to the current regime, so the Czar created the Duma -
-22,000 Russians marched peacefully on the Winter Palace, St. Petersburg
-they wanted better working/living conditions
-they wore religious symbols and nice clothing, choosing Sunday specifically because it was a holy day to show that they come in peace
-the Czar was not there
-soldiers opened fire on the protesters, killing over 100 and injuring 2,000
-made even more people turn against the king
-led to the Duma -
-established due to the civil unrest that came with losing the Russo-Japanese war + Bloody Sunday
-it was an elected legislature by the people, but it had no real power in the decision making process
-Nicholas disliked it because it was in the way of his absolute rule so he demolished it after 10 weeks -
-weak military, not industrialized enough, ran out of supplies
-4 million casualties
-Czar Nicholas II was on the front lines, so the blame was on him
-his wife ruled & was heavily influenced by Rasputin who made bad decisions
-war drained the Russian economy=famines
-Czar's military failures angered the people, wanted the war to end
-once the Bolsheviks came to power, the war with Germany eventually ended; a peace treaty was signed & Russia lost land
-people were upset by the treaty= civil war -
-Rasputin=a mystic, seer, "holy man"
-helped the royal family's son, who had hemophilia
-heavily influenced the czarina's rule during the war & put his friends in high places
-royal family trusted him+he was always around
-the people thought he was the one ruling and hated him
-nobles were afraid of his influence, so they killed him
-put cyanide in wine/food, but he was still alive
-shot him but he managed to escape, so they continuously shot at him
-they threw him into the river -
-women textile workers went on strike and there were riots over bread + food shortages over 5 days (even soldiers joined)
-led to big uprising so Czar Nicholas II stepped down
-Duma leaders established the Provisional Government temporarily
-Provisional Government did not pass reforms, nor did they end the war
-revolutionaries grew more radical+differing views led to Soviets
-Germans wanted to get Russia to stop fighting, so they sent Lenin to stir civil unrest
-royal family executed in 1918 -
-Lenin was the one who introduced/mainly spread socialist ideas that parallelled Karl Marx's theories through a foreign newspaper
-he gained support/led the Bolshevik party
-the provisional government did not pass reforms/improve conditions for the workers or end WW1, so the Bolshevik party gained more support
-Soviets formed (councils of workers, peasants, soldiers) with differing views
-the lack of action on the part of the provisional government upset people & led to the Bolshevik revolution -
-opposition of Bolshevik party:
~ people angered at the peace treaty signed w/ Germany to surrender in the war because Russia lost a lot of land
~ Red Terror
~foreign capitalist countries wanted to stop the spread of communism
-Red Army: Bolsheviks (workers, peasants) led by Lenin
-White Army: conservatives, anti-Bolsheviks, Allies
-Red Army controlled industrialized areas, but still WW1 raged
-White Army had foreign troops (200,000), but uncoordinated
-4 mill. Russians died (famines & war) -
-name meant "man of steel"
-ruthless, only cared about his position/power, not about the communist ideologies
-became general secretary of the communist party in 1922 and moved his supporters to high places
-Lenin preferred Leon Trotsky
-When Lenin suffered a stroke in 1922, Trotsky & Stalin began a competition for power
-by 1928 Stalin became leader of the Communist party
-Stalin over-all was very corrupt, which means the government did not have the people's best interests at heart -
-Lenin made Russia have self-governing republics under one national government
-Union of Soviet Socialist Republics after the Soviets that supported the October Revolution
-Bolshevik party renamed Communist party
-1924: a new socialist/democratic constitution was written
-BUT it was a one-party system that upheld the communist party, not the proletariat, which leaves the working class without a voice, plus a one-party system often leads to a dictatorship -
-had a stroke in 1922 and multiple strokes after that; in the end he died of natural causes
-meanwhile the decline of his health, Leon Trotsky and Stalin competed for who would become the next communist leader
-Lenin's death ultimately leads to Stalin taking hold of the country -
-Trotsky was more moderate than Stalin when it came to socialist policies and also did not support the Red Terror entirely
-general of the Red Army
-competed with Stalin to become the next leader of the Soviet Union while Lenin's health declined
-was exiled in Siberia, remote region of Russia while Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union because Stalin was paranoid even though he was in a powerful position
-again, shows that the leader of the country and the government was corrupt