Unit 6.5 - The Russian Revolution 1917-1922 CE
“Soviet Union foreign policy is a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma, and the key is Russian Nationalism”- Winston Churchill, radio broadcast, 1939
The Russian Empire was the largest and most diverse on earth, at one point extending more than 7,000 miles across Europe and Asia, encompassing more than 80 million people who spoke eighty different languages and practiced dozens of religions. The ideals of the Renaissance and Reformation, with their emphasis on the importance of individual freedom, had hardly touched this vast empire where all government decisions were still essentially made by a single ruler into the 20th Century. These absolute rulers called Czars - members of the Romanov family – had ruled since 1613. Russia had no elections, legislative bodies or constitution. The Russian people were not entitled to freedom of speech or religion and any dissent against Czarist rule was stamped out ruthlessly.
By the early 20th Century, the winds of change were finally coming to Russia with various reform movements calling for and end to the absolute rule of the Czar. Ever since the Renaissance, Russia had lagged behind the rest of Europe. News of more spectacular economic growth in Western Europe due to the Industrial Revolution fueled a greater discontent among the Russian peasants and members of the intelligentsia. Although many peasants remained loyal to the Czar, dissatisfaction became more widespread with the unfavorable outcomes of the Russo-Japanese War and Bloody Sunday.
However, the autocratic rule of the Romanov family would not end until the deaths of millions of Russians in the First World War finally sparked a revolution. WWI would come to be the ultimate failure for Tsar Nicolas II and he would be forced to abdicate his thrown. With Russia ripe for revolution, a former exiled Marxist, V.I. Lenin, would arm his fellow Bolsheviks and stage a coup against the helpless government. While Lenin began to preach his communist ideology and create sweeping changes to the USSR, a civil war challenged this new government.
Sadly for the much-abused people of Russia, their 1917 Marxist inspired revolution resulted not in a socialist workers republic, but a ruthless totalitarian dictatorship that did not end until 1991. Within a few years, Lenin would have complete control over the Russian people and through the use of his secret police, Cheka, no one was could challenge the powers of the newly founded USSR. In an unexpected twist of fate Lenin suffered several debilitating strokes and died prematurely in 1924 and a Joseph Stalin would assert himself as the new totalitarian leader of the Soviet Union.
For the first time in history, a state had come into being based on the principles of communism. Tsarist rule comes back to Russia in the form of Totalitarianism, and it is this system of government, along an economic policy advocating opposition to capitalism, that becomes the legacy of the Russian Revolution.
Our second case of political revolution occurs over a century later in early twentieth century Russia. Here again, a long-reigning monarch (Tsar Nicholas) is deposed-- first by liberal democratic forces and finally replaced by a Communist regime. This transformation from absolute monarchy to communist dictatorship
Themes
· What were the problems that plagued Russia before the revolution?
· What happens when a government benefits only a small, wealthy class and ignores the demands of the vast majority?
· Were Lenin and Stalin worse for Russia than the Czar?
· In what ways was Russia predisposed to the type of government that emerged out of Lenin and the Bolshevik regime?
Terms
Romanovs, czar (tsar), St. Petersburg, Nicholas II, Russo-Japanese War, 1905 Bloody Sunday, Duma, Russian and WWI, Rasputin, provisional government, Bolsheviks (reds), Mensheviks (whites), Soviet, communism, Marxism, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, totalitarianism
Czar Alexander III
Pogroms
Bolsheviks
Vladimir Lenin
Karl Marx
Duma
Revolution of 1905/Bloody Sunday
Soviet
March Revolution of 1917
Bolshevik Revolution
New Economic Policy
Communism
“Soviet Union foreign policy is a puzzle inside a riddle wrapped in an enigma, and the key is Russian Nationalism”- Winston Churchill, radio broadcast, 1939
The Russian Empire was the largest and most diverse on earth, at one point extending more than 7,000 miles across Europe and Asia, encompassing more than 80 million people who spoke eighty different languages and practiced dozens of religions. The ideals of the Renaissance and Reformation, with their emphasis on the importance of individual freedom, had hardly touched this vast empire where all government decisions were still essentially made by a single ruler into the 20th Century. These absolute rulers called Czars - members of the Romanov family – had ruled since 1613. Russia had no elections, legislative bodies or constitution. The Russian people were not entitled to freedom of speech or religion and any dissent against Czarist rule was stamped out ruthlessly.
By the early 20th Century, the winds of change were finally coming to Russia with various reform movements calling for and end to the absolute rule of the Czar. Ever since the Renaissance, Russia had lagged behind the rest of Europe. News of more spectacular economic growth in Western Europe due to the Industrial Revolution fueled a greater discontent among the Russian peasants and members of the intelligentsia. Although many peasants remained loyal to the Czar, dissatisfaction became more widespread with the unfavorable outcomes of the Russo-Japanese War and Bloody Sunday.
However, the autocratic rule of the Romanov family would not end until the deaths of millions of Russians in the First World War finally sparked a revolution. WWI would come to be the ultimate failure for Tsar Nicolas II and he would be forced to abdicate his thrown. With Russia ripe for revolution, a former exiled Marxist, V.I. Lenin, would arm his fellow Bolsheviks and stage a coup against the helpless government. While Lenin began to preach his communist ideology and create sweeping changes to the USSR, a civil war challenged this new government.
Sadly for the much-abused people of Russia, their 1917 Marxist inspired revolution resulted not in a socialist workers republic, but a ruthless totalitarian dictatorship that did not end until 1991. Within a few years, Lenin would have complete control over the Russian people and through the use of his secret police, Cheka, no one was could challenge the powers of the newly founded USSR. In an unexpected twist of fate Lenin suffered several debilitating strokes and died prematurely in 1924 and a Joseph Stalin would assert himself as the new totalitarian leader of the Soviet Union.
For the first time in history, a state had come into being based on the principles of communism. Tsarist rule comes back to Russia in the form of Totalitarianism, and it is this system of government, along an economic policy advocating opposition to capitalism, that becomes the legacy of the Russian Revolution.
Our second case of political revolution occurs over a century later in early twentieth century Russia. Here again, a long-reigning monarch (Tsar Nicholas) is deposed-- first by liberal democratic forces and finally replaced by a Communist regime. This transformation from absolute monarchy to communist dictatorship
Themes
· What were the problems that plagued Russia before the revolution?
· What happens when a government benefits only a small, wealthy class and ignores the demands of the vast majority?
· Were Lenin and Stalin worse for Russia than the Czar?
· In what ways was Russia predisposed to the type of government that emerged out of Lenin and the Bolshevik regime?
Terms
Romanovs, czar (tsar), St. Petersburg, Nicholas II, Russo-Japanese War, 1905 Bloody Sunday, Duma, Russian and WWI, Rasputin, provisional government, Bolsheviks (reds), Mensheviks (whites), Soviet, communism, Marxism, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, totalitarianism
Czar Alexander III
Pogroms
Bolsheviks
Vladimir Lenin
Karl Marx
Duma
Revolution of 1905/Bloody Sunday
Soviet
March Revolution of 1917
Bolshevik Revolution
New Economic Policy
Communism