The Russian Revolutions

Serf

An agricultural laborer bound under the feudal system to work on his lord's estate.

Autocracy

A system of government by one person with absolute power.

Duma

A Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions.

Hemophilia

An inherited bleeding disorder in which the blood does not clot properly.

Abdicate

Renounce one's throne.

Provisional

Arranged or existing for the present, possibly to be changed later.

Coalition

An alliance for combined action, especially a temporary alliance of political parties forming a government or of states.

Bloody Sunday

An event on January 22, 1905, when 200,000 workers peacefully marched to the Czar’s palace in Petrograd to present a petition for reform and were fired upon by palace guards.

Bolsheviks

A faction of the Marxist socialist movement led by Lenin that believed in a small party of professional revolutionaries to bring about a socialist society.

Mensheviks

A faction of the Marxist socialist movement that believed Russia needed to develop into an industrial state with a sizable working class before a socialist revolution could occur.

War Communism

A policy implemented by Lenin that involved direct control of industry and forced supply of food from peasants to cities.

October Manifesto

A document issued by Nicholas II following widespread protests that promised civil rights and a legislative Duma.

Russification

A policy aimed at creating a homogeneous Russian culture, increasing censorship and persecution of non-Russian peoples, especially Jews.

Czar Nicholas II

The last Emperor of Russia whose reign saw the fall of the Romanov dynasty and was characterized by political incompetence.

Rasputin

A self-proclaimed mystic and healer who held significant influence over Czar Nicholas II and his family.

Alexander III

Czar Nicholas II's father, who reversed many of his predecessor's reforms and maintained strict autocratic rule.