The Russian Revolution

Czar

Absolute Monarch or ruler of Russia

Proletariat

Lowest class in a society, referring mostly to industrial workers

Bourgeoisie

The middle class

Bolsheviks

Communist majority faction of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party

Romanov

Czarist royal family who ruled Russia for 3 centuries

Totalitarianism

Absolute unlimited power by a ruler and control over every phase of life

Soviet

Elected councils formed during the Revolution

Bloody Sunday

-The Revolution of 1905 where thousands of discontented urban workers & poor peasants peacefully protested to petition the czar for better working conditions and suffrage

- The czar's guards fired into the crowd

- Led to widespread strikes and uprisings

- The Duma was allowed more power temporarily but Nicholas dissolved the Duma within weeks

World War 1

- Czar Nicholas II brings Russia into the Great War which revealed the ineptitude and arrogance of the country's aristocratic elite

- Most Peasants had very little invested in the War

- Poorly supplied troops result in massive casualties

Czarina Alexandra

- Ran the government (as an aristocrat) while Nicholas II was at the Eastern Front for the war, heavily influenced by Rasputin

Rasputin

A mystical 'holy man' who heavily influenced Czarina Alexandra and was involved in scandals that discredited the monarchy

Collapse of the Imperial Government

- Alexandra and Rasputin throw the government into chaos by completely mismanaging the wartime economy

- Led to Alexandra being accused of Treason and Rasputin's assassination in December of 1916

March Revolution

- Starts with food riots, strikes, and protests against the war,

- The Duma declares itself a Provisional Government

- Czar Nicholas abdicates the throne

- Lenin and his Bolsheviks return

Vladimir Lenin

- Leading Marxist revolutionary committed to class struggle and revolution, exiled for anti-czarist protests

- Later fled to Western Europe but returns to take the lead and implement socialist reforms

October Bolshevik Revolution

- Bolshevik Red Guards take over government offices and arrest leaders of the Provisional government, abolishing private property

- Largest industrial enterprises nationalized and Political Police are organized

- Revolutionary army created with Leon Trotsky in charge -the " Red Army"

-Bolshevik Party renamed Communist Party in March of 1918

- The Treaty of Brest-LitovsK negotiated with Germany and Russia leaves WWI

Civil War in Russia

- Fought between 1917-1920 between 'Reds' (Bolsheviks & Red Army) and 'Whites' (army officers, bourgeoisie, Cossacks, and moderate revolutionaries)

- Whites received support from England, France, USA, and Japan but the Reds were victorious

Death of the Imperial Family

- Czar Nicholas, Alexandra & their 5 children were executed in July 1917 after being placed under house arrest

The Soviet Union

- Reorganized country named by Lenin in 1922, implementing the ideas of Karl Marx

- Issues his New Economic Policy in 1921 allowing some capitalist policies

Joseph Stalin's Rise to Power

- Stalin was a Bolshevik revolutionary and was appointed general secretary of the party's Central committee in 1922

- He consolidated power following Lenin's death in 1924, modernizing the Soviet Union through '5 Year Plans' of industrialization

- Stalin eliminated any opposition and implemented the secret police which allowed no opposition or freedoms

- He ordered the execution of millions and created a fully communist state