Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra were in power yet were unpopular with the people as the Tsar was politically incompetent, relied on Grigori Rasputin heavily, and had shortages of food, fuel, and resources resulting from WWI.

-> It then brought the March Revolution

March Revolution (1917)

• On March 8th,  people protested at the capital with women rioting over bread. With the scarcity of food, troops who were standing at guard felt compelled to join in as they were hungry.

• March 12th: Duma officially declared governmental control

->The Tsar then abdicated on March 15th, allowing Duma to set up a provisional government.

During the provisional government's rule, it too fell unpopular as they wanted to continue fighting in WWI (despite its lack of resources), had no agenda/plan, failed to enact any reforms, and ended up dividing Russia.

Divided Russia:

• The Mensheviks, formerly the provisional government, made up the people who supported keeping a traditional government

• The Bolsheviks, who were formerly the Petrograd Soviet, represented the workers and soldiers of Russia and tended to be more radical

Vladimir Lenin

• followed a bit of Marx ideologies

• believed in violent revolutions

April 1917: Lenin called for Soviet take over and to bring an end to the provisional government

He declared Army Order No. 1 which called for the stop of the war, and aimed his rhetoric to "all power to the soviets and all land to the peasants".

During this time Lenin worked with Trotsky, a powerful speaker and organizer, even though they both disliked each other.

Bolshevik Revolution (October 1917)

• Both Trotsky and the Petrograd Soviet-special military committee took over government buildings and their members. Once finished, the Congress of Soviets declared power and placed Lenin as head of the government.

Success Factors:

• Lack of effective provisional government, common dislike

• War bitterness which brought support as aimed to end it

• Effective leadership demonstrated

With the Bolsheviks in power they, for the most part, met their promises by redistributing land, allowing worker control of factories, and pulling out of WWI through the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

Civil War (1918-1920)

The October (Bolshevik) Revolution did not fall well with all of Russia, one being the White Army (who was made up of former generals, officers, and soldiers of the Czar and advocated to keep traditional government).

July 16, 1918: The Bolsheviks executed the Romanovs (including Tsar Nicholas II)

->Led the White Army to retaliate against the Red Army, formed by the Bolsheviks and under Trotsky's command

->As well, Britain and the U.S. (Allied intervention) sent troops and occupied Murmansk in 1918 as they disliked Bolsheviks.

By 1920, the Red Army had defeated the White Army due to a lack of unification amongst themselves.

-> It then furthered anti-communist sentiments globally

Effects of Civil War:

• Close total economic collapse

• Famine and overall discontent

• Temporary, attained peace

Lenin introduces the New Economic Policy (NEP) which brought state control (of industry, transport, foreign trade), a few private enterprises (industries fewer than 20 employees), and the flourishing of small farms and businesses. It then brought direct control of industry which forced peasants to send their food to cities.

In addition, Lenin installs the Cheka, a secret police force that arrested counter-revolutionaries and ultimately begins the Red Terror.

During the Red Terror, hundreds of thousands were imprisoned, tortured, and executed. It's estimated that 500,000 died during this period.

-> it created the Soviet Union or also known as the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) with Lenin in control (Joseph Stalin at the time was Central Committee Secretariat)

On the subject of the new government, Trotsky vied for global communism and disagreed with the NEP while Stalin wanted a socialist Russia.

1924: Lenin dies due to a stroke (yet not really confirmed)

Stalin succeeded him and spread bad news about Trotsky, even going far by telling him the wrong date for Lenin's funeral

-> Trotsky was exiled to Mexico and later assassinated by an icepick

With Trotsky out of the picture by 1928, Stalin proceeded by introducing the Five Year Plan

Five Year Plan (October 1928-December 1932)

• it aimed at industrial increase and agriculture in order for Russia to catch up

Goals:

• to build heavy industry, initiative transportation, and increase farm output

• to have government control of the economy

It was done by collectivization (grouping peasants together to increase output and starving them) and dekulakization (eliminating private property owned by wealthy farmers).

Results: It was accomplished 6 months earlier than planned yet came at a huge human cost (hundreds of thousands of work-related deaths).

• Brought poor housing

• Decline in consumer goods

• Emergence of slave labor camps (first established on April 25, 1930) which were cold, unsanitary, and overcrowded

-> leads into the Holodomor

The Holodomor (1932-1933)

-With Stalin's plans of collectivization for the Five Year Plan led to some resistance from the kulaks (living in Ukraine)

**->**Stalin then blacklisted Ukrainian towns (blocking imports) and additionally increased food requisitions (despite current starvation)

Winter of 1932-1933: groups of police and communist apparatchiks ransacked Ukrainian homes, taking anything edible.

-> starvation begins in cities as bread lines are extensive; an estimated 6-7 million die (some say 10 million)