Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution:
● Russia was ruled prior to 1917 by an Emperor or Tsar. This
was the tradition for over 301 years. (Nicholas the Second
was the last of the Romanov dynasty).
● Russians lost against Japan in a war (1904-1905) this led to a
defeated revolution.
● Why did the Russians want a revolution to occur:
The disparity between the rich and the poor was great.
Ordinary people had no power and the duma
(parliament) set up after the conclusion of the
revolution in 1905 had little real power.
Russians did not do well in the First World War.
They had suffered huge losses.
Inflation and the lack of food resources.
● The Two Revolutions:
○ February revolution led to the formation of the Russian
Provisional Government under Prince Georgy Lvov with
the help of the duma.
○ October revolution led to the Bolsheviks under Vladimir
Lenin and Leon Trotsky coming to power.
● The Soviets and Bolsheviks:
○ Workers and soldiers set up soviets (governing
committees) which contested for power against the
Provisional Government.
○ Both soviets and the Government claimed to be in
charge.
○ Lenin returned from exile to St. Petersburg (Petrograd)
in April, 1917.
○ Bolsheviks seized power in the October Revolution (6-7
Nov).
○ Soviets around Russia saw what the Bolsheviks were
doing and emulated.
● What did Lenin believe? ○ That the revolutions would spread around the war.
○ There was no need for foreign policies as the
communists believed in the brotherhood of mankind.
○ Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was not seen as significant as it
would soon be overturned anyway by a world
revolution.
● Civil War:
○ May 1918, the Whites (anti-communists) fought with the
Red Guards (Bolshevik fighters).
○ The Whites were given aid by Western Nations.
○ But the Whites were divided and Trotsky organized the
Red Army well.
○ The Whites were defeated soon after the foreign armies
withdrew in 1919.
○ The Bolsheviks achieved complete control in 1920.
● World Revolution?
○ Lenin encouraged this by setting up the Comintern
(Communist International).
○ Lenin thought that without communist revolutions
elsewhere the Russians would be destroyed.
○ Many countries emulated Russia’s example but with
little success.
○ Lenin died in 1924 and Stalin took power forcing
Trotsky into exile in 1927.
○ Stalin took little interest in encouraging revolutions
elsewhere.
○ He concentrated on making the Soviet Union stronger
industrially.