War and Revolution

By 1917, Europe was collapsing. Austrian government minister warn that if peace cannot be
made by monarchs, they will have to be made by the people, indicating that the people will soon
overrun the government.
I. The Russian Revolution
A. Prior to the Russian Revolution
1. Conditions
a) The Tsar, Nicholas II, led the army in WWI

The man to the left is the Russian

Tsar, Nicholas II, the last Tsar of
Russia who later abdicated from his
throne. He attempted to lead the
Russian Army in WWI, but failed
hopelessly due to his lack of military
skills.

(1) Unable to undertake such an important role as he is not trained for such task
b) The Russian troops were ill trained and ill equipped
c) Russia is unable to provide equipments for the army
d) Russian army suffers a great loss of 2 million
2. Nationalist uproar swept Russia before the Russian government revocations of 1904
concession, which infuriated the population of Russia
a) The workers concentration in large city is dangerous
3. The Tsars isolation of his wife, Alexandra, is a mistake
B. Rasputin
1. Alexandra, the German-born princess, fall into the influence of Rasputin, a Siberian
peasant who is illiterate
a) Alexandra believes that Rasputin is a holy man after Rasputin stopped his son
Alexiss bleeding
2. The influence of Rasputin is dangerous as he gains more and more power in the
court
3. Russians resented the Tsarist regime as economic and military disasters occurs
again and again

4. Ultimately, he was assassinated by the Russians

The man at the left is Rasputin, a Russian

peasant and a claimed holy man by the Tsarina,
Alexandra. An illiterate man with deep court
influence, he had a negative influence on Russia.

a) But it is too late to save the throne

C. The March Revolution
1. By March, there were multiple strikes in the city of Petrograd (St. Petersburg)
a) Many factories workers were female who had to work for long time
2. After the implementation by the government of a bread ration, the women factory
workers on international womens day went on the street to protest
a) They called for Down for autocracy and peace and bread
b) Later on, there is a collective strike made
3. Tsarina did not respond that there is an issue when Nicholas asked her in a letter
a) Instead, she responded that the weather is cold, and therefore people workers at
home
4. After believing his wife, Nicholas II urged his commanders to shut down the protest
a) Originally, the commanders were willing to shut them down
b) But later on, the soldiers refused to shoot, but instead, joined the protestors
c) Situation starts falling out of control
5. Russia begins to fall apart
a) The Duma established the provisional government
b) The Tsar was abdicated
6. New government
a) No group contributed to the fall of the monarchy, but the constitutional democrats
were responsible for establishing a provisional government
b) The constitutional democrats represented middle classs liberal plans for 8 hours
work day, universal suffrage, and civil equality etc
c) The other groups are the Soviets, or councils of the workers
d) The Soviets of Petrograd was established in 1917
e) Soviets started conquering towns spontaneously
f) Soviets represented the radical interest of the lower class
g) The Soviets consist of Marxists Social Democratic Party that had two factions:
Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

h) Mensheviks: Are willing to cooperate with the social democrats and use the
Western model to push forth the social reforms
7. Bolsheviks was a factions of the Russian social democrats that came under the
leadership of V. I. Lenin
a) Lenin
(1) V.I. Lenin was born in 1870, and started to loath the Tsarist regime after his
brother was executed for planning against the Tsar
(2) Lenin searched for a revolutionary faith, and came up with Marxism
(3) Lenin was arrested for forming a group and sent to Siberia
(a) After returning from Siberia, Lenin lived in Switzerland and assumed
leadership of the Bolshevik wing of the Russian Social Democratic Party
(4) Later on, Lenin was stirring up Russians who wanted a violent revolution to
overthrow the system of capitalism
(5) With the establishment of the provincial government, Lenin see the
opportunity for the Bolsheviks to seize power
(6) Lenin was sent back to Russia by the Germans
b) Bolsheviks plan to take power
(1) Lenin wrote the April Theses after returning to Russia
(2) In it, he talked about how the Bolsheviks do not have to undergo the
Bouergouis revolution against the monarch in order to move to socialism;
instead, he suggests the taking of power and moving directly to socialism by
utilizing the already existing Soviets workers councils
(3) Promises
(a) Redistribute lands from land owners
(b) Withdrawal from war
(c) Relegation of government power from provisional government to the
Soviets
(d) The taking of factories from capitalists and giving them to workers
(4) By then the peasants were already taking the lands in local areas from local
land lords
(a) Army order No. 1 issued by the Soviets urged all Russian military officers
to be replaced by elected commissions, causing a military chaos
(b) Many in Russian army left for local areas to take land
D. The Bolshevik Revolution
1. In July 1917, Lenin and other Soviets were accused of inciting a revolution, forcing
them to flee to Finland
2. Nevertheless, after the Prime Minister of the provisional government was
announced, a General incited a military coup, forcing the Prime Minister to free all
Bolsheviks
a) Although the General did not succeed, this act strengthened the Bolsheviks
3. As the Bolsheviks begin to gain a small majority in the Soviets of Petrograd and
Moscow, Lenin begin to urge them for a Proletariate revolution
a) Although many did not want the revolution, it was successfully provoked as Lenin
persuaded them successfully
4. Overnight, the Bolsheviks seized power of Petrograd
a) The Bolsheviks declared the establishment of their government, with Lenin as the
head

This is an image of the October

(Russian) Revolution. V. I. Lenin is
speaking to the Red Army at this
scene.

5. As the new Soviet government was declared the Bolsheviks had a problem because
the Constituent Assembly, a face of the provisional government, had universal
suffrage in January 1918
a) The Bolsheviks lost the election as they got 240 seats compared to 420 seats of
the socialist revolutionaries
b) But Lenin still took power and insist that the power not be given to the constituent
assembly
6. Lenin realized that he needs nation-wide support, so he implemented them
a) All the local lands will be distributed to peasants
b) Factories are turned in to the workers councils/committees
c) These changes are not going to be permanent
7. The Welfare minister is a female Alexandra Kollontai passed many reforms
a) Legalized marriage and divorce, abortion allowed, provide health care, decreed
the equality between men and women
b) Zhenotdel Womens bureau sent people to explain the new social orders
(1) Some Zhenotdel were injured, others were murdered because some men did
not accept the increase of their wives and daughters rights
c) Lease reforms are later union for the government
8. Peace with Germany
a) The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was passed to make peace with Germany
b) To Lenins critics, Lenin said that losing land to Germany would not matter
because there would naturally be marxist revolution in Europe
E. Civil War
1. Many were agains the Soviets
a) Loyalists, Social Democrats, Bougeouis, anti-Leninist fought together agains the
Bolsheviks as the white
b) The Bolsheviks were the red
c) The Allied countries sent troops to Russia hoping to bring Russia back into the
Great War by changing the government
2. The Bolsheviks faced much resistancefrom Siberia, Ukraine, and Baltic regions
a) At a time, Ukraine general nearly got to Moscow
b) At another time, three White generals almost got to Moscow
(1) But the Bolsheviks (communists) pushed back

c) Later on, the Bolsheviks retook Ukraine, Georgia, Russian Armenian, and
Azerbaijan
3. Royal family as victim
a) The Royal family was killed and burnt in a mineshaft
4. Elaboration on the two sides
a) The Reds
(1) Very powerful due to great organization structure of Leon Trotsky
The man to the left is VI Lenin. The man at the
center is Joseph Stalin. The man at the right is
Leon Trotsky, a great public speaker, organizer,
Marxist thinker, and many more. The three men
are the most important figures of the founding of
USSR.

5.

6.

7.
8.

(a)Had draft
(b) Had discipline, which when not obeyed, the military officer would be
punished
(c) Used ex-Tsarist officers
(d) Had the advantage of an interior line of defense
b) The Whites
(1) Political disunity was a problem
(a) Some want to return to Tsarist regime while others believe in democracy
(2) Operate on fringes, so its impossible for Whites to cooperate
(3) Reds single mindedness contrasts with the Whites inability to agree
(a) Communists have the determination to fight for their dream
Characteristic of Lenins Regime
a) War communism
(1) All banks and other major industries are centralized
(2) Most yield of crops were collected
b) Terror The Cheka
(1) Secret police was the Cheka
(2) Executed thousands by asking their class
(3) People of all classes were executed
The Allies intervention
a) During the Russian Revolution, the Allies troops intervened in order to bring
Russia back into WWI
b) After WWI, much of the troops remained stationed in Russia without helping the
Whites
c) This allowed the Bolsheviks to appeal Russians to a sense of patriotism to fight
against the foreign states
The Bolsheviks ultimately won and the civil war ended at 1921, with one central
government controlling the whole Russia
The Russian Revolution is impossible without WWI, while WWI was also greatly
effected by the Russian Revolution

II. The Last Year of the War

A. By the end of the war, the German made one last gamble, placing all their troops into full
attack mode, which they lost as the French received much support from fresh troops
from the United States
B. Germany sued for peace at once
C. Germany discovered that the Allied don't want to negotiate with Imperial autocratic
government, so they started to pass liberal reforms
D. It was too late, because the people have already seized the government, and soon
socialists established a German Republic
1. The armistice was signed, ending the war
E. The Casualties of the War
1. Millions were killed, and more injured
2. A lost generation created, as they are the generation of the WWI veterans
3. Much civilians killed
4. Armenian genocide took place after Armenian uprising