DEFINITION OF REVOLUTION?

Presentation on theme: "DEFINITION OF REVOLUTION?"— Presentation transcript:

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2 DEFINITION OF REVOLUTION?
the usually violent attempt by many people to end the rule of one government and start a new one a sudden, extreme, or complete change in the way people live, work, etc. the action of moving around something in a path that is similar to a circle CAN THE TERM BE DEFINED? ARE THERE COMMON PATTERNS?

3 DEFINITION OF REVOLUTION?
Term in one of the most used and misused words Variety of meanings adaptable to personal purpose It can invoke both a sense of danger and hope (paradox) Working definition: “A radical change, caused by irresistible forces that overturns an established order.” Revolution be political, economic, social, religious, technological

4 PATTERNS OF REVOLUTION?
Crane Brinton Anatomy of a Revolution (1968) Comparative analysis = French (1789), English (1689), American (1775) and Russia (1917)

5 IMPACT OF WWI WWI unleashes change in Russia- THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION
US – emerges out of isolations – gradual role as “worlds policeman” Japan – militarism / imperialism Italy – Mussolini – Fascism Germany – Hitler – Nazism Britain – decolonization France – a vanquished victor Austria – reduced to a pigmy state

6 Nicholas Riasnovsky “ It has been said that revolutions occur not when the people are utterly destitute and oppressed beyond all measure and deprived of hope----crushing conditions lead to blind and fruitless rebellions----but when there is growth, advancement, and higher expectations, hampered, however, by an archaic and rigid established order.”

7 PATTERN FOR A REVOLUTION HOPE / DASHED HOPE

8 CRIMEAN WAR (1854) Russia = food shortages, overpopulation, civil disorder, industrial backwardness, military incompetence Crimean war fundamentally alter the balance of power in Europe and set the stage for World War I

9 PRECURSOR FOR HOPE Czar Alexander II (1855-1881)
GREAT REFORM PERIOD( ) (1)Emancipation of the Serfs (2)Local administrative reform (3) Judicial Reforms (4) Reorganization of the military

10 EMANCIPATION OF THE SERFS 1861
HOPE – serfdom abolished Serfs would become free peasants & receive land DASHED HOPE – redemption payment for land, not enough land for 23 million peasants, taxes

11 ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM 1864
HOPE – peasants would have representation Local Class system = towns, peasant villages, gentry ZEMSTOV – education, public medical service, ways of transportation DASHED HOPE – representation was proportional to land ownership Grigoriy Myasoyedov

12 JUDICIAL REFORM 1864 HOPE (1) trial by jury
(2) equality before the law (3) public legal proceedings (4) educated legal profession DASHED HOPE – government officials could influence judges and outcome of court cases 1850s, Grigoriants

13 MILITARY REFORM 1874 HOPE service reduce from 25-6 years
Educated received shorter enlistments Obligation to serve was extended to all Corporal punishment was abolished Lottery system replaced landlord’s decision DASHED HOPE - military ill-trained, poorly equipped = defeat WWI

14 SOCIAL CLASS STRUCTURE
Upper classes: Royalty, nobility, higher clergy: 12.5 % Middle classes: merchants, bureaucrats, professionals: 1.5 % Working classes: Factory workers, artisans, soldiers, sailors: 4 % Peasants: Landed and landless farmers: 82 %

15 INDUSTRIALIZATION Progress? 1880s Sergei Witte (b. 1849-1915)
Trans Siberian Railway 1,250 miles of railroad track in 1860 35,000+ of railroad track in 1900 Factories, mines, steel, petroleum Unintended consequences – Urban growth – “proletariat” 1900 – 2M by 1914 – 3M out of 120 M

16 History of Russia Riasnovsky
“Poorly paid, desperately overcrowded, and with very little education or other advantages, the proletariat of Imperial Russia represented in effect an excellent example of a destitute and exploited labor force, characteristic of the early stages of capitalist development and described so powerfully by Marx in Das Kapital.”

17 NICHOLAS II Romanov (r. 1894-1917) Khodynka Tragedy (May 30, 1896)
Russo-Japanese War ( ) Bloody Sunday (Jan 22, 1905) Attempted Revolution 1905

18 NICHOLAS II (r. 1894-1917) Last Russian Emperor, Tsar, Romanov
Two Wars = Russo-Japanese War WWI – Despite the loss of territory, massive casualties, stubborn supporter of the right of the sovereign

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20 REVOLUTION 1905 Military disaster = domestic upheaval
Century of autocratic rule Massive demonstration – 200,000 unarmed Father Gapon = “God Save the Tsar” Workers – general strike, reduction of work day, increase in wages, end to War Police and Cossacks open fired – 100 killed, 300 wounded = BLOODY SUNDAY Dress rehearsal for the Revolutions of 1917

21 OCTOBER MANIFESTO General Strike – October 20-30
Manifesto – 1st attempted constitution Guaranteed civil liberties – press, speech, assembly, religion Duma – legislative body 1st Duma 1906 – dismissed 2nd Duma 1907 – dismissed 3rd Duma consultative body – Peter Stolypin – Minister of Finance – assassinated 1911 4th Duma – many members = provisional gov’t

22 WORLD WAR I Russia’s political / social and economic problems were exacerbated by war Lack of adequate supplies – 25% of Russian soldiers were without guns Lost key battles – Tanneburg and Masurian Lakes Tsar Nicholas II – goes to the military front to rally troops

23 RASPUTIN (c. 1869 – 1916) “Mad Monk”
Russian mystic, psychic, faith healer, prophet, visionary, debauched religious charlatan Fateful friend of the Romanov family Nicholas II decision to move to the front lines WWI Sept. 1915

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28 Bones secretly discovered in 1976
FAMILY TRAGEDY Bones secretly discovered in 1976 Formally dug up in 1991 – DNA test results provide proof 9 of the 11 bodies 2007 – last of the remains discovered Alexei and Maria or Anastasia?

29 FEBRUARY / MARCH REVOLUTION
PROVISIONAL GOV’T Abdication of Czar Nicholas II March 17, 1917 – Russia Republic Constituent Assembly Universal Male Suffrage Promised a Constitution Promised redistribution of land to the peasants but took no action

30 Provisional Government
Lasted only eight month Major errors Continued fighting in World War I despite defeats Believed that the peasants should own land but did not initiate a land policy The Russian economy continued to go downhill and nothing was done *They never legitimized the government with a constitutional assembly

31 POLITICAL PARTIES TWO MAIN ISSUES – WAR, REDISTRIBUTION OF LAND

32 “LENIN AND THE BOLSHEVIKS DID NOT BRING ABOUT THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
“LENIN AND THE BOLSHEVIKS DID NOT BRING ABOUT THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION. THEY CAPTURED IT AFTER IT HAD BEGUN.” – RR Palmer

33 OCTOBER/NOVEMBER REVOLUTION
Bolshevik Revolution 1917 Bolsheviks with the support of the army seize key communication, transportation, and utilities Provisional Government fled for lack of support Timed takeover coincide with the election of the Congress of Soviets Lenin = head of the Council of People’s Commissars (Executive Committee) Bolsheviks disbanded the Constituent Assembly

34 LENIN “PEACE, LAND, BREAD” Immediate peace with the Central Powers – WWI Redistribution of land to the peasants Transfer of factories, mines, industrial plants from capitalists to committees of workers Recognition of the soviets as supreme power instead of the Provisional Government

35 Marxist-Leninism Lenin’s amendments to Marxism
Small group - intellectual revolutionaries with military discipline should run the country He believed in staging a worldwide revolution (Comintern) Emphasized a “conspiracy of intellectuals” The peasants could be a revolutionary force Capitalism was the enemy of communism

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