
Background • Czar Nicholas leader of Russia • Russian armies were poorly trained and equipped. • Loses 1.7 million troops
Grigori Rasputin • Led Gov’t while the Czar visited troops • Assassinated in 1916 due to economic disasters.
Strikes • March 1917 women led strikes due to bread shortages and rationing. • Czar Nicholas ordered the troops to shoot peasants and strikers. • Troops join demonstration
Provisional Government • Czar Nicholas stepped down as leader • Government headed by Alexander Kerensky. • Continued to fight in WWI. • Challenged by Soviets who represented workers and soldiers.
Bolsheviks • Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin • Dedicated to a revolution to overthrow the government. • Slogans, “Peace, Land, and Bread!” • “Worker Control of Production!”
Takeover • Bolsheviks seize power in October of 1917. • Turned power to Congress of Soviets. • Named themselves The Communists. • March 1918 Lenin ended the war with Germany.
Russian Civil War • Red Army- Communist army defeats an unorganized white army (supported Czar) • Red Army kills off remaining members of the monarchy
U.S.S.R • Russia forms the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics -or known as the Soviet Union -takes over surrounding nations