Revolutions in RussiaSection 1

Rachel Cornish 2nd hour

The Beginning

Many balls, parades, and other ceremonies marked the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. Russians cheered for the czar and his family.

When the Revolution of1905 was over, Nicholas failed to solve Russia’s problems.

The Russians were not content and new eruptions sparked.

The first of two revolutions started in March 1917.

Revolutionary Rumblings

In 1914, the Russian empire stretched from Europe to the Pacific. The land was dominated by landowning nobles, priest, and a czar; there was also a small middle class.

When the czar was under pressure, he made a few reforms, but not enough to ease the nation’s crisis.

After the Revolution of 1905, the elected Duma was set up but had no real power.

World War I National pride and unity

of the Russians was fired as there was an outbreak of war in 1914.

World War I quickly stressed Russian resources like the Crimean and Russo-Japanese wars.

Factories could not make enough supplies, transportation system broke down, and by 1915, soldiers had no rifles, ammunition, and medical care.

Russian casualties reached two million only in 1915.

Death of the Mad Monk Rasputin was an illiterate

Siberian peasant who was not actually a monk in the Russian Orthodox Church.

He gained a reputation as a healer through his powerful personality. But no one believed in his “miraculous” powers.

By 1916, his influence over Alexandra reached a new height.

Alexandra ignored all the warnings about his evil nature and believed he was sent from God to save Russia and the Romanov dynasty.

The Hard Death of Rasputin Members of Duma, nobles, and the czar’s relatives saw the

danger in Rasputin. And to save the monarchy, five men hatched a plot to destroy him.

Prince Felix Yussoupov, Czar’s nephew, lured Rasputin to his palace on December 29, 1916.

Filled with poison, the prince fed Rasputin cakes and wines. He ate them and the two talked for hours.

Yussoupov consulted with his co-conspirators upstairs and came back down with his revolver and shot Rasputin.

While Rasputin body was being examined he jumped up and grabbed the prince.

Rasputin was shot again, then clubbed to stillness. He was then dumped in to the icy Neva River.

When his body was found, doctors discovered his death was not from bullets or the poison, but from drowning.

The March Revolution

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