Crash Course European History: Russian Revolution and Civil War

Introduction

• Speaker: John Green
• Focus on the violence during World War I, Russian Revolution, and Civil War.
• Tsar Nicholas II's government failed in managing war efforts.
  • Inefficient administration: Lack of weaponry, transportation, food, medical care.
  • Soldiers lacked basic supplies, e.g., bullets and boots.
  • Some generals prioritized pogroms over effective fighting.

Revolution Begins

• Failure of imperial administration led to local zemstvas taking charge.
• Tsar Nicholas appeared incompetent and uninterested in Russians' survival.
• Revolution was imminent due to governmental failure.

International Women's Day, 1917

• Russian February 23, 1917: Women protested in Petrograd against war effects.
  • Result of inflation, food scarcity, and war casualties.
• Protests spread, leading to Tsar Nicholas' abdication.
• Provisional government formed by the Duma with a mix of political ideologies.

Rise of Soviets and Power Struggle

• Workers and soldiers revived councils (Soviets).
• Competition between Soviets and Provisional Government.
  • Wartime chaos and support for WWI exacerbated issues.
  • Some believed life would improve, as expressed by contemporary poets.

Bolsheviks and Lenin

• April 1917: Germans facilitated Lenin's return from exile.
  • Bolshevik platform: peace, bread, land.
  • Lenin and Trotsky's grassroots organizing and strategic positions.
  • Lenin's belief in violence for revolution and end of democratic politics.

Provisional Government and Bolshevik Coup

• Alexander Kerensky led Provisional Government aimed at WWI revival.
• Bolshevik propaganda weakened government.
• October 1917: Bolsheviks led a coup, took over government infrastructure.
• Elections held, Bolsheviks forced dismissal of the assembly.

Bolshevik Tactics and Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

• Bolsheviks destroyed democratic advocates.
• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: Russia ceded western holdings to Germany.
• Bolsheviks aimed for socialism in one country, established Comintern.

Civil War and Bolshevik Dictatorship

• Civil war between Bolsheviks (Reds) and various groups (Whites).
  • Whites opposed Bolsheviks but were disunited.
• Bolsheviks' Red Terror against opponents.
• Declaration of the USSR in 1922.
• Bolshevik society under Lenin's violence-driven leadership.

Post-Revolution Bolshevik Society

• Industrial production fell significantly.
• Death toll of civil war, disease, famine: ~10 million.
• Bolshevik propaganda depicted a worker's paradise.
• New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1921 allowed some capitalism to boost productivity.

Lenin's Death and Stalin's Rise

• Lenin suffered strokes, died in 1924.
• Stalin organized Lenin's funeral, sidelining Trotsky.

Conclusion

• Bolshevik Revolution led to a complex transformation in Russia.
• Future topics include Stalin's leadership and impact on Soviet Russia.

Additional Notes

• Bolshevik Revolution not an immediate transition to full communism.
• NEP men and capitalistic elements emerged during the NEP.