Russian Revolution in 10 Minutes - Manny Man Does History

the Russian Empire was one of the biggest empires in the world most of the European capitalist empires spreading across the world had monarchs in charge the Russian Empire was no different the Tsar at the beginning of the 20th century was Nicholas the second of the Romanov dynasty and he had complete control over the Empire the second half of the 19th century saw Marxism becoming popular among many of the working people German philosophers Karen Marx and Friedrich Engels suggested that capitalism would lead to a growing divide between the working class and the capitalist class who employed them the rich would get richer off the backs of the hard-working people on the ground this division they suggested would lead to a social revolution of the workers a redistribution of the wealth among the people and ultimately communism a classless stateless humane society built on the people's common ownership each giving what they can and taking what they need if only people were so simple in the early 19th century many people in Russia worked as serfs on free peasants who were bound to work the land they were freed in 1861 by the Tsar at the time which led to a huge new working class moving into the cities within the Russian Empire the Russian social democratic Labor Party was set up to unite many of the revolutionary groups angry at the Tsar it was deemed illegal so they met in various cities in Western Europe divisions within this party mainly between the Bolsheviks and mensheviks led to us but Vladimir Lenin the leader of the Bolsheviks believed that a true communist revolution could only work with the strong leadership of one person or perhaps a small select few disagreeing with Menshevik Yulia smart-arse views Lenin and the Bolsheviks split away to work on their own Lenin spent most of his time in Western Europe writing Marxist publications and convening with fellow socialists a lot of people were annoyed that necklace wasn't leaving Russia into a modern society he was too much of a control freak Russia's embarrassing loss to Japan and 1905 didn't help a large workers protest against this era in the capital st. Petersburg that is the massacre of protesters at the hands of the Imperial Guard sparking the 1905 revolution various workers councils or Soviets were established to organize and coordinate the protests and revolution workers peasants and even some military led a crippling general strike against the Tsar resulting in the Russian Empire becoming a constitutional monarchy and the establishment of the State Duma the first elected parliament of Russia Tsar Nicholas however did his best to limit the parliaments power and ensure the Crone's Authority he could elect his own ministers and dissolve the State Duma for re-election whenever he wanted where she did in 1906 the changing population of Russia saw increased people living in the cities and more industry people could share ideas and want more from the world they could begin to see that they were being oppressed by the people at the top farmers wants to own the land they were working on city life was overcrowded and sanitation was negligible people were wanting a better way of life Lenin returned briefly to Russia to help the Bolsheviks to raise funds he endorsed robbing trains banks post offices and railway stations Georgian Marxist Joseph Stalin led some of these robberies Sarah Nicolas clamped down and arrested many revolutionaries Lenin fled and stayed away from Russia for many years settling in Switzerland in 1914 the austro-hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand because Russia was allied with Serbia they declared war on austria-hungary so their ally Germany declared war on Russia thus kicking off the first world war Tsar Nicholas believed that a war would help unite the people of the Russian Empire against an old enemy and distract them from the harsh living conditions many were in it did spark a wave of nationalism amongst the people but it seemed more love of the country and not necessarily a love of the Tsar Saint Petersburg was renamed Petrograd to signed last German because of the war Russia's trade routes through the Ottoman Empire were cut off leading to an economic crisis the government began printing more and more money to pay for the war which led to inflation the cost of living was going up and yet farmers weren't being paid enough for the projects so they took to only growing crops for themselves leading to food shortages in the cities people were angry at how the government were handling things in 1915 Sarah Nicholas took charge of running the war to boost national morale but he was pretty useless out there he left his wife Empress Alexandra Fedorovna to the running of the government and Petrograd she was fairly useless to constantly replacing government ministers leading to huge government instability the Russian people really disliked her because she was German and because she was heavily influenced by the strange mystic grigori rasputin troops on the front lines were not being properly supplied with munitions due to the struggling economy the industry was there just not the money to pay for it socialists across Europe had hoped that this imperialist war would be the perfect thing to unite the working people who were being used as cannon fodder and overthrow the monarchies of Europe creating a communist utopia if only reality was that simple at the war trudged on more and more skilled workers were being conscripted to the frontlines even the military were beginning to grow tired of how badly the Tsar was handling this the better supplied German forces were causing heavy losses amongst the Russian forces the army was becoming more and more working-class as peasants find themselves being promoted to officers to replace their dead predecessors the hopelessness of the war seemed to be never-ending and many soldiers deserted revolutionary propaganda led to widespread strikes in early 1916 in November the state duma warned nicholas that he needed to form a new governments to get things done he ignored this and thoroughly annoyed pretty much everyone in the process nobles who had grown tired of Rasputin's influence over the Tsarina Alexandra lured Rasputin to one of their houses and assassinated him at the end of 1916 the people were at boiling point by the time 1917 arrived many nobles and politicians were sick of the political instability and suggested Nikolas relieved alexandra of her power he refused and they realized that it was the Tsar's that were the problem people on the streets of Petrograd began to gather in protest the government began rationing flour and bread and bread riots ensued factories went on strike in solidarity women came celebrating International Women's Day all of which evolved into the February revolution although because Russia was still using the old Julian calendar at the time the revolution happened in March according to our Gregorian calendar Nikolas who was on his way to oversee the war ordered the military to control the protests by force if necessary Prime Minister Nicola golitsin announced that the government would be dissolved until April under order from the Tsar as some soldiers clashed with protesters in the city the fourth company of the pavlovsky replacement regiment left their barracks to engage the other soldiers and defend the people but were ultimately discerned the system was crumbling fast the next day much of the military had mutinied and joined the rebellion they went around hunting down police and gathering up weapons a provisional committee of the state duma was set up as a potential replacement for the government to restore law and order and ultimately end the war the russian empire was fighting against germany on the same day the Petrograd Soviet was set up once again by the Socialists the Council of Ministers of Russia resigned and the capital became controlled by the revolutionaries chairman of the duma mikhail rog anko invited three Grand Dukes to sign the grand manifesto which was to be signed by Nicholas the second suggesting to him to introduce the constitutional system in Russia when Nicholas was on his way back to Petrograd as the soldiers guarding the Imperial Palace at Tsarskoe Selo abandoned their posts Nicholas's advisors suggested that he abdicate the throne which he ultimately did he named his brother as heir but his brother saw how unpopular this would be with the people and politely declined the offer during the chaos some people dug up Rasputin's body and burned it just to be sure government was established by an alliance of liberals and socialists who wanted to organize elections for a proper democratically elected government the royal family were placed under protective custody by the new provisional government the Soviet however would not join the government they held the people and the military so they held a real power they shared pyre for a time throughout March the Soviet always having the final say in how things developed the Russian Empire was reorganized into the Russian Republic in the week of the February Revolution Lenin thought it was the perfect time to return to Russia Germany actually helped him to get to Russia hoping he would destabilize Russia further and bring them out of the war in July after a disastrous Russian offensive against the Central Powers half a million people including soldiers and sailors came out and protest in Petrograd not enough change was seen since February Lenin and the Bolsheviks disowned the chaotic protest but the provisional government interpreted it as a Bolshevik coup and called for the arrest of many prominent Bolsheviks Lenin head in Finland another prominent Bolshevik Leon Trotsky was arrested socialist revolutionary Alexander Kerensky became the head of government and promoted freedom of speech released many political prisoners and sought to continue the war against Germany in August General Lavra kornilov ordered an army towards Petrograd to restore law and order Kerensky feared a coup and ordered them to stop Colonel Eoff continued Kerensky turned to the Petrograd Soviet to help which they did by calming things down with the army the Bolsheviks had been growing steadily in popularity overtaking the Mensheviks and the socialist revolutionaries in September the Petrograd Soviet released all Bolshevik prisoners including Trotsky who became chairman of the Soviet the people on the ground were not happy with the government miners railroad workers metal workers oil workers textile workers they were all organizing soviets and taking control of their means of production it was at this time that the hammer and sickle came into use as a symbol the hammer representing the industrial worker the sickle representing the agricultural worker Lenin saw that it was time and returned to Petrograd to make the grand move the Bolsheviks military council land by Trotsky began planning a proper armed rising because the Soviets controlled almost all the military and the railways Petrograd and the provisional government were isolated the Bolsheviks made their plans public to maximize people's participation thus began the October Revolution on October 25th of the Julian calendar Pro Bolshevik ships arrived and supported the uprising the Soviet armed tears the Red Guards captured important spots throughout the city helplessly trapped within Petrograd Kerensky fled the Winter Palace where the provisional government was based and managed to get out of the city to look for reinforcements lenin proclaimed to the people that the provisional government was overthrown by the soviets as they moved in on the Winter Palace the Revolution had been relatively bloodless and the Bolsheviks wanted to keep it that way so they held off on a full assault on the Winter Palace as more and more forces closed in those garroting the Winter Palace abandoned their posts and it was ultimately captured by the Soviets forcing the provisional government to surrender what a day Pyrrha was transferred to the Soviets but the socialist revolutionaries and the Mensheviks walked out in protest thinking it was too much of a paragraph for Lenin and the Bolsheviks Lenin became leader of the government initially not too great support from the people but as the days went on the people seemed to be won over Kerensky arrived at Tsarskoye Selo with anti revolutionary Cossacks and ended up firing upon Russian troops turning them against him and the old government all the more the revolution was over but in many ways was only just beginning Lenin acted quickly to bring Russia out of the war in Europe the Bolsheviks would go on to develop Russia into the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic nationalizing land and Industry for the people becoming the first constitutional socialist state the capital would later be moved back to Moscow and the entire Romanov family were brutally executed by the Soviets in 1918 amidst the chaos of war and revolution some nations sought independence from the old Russian Empire some were successful many would be later reabsorbed into what would become the Soviet Union ultimately the Soviet Union would become one of the most powerful nations and superpowers in the world but not before a brittle civil war with anti-bolshevik forces rallying together in the white army to fight the Bolshevik Red Army which would go on till 1923 but the Civil War and the early bloody years of the Soviet Union is planting material for other videos thanks for watching folks sorry about the delay between the videos I had been busy working on various projects including my new book man Amanda's revolutionary Ireland 1916 to 1923 in it you can actually discover how the Russian Revolution influenced the Irish war of independence you can purchase the book online here at the Collins press because each videotape many many illustrations to complete these take time to make please help support these videos on patreon you can pledge a donation per video don't forget to subscribe 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Channel: John D Ruddy

Views: 1,120,729

Keywords: Russian Revolution, Russia, Vladmir Lenin

Id: dGNaSgZgUAs

Length: 11min 32sec (692 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 30 2017