I.Russia in 1815
     A.Absolute rule of Tsar (Czar): Romanov Family
          1.Autocrator: divine right
          2.Remains in power by military & religious force
          3.Secret Police
          4.Prison camps, siberian style
     B.Demographics:
          1.80% of population bound to the land as serfs
               a.No political, economic, religious freedom
          2.10% aristocracy
               a.wealthy, own all land
          3.10% Russian Orthodox Church
               a.wealthy, politically powerful
     C.Liberalism
          1.Russian nobility came into contact with western Liberalism during
          and after Peter the Great's modernizing programs
               a.Children of nobility often educated in the west
               b.Many younger nobles embrace Liberalism
          2.Widespread support for Liberal reform among nobles

II.Russian Tsars, 1801-1917
     A.Alexander I, 1801-1825
     B.Nicholas I, 1825-1855
     C.Alexander II, 1855-1881
          1.Liberal reformer himself
          2.Liberates the Serfs (kinda)
          3.Assassinated by Nihilists
     D.Alexander III, 1881-1894
          1.Reforming/modernizing Minister: Sergei Witte
          2.Industrializes Russia
          3.Trans-Siberian Railway
          4.Heavy Industry (Coal, Iron, Steel)
          5.Growth of Marxism among intelligentsia
     E.Nicholas II, 1894-1917

III.Decembrist Revolt, 1825
     A.Liberal nobles & intellectuals, mostly young, attempt to overthrow the
     new Tsar on "loyalty oath" day
          1.Poor planning, poor communication
          2.Soldiers don't even know what was going on
     B.Liberal Revolt from Above
          1.Decembrists out of touch with people & army
          2.Decembrists contemptuous of people
     C.Failure and Exile
          1.Officers mostly stand around and look important
          2.They don't even attempt to rally the people or army
          3.Revolt crushed
          4.Most Decembrists exiled to Siberia
          5.Many found libraries & schools

IV.Narodniks (Populists), 1860's
     A.Young Liberals & intellectuals "go to the people"
          1.Try to stir up Serfs
          2.Serfs mostly ignore them, or report them
          3.Most rounded up by Tsarist police
     B.Liberal Revolt from Above
          1.At least they realized that they needed popular support
          2.Bookish & idealistic rather than bookish & realistic

V.Nihilists, 1870's - 1880's
     A.Destroy the government, start from scratch
          1.Bomb chuckers
          2.Target agents of the state (policemen, military)
          3.Target the bourgeois (theaters, etc.)
     B.Anti-Liberal Revolt from Above
          1.Repudiate Liberalism
          2.Professional Revolutionaries lead the way
     C.Target Tsar Alexander II for assassination
          1.Liberal Tsar, agreed with many Nihilist goals
          2.Many failed attempts
          3.Alexander killed in 1881
          4.Nihilists hunted down, tried, killed
          5.Alexander Ulyanov hanged in 1887 for plot against Alexander III

VI.Emergence of Revolutionary Parties, 1898-1903
     A.1898, Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP) founded in Minsk
     B.1901, Socialist Revolutionary Party (PSR)
     C.1903, RSDLP splits into two factions
          1.Mensheviks (antiLeninists) & Bolsheviks (Leninists)
          2.Bolsheviks finance operations with robberies & marriage swindles
     D.1905, Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets)

VII.Revolution of 1905
     A.Liberal Revolt from Below
          1.During the Russo-Japanese War, a food shortage in St. Petersburg
          sparks a demonstration
               a.To gain the attention of the Tsar
               b.Not revolutionary, supportive
               c.Prayers, songs, icons, pictures of Tsar
          2.Tsarist troops fire on of women, children, old men
               a.January 22nd, 1905, Bloody Sunday
               b.This sparks general strikes, eventually open revolt
               c.Mutiny on Battleship Potemkin, October 17, 1905
               d.Tsarist troops remain loyal
     B.Unrest spreads rapidly to Industrial Towns
          1.Riga, Tula, Kalinin, Moscow, etc.
          2.Constitutional Democratic Party formed, October 25th
          3.St Petersburg Soviet formed October 26th
               a.Trotsky a deputy
          4.Lenin arrives from Exile, November 11th
          5.December 16th, St. Petersburg Soviet arrested
          6.December 21st, Bolsheviks lead armed uprising in Moscow
     C.Revolt crushed by Tsarist troops
          1.Tsar Nicholas makes some reforms
               a.May 10th, 1906, First Duma formed, advisory role
               b.Sieg's father was a delegate from Riga
          2.Tsar cancels reforms in 1906-07
               a.July 21st, 1906, Dissolves Duma, arrests many members
               b.Sends Cossacks to punish towns
               c.Many Duma members flee to Germany or Sweden

VIII.Russia in World War One, 1914-1917
     A.Russian losses in WWI
          1.Some military gains in 1914
          2.Nicholas II assumes Supreme Command, Sept. 4th, 1915
          3.Major military losses by 1916, 1917
          4.Ammunition & supply shortages at the Front
          5.Army often led by incompetent Aristocrats
     B.Dissatisfaction and Unrest on "Home Front"
          1.Corruption in government & military
          2.Anti-German sentiment high
               a.St. Petersburg renamed Petrograd
               b.Empress Alexandra a German (That German Woman!)
          3.Tsar Nicholas II incompetent & arrogant
          4.Duma opposes Tsarist Autocracy, urges reform
          5.Tsar becomes more autocratic, refuses reform
          6.Tsarina Alexander under influence of Rasputin
               a.Rasputin murdered, December 30th, 1916, in Petrograd
          7.Food shortages in industrial towns