The map shows Russia in 1917.  Russia stretched 4,000 miles from east to west.  It was a very backward country.
The Tsar ruled over 150 million people.  Most of them were poor peasants.

Introduction

Russia under the Tsars

Nicholas II became Tsar of Russia In 1894.  Until 1905, he was an autocrat.  He was totally in control of the government.  If people rioted, he sent the Cossacks (soldiers) to attack them.  His secret police spies tracked down people who did not like the government and sent them to prison camps in Siberia. 

In 1905, there was a revolution in Russia.  The Tsar was forced to accept a parliament.  It was called the Duma.  The Tsar still made all the decisions.  If the members of the Duma disagreed with him, he sent them away.

Communism

Communists were people who agreed with the writer Karl Marx (1818-1883).  Sometimes, they were called 'Marxists'.  Marx had said that the Industrial Revolution had made the bourgeois (the middle classes) rich and powerful.  But they had made the workers their 'wage slaves'.

Marx said it was time for the Proletariat (the workers) to rebel and take power for themselves.  They would abolish private ownershlp, and hold all things in common.  That is why they were called 'Communists'.

The most extreme Communists in Russia were a group called the Bolsheviks.

Rasputin

The story of Rasputin is amazing.

Nicholas and Alexandra's son, Alexis, had the disease haemophilia.  His blood would not clot, so he could not stop bleeding when he cut himself.  The only man who could stop the bleeding was a holy man called Rasputin.  Fear can help the blood to clot, and some doctors think that Rasputin simply scared the poor boy to health!  Some historians think he used hypnosis.

Rasputin takes tea with a group of rich female followers Rasputin came from a strange religious group called the Khlystis.  When they prayed together the worshippers 'cried out and fell in convulsions'; then they had wild orgies. On the night of 29-30 December 1916 some Russian nobles decided to murder Rasputin.  They invited him to a party; there, they offered him chocolate cakes and wine (both laced with cyanide).  Rasputin liked chocolate, and he ate all the cakes and drank a glass of wine.  But instead of dying, Rasputin merely grew sleepy and asked for a cup of tea.  One of the nobles took out a gun and shot him.  Rasputin did not die.  Instead, he leapt to his feet, attacked them, and ran out of the house. Rasputin had always said that he was under the protection of God and could not be killed.  The nobles began to fear he was right.  They chased him and shot him again.  Then one of them beat him viciously about the head. The killers were scared, and starting to panic.  They drove the body to the river.  There, they dropped it into the freezing water.  The current pulled it away downstream.  At last, the 'mad monk' was dead.  He had drowned.

While Nicholas was away fighting with the Army, he left his wife Alexandra in charge of the government.  Rasputin became her chief adviser.  The Tsarina said that he was her only friend.  Minsters who criticised him were sacked.

Nicholas warned her, 'Our friend's opinions are very strange – you must be very careful'.  But he did not stop her.  People laughed at the Tsarina and hated Rasputin.

The March Revolution

In March 1917, while Nicholas was away with the army, the growing tensions bubbled over into revolution.  Crowds of people rioted on the streets.  The soldiers sent to stop them joined them.  Members of the Duma joined in also; on 15 March 1917 they forced the Tsar to abdicate (resign).

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