BACKGROUND TO THE SOVIET REVOLUTION
Tsarist Russia
Russian Empire had around 150 million inhabitants.
Russia was an autocratic monarchy, in which the tsar exercised his power as an absolute ruler
At the end of the 19th century, the Marxist-inspired Russian Social-Democratic Workers’ Party
RSDWP split into two groups
Mensheviks
Bolsheviks
From the revolution of 1905 to the great war
Russo-Japanese war
Russia was defeated and the weakness of the tsarist regime was revealed.
The massacre of men, women and children, known as Bloody Sunday, marked the final rupture between the people and the tsar.
The soviet
Consisted of workers, peasants and soldiers that would later play a fundamental role in the revolution.
The tsar implemented some reforms
The start of an agrarian reform with distribution of lands that would serve to create a social base of support for the liberal regime.
The establishment of limited individual and citizens’ liberties.
The creation of the Duma or National Legislative Assembly
The Trans-Siberian Railroad, inaugurated in 1904, managed to connect the European part with the most remote regions of the Russian Empire.
The economy, based on agriculture, was slowly beginning to develop industrially.
