Slide1: These are the reasons why the Russian government exerts no moral influence and has no support among the people. These are the reasons why Russia brings forth so many revolutionists. These are the reasons why even such a deed as killing a Tsar excites in the minds of a majority of the people only gladness and sympathy. Yes, your Majesty! Do not be deceived by the reports of flatterers and sycophants; Tsaricide is popular in Russia. -Letter from “The People’s Will” to Tsar Alexander III of Russia


Slide2: Perhaps in reaction to the assassination of his father, Alexander III cracked down on liberal reforms with an iron fist. He created a secret police—the Okhrana and used every means possible to seek out and destroy both terrorist groups and reformist groups within Russia. He believed that the solution to Russia’s problems was the creation of a unity that was forced where all people living in Russia would be Russian, speak Russian, and adopt Orthodoxy.


Slide3: Among the many people who fell to Alexander III’s crackdown on dissent was this man. Alexander Ulianov, who was the brother of Vladimir Lenin—who you will see very, very soon once again—was captured trying to assassinate Alexander III and hanged.


Slide4: One of the major events following the assassination of Alexander II and the reactionary reigns of Alexander III and Nicholas II was the intensification of Anti-Semitism in Russia. It was during this period of time that the Protocol of the Elders of Zion—a fabricated story meant to implicate the Jewish people in a conspiracy to dominate the world—was first published by the Czar’s secret police.


Slide5: A map of the places where pogroms took place in the aftermath of the Tsar’s death.


Slide6: Tsar Nicholas II was to be the last Emperor of Russia. He ruled from his father’s (Alexander III) death in 1894 to his abdication in 1917. His reign could best be described as tumultuous. While he tried his best to maintain autocracy, the stirrings of revolution in Russia continued to grow, exploding in 1905 and ultimately overthrowing him and killing him and his entire family in 1918.


Slide8: The creation of the Trans-Siberian Railroad and Russia’s imperial ambitions for expansion butted against the equally imperial ambitions of a new, Eastern power—Japan. In 1904, the Japanese made a surprise attack on the Russian Empire (with no declaration of war) and bottled up most of Russia’s Pacific Fleet in the harbor of Port Arthur. (See your map on p. 459) Name another occasion in which Japan started a war through a surprise attack:


Slide10: The Japanese army and navy, which used Western technology repeatedly beat the Russian armies which tried to throw them back.


Slide11: In order to save the Russian Pacific Fleet, bottled up at Port Arthur, the Russian’s sent their Baltic Fleet steaming over 20,000 miles in the hopes of meeting up with their embattled Pacific Fleet…


Slide12: Arriving on the scene, the Russians needed to sail into the city of Vladivostok to refit their damaged ships before engaging the Japanese fleet. They decided to take the shortest route, through the straight of Tsushima.


Slide13: Attempting to pass through the Straight of Tsushima, the Russian fleet of almost 40 ships was caught by the Japanese Combined Fleet. The Russian ships were older. Their hulls were fouled with barnacles from the 20,000 mile journey and could only make 9 knots while the Japanese ships made up to 16. Speed in mph… Russian ships: (9 knots) 10.4 mph Japanese ships: (16 knots) 18.4 mph


Slide14: With their much faster ships, the Japanese managed to “Cross-the-T” on the Russian fleet twice. Of the forty ships that entered Tsushima Straight, only six escaped annihilation.


Consequences of the Russo-Japanese War: Consequences of the Russo-Japanese War


Slide17: After a strike broke out in St. Petersburg, a massive workers demonstration in St. Petersburg marched on the Tsar’s Winter Palace with a petition: -An end to the Russo-Japanese war. -Expanded suffrage . -An 8-hour work day. -Higher pay. -An end to forced overtime in factories. The procession was led by an Orthodox Priest, Father Georgi Gapon in the hope of gaining the Tsar’s sympathy.


Slide18: The Czar was not present that day, however. He had left the city. Army pickets opened fire on the crowd.


Slide19: We workers, our children, our wives and our old, helpless parents have come, Lord, to seek truth and protection from you. We are impoverished and oppressed, unbearable work is imposed on us, we are despised and not recognized as human beings. We are treated as slaves, who must bear their fate and be silent. We have suffered terrible things, but we are pressed ever deeper into the abyss of poverty, ignorance and lack of rights. --From Fr. Gapon’s Petition to the Tsar. Some 1,000 people were killed by the Tsar’s police and in the riots and looting that followed.


The Aftermath: The Aftermath


Review.: Review.