Glencoe World History: Modern Times, California Edition

Chapter 8: War and Revolution

Web Activity Lesson Plans

Introduction
On July 17, 1998, the remains of Tsar Nicholas II and his family were buried in a ceremony in St. Petersburg. To commemorate the tsar and his family, the St. Petersburg Times published interviews of people who lived during the time of Tsar Nicholas II. In this activity students will read personal accounts of five people who experienced life before, during, and after the revolution.

Lesson Description
Students will go to the Russia's Last Tsar Web site to read personal accounts of eyewitnesses during the revolution. After answering a series of questions, students will develop a list of additional questions that they would want to ask the eyewitnesses to learn more about life during the revolution and the years immediately following the revolution.

Instructional Objectives

1. Students will be able to interpret eyewitness accounts of life in Russia before, during, and after the revolution.
2. Students will be able to apply what they have learned by writing follow-up questions for each eyewitness.

Student Web Activity Answers

1. Opinions are mixed. Most of the people interviewed liked the tsar and his family. They considered Romanov rule as their regular life, and most did not think much about politics.
2. Sofia Khvatskaya described her life as idyllic. The revolution brought confusion and the loss of all their property. Later, her husband spent over a decade in prisons and camps.
3. Ilya Musin lost the ability to play piano because of the lack of heating in the rooms of the St. Petersburg Conservatory. However, he had never been interested in politics and found the cultural life of the city too exciting to be bothered by the difficulties of the time.
4. Her family was quite democratic and treated servants and factory workers with dignity and respect. This earned Vasilevskaya's father the respect of his workers, who spared him and his family during the February Revolution.
5. Students' follow-up questions will vary but should clearly indicate that students are asking individual follow-up questions for each eyewitness.