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Period: to
World War I - Stalin's Great Purge
This timeline encompasses some events from World War I through Stalin's Great Purge. -
World War I
Due to the assassination of Archduke F. Ferdinand and the increasing level of threats following his death this lead to the development of WWI.The countries involved were:Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire (Central Powers) against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy and Japan (Allied Powers).In 1917, the United States joined the Allied powers,this war lasted four years with unprecedented levels of death and destruction,over 9 million soliders were killed and 21 million wounded. -
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was also known as the Bolshevix Revolution. The Revolution was a set of political overthrows which led to the development of the Soviet Union. It began with the exiling of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family because of the socio-economic conditions of the Russian people. -
Vladimir Lenin
Lenin was the founder of the Russian Communist Party, the leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 and the first head of the Soviet Union. His real name was Vladimir Illych Ulyanov,he changed it to Lenin while on the run to avoid arrest. The Bolsheviks were a militant party of professional revolutionaries who sought to overthrow the czarist government. -
Secret Police
The Bolsheviks depended on a strong hidden, economical police to assist them in their rule.The Secret Police was created for the assitance of achieving Stalin's goal, which was to create a new kind of government, which is known today as a totalitarian state. Their job was to spy on citizens and anyone who refused to praise Stalin. -
Lenin's Death
Lenin died in early 1924 and his body was embalmed and placed in a tomb near the Moscow Kremlin.His successor Joseph Stalin took over and finished the work that Lenin started. -
Stalin Takes Over
Stalin was one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history, He was the supreme ruler of the Soviet Union for 25 years. His reign of terror caused the death and suffering of over ten million Russians. -
Totalitarian state
A totalitarian government means that only one party is allowed - the ruling party. Under Stalin's rule this meant that the Communist Party was supreme. All criticism and opposition is eliminated and the people were expected to be totally loyal to the state and Stalin. He ruled as a dictator, commanded his people with absolute power and conducted many purges against his enemies. -
Collectivization
Collectivization is the process of forming collectives or collective communities where property and resources are owned by the community and not individuals. During Stalin's rule ownership individuals were forced to give up their farms and join a large collective farm group. -
Five Year Plans
Stalin introduced three (5 yr. plans) during the years of 1928-1941. The plan was directed towards all industries and industrial devlopments, to be controlled by the state. The plans would decide where goods were being produced, how they were produced and how much was being produced. -
The Gulag
The term “GULAG” is an acronym for the Soviet bureaucratic institution, Glavnoe Upravlenie ispravitel’no-trudovykh LAGerei (Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps), that operated the Soviet system of forced labor camps in the Stalin era. These camps was where prisoners were held including murderers, theives and political and religious prisoners. -
The Great Purge
The Great Purge began in Moscow with the trial of 'the Trotskyite-Zinovievite Terrorist Centre. The Purge lasted until 1938 and involved the arrest and killing of those who didn't honor Stalin. The Purging included members of the Communist party, the Red Army and ended with the killing of the Secret Police, which were those who knew too much about the purging.
