Events leading up to the Russian Revolution

By windiali

  • The Great Northern War

    The Great Northern War lasted from 1700 to 1721. The Great Northern War was fought between Sweden's Charles XII and a coalition lead by Peter the Great. By the end of the war, Sweden had lost her supremacy as the leading power in the Baltic region and was replaced by Peter the Great's Russia.

  • Czar Alexander II Emancipated the Serfs

    Alexander II announced to the nobles of Russia that ‘the existing condition of owning souls cannot remained unchanged. It is better to begin to destroy serfdom from above than to wait until that time when it begins to destroy itself from below’

  • The Decembrist Revolt

    Russian army officers led about 3,000 soldiers in a protest against Nicholas I's assumption of the throne after his

  • The Assassination of Alexander II

    He was killed in the streets of St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary "People's Will" group. The People's Will, organized in 1879, employed terrorism and assassination in their attempt to overthrow Russia's czarist autocracy. They murdered officials and made several attempts on the czar's life before finally assassinating him on March 13, 1881.

  • Czar Nicholas II abdicates the Russian throne

    "Crowned on May 26, 1894, Nicholas was neither trained nor inclined to rule, which did not help the autocracy he sought to preserve in an era desperate for change."

  • The Russo-Japanese War

    Following the Russian rejection of a Japanese plan to divide Manchuria and Korea into spheres of influence, Japan launches a surprise naval attack against Port Arthur, a Russian naval base in China. The Russian fleet was decimated.

  • Bloody Sunday

    Started off as a peaceful protest which quickly lead to a ton of deaths at the czar's palace in St. Petersburg.

  • The Revolution of 1905

    The demonstrators in St Petersburg wanted the czar to help improve their living standards. By the summer, the demands had become far more political. Protestors called for freedom of speech to be guaranteed; they demanded an elected parliament & they demanded the right to form political parties

  • World War I (Russian Involvement)

    World War One was to have a devastating impact on Russia. When World War One started in August 1914, Russia responded by patriotically rallying around Nicholas II.

  • The March Revolution

    March 1917 saw major changes in Russia. Rasputin was dead and Lenin was out of the country. By the start of 1917, the people of Russia were very angry.