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Bolshevik-Menshevik Split
The Mensheviks; who desired the forming of a socialist orientated culture in the proletariat, split with the Bolsheviks; who wish for a vanguard party to lead the proletariat in revolution.
Lenin now has a party that is in sync with his views. -
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World War One
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Period: to
February Revolution
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Bolshevik Seize Power
In Petrograd, the Bolsheviks prepared for a armed confrontation with the provisional government by recruiting and arming workers, peasants, sailors, and soldiers. The Bolsheviks also gathered reinforcements of Red Sailors and Naval Infantry in the form of a Squadron of 5 Destroyers.
As the Bolsheviks seize power, Kerensky flees, leaving the pro-Bolshevik Petrograd Soviet (with Trotsky elected as its head) in charge, it also gave Lenin a chance to implement Marxism in Russia. -
Period: to
Russian Civil War
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Period: to
October Revolution
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Constituent Assembly convenes, and is forcibly broken up by the Bolsheviks.
After the parties of the revolution gathered to meet at the Constituent Assembly, the election resulted in the Bolsheviks ending up in the second place in terms of vote. Later the Bolsheviks disbanded it and banned all parties (other than themselves) from Russia.
Though the aforementioned action made Lenin the enemy to the other parties, it granted the Bolsheviks the monopoly in power. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk took Russia out of the Great War, as a result of this action the Bolsheviks (with Lenin at its head) gained two things. The first advantage the Bolsheviks gained was the support of the peasant and workers, who wished for a end to Russian involvement in the war. The second advantage was that the Bolsheviks are free to deal with problems within Russia instead of a World War. -
Official Beginning of the Red Terror
Sovnarkom (a Bolshevik) ordered that all the the bourgeoisie eliminate as a class, although Lenin did not want to exterminate all bourgeoisie, only those who seek to reinstate their rule, the killings commenced.
The Cheka, lead by Felix Dzerzhinsky, went into action and swiftly racked up a huge body count. The problem was that these killings during the Red Terror sullied the reputation of Lenin and his Bolshevik party. -
First Labour Camp formed in Russia
The Labour camps that later became the infamous gulags were formed in Russia by the Cheka out of old Tsarist Katorga camps, these camps will house many prisoners from victims of political repression to legitimately dangerous criminals for the next 41 years.
This move convinced many peasants and workers that the Bolsheviks were as not as good as they seem and Lenin's party lost some trust of the people as a result. -
Evacuation of the last White Forces from Russia
After a long and bitter war with the Bolshevik's Red Army, the battered remnants of the White Army, lead by Baron Wrangel, evacuated from the Crimea across the Black Sea in the face of the Red Army onslaught to live in exile.
Such victory granted prestige to the new Red Army and the Bolsheviks for keeping to their promises and allowed the new Soviet Government to turn its attention to managing the state. -
Famine in Russia
The result of War Communism (which was enacted in the face of Civil War) in Russia and its continous requisition of grain came in the form of a famine which killed 5 million people, in such desperate time people turned to actions which would be considered horrendous in better times to stay alive.
The rating of the Lenin's Bolshevik party dropped drastically and this drop triggered the Kronstadt Rebellion. -
Kronstadt Rebellion
With the famine in Russia devastating the population, the sailors who have been ardent supporters of the October Revolution rose up against the Bolshevik Government now in charge. The Military Uprising was met by over 10'000 troops under Trotsky and Tukhachevsky, in a bloody campaign that lasted 12 days, the Red Army hammerd the Rebellion into dust with the survivors of the Uprising sent to a Siberian Gulag.
This Rebellion convinced Lenin to make reforms to aid the Soviet people. -
New Economic Policy announced by Lenin
In the aftermath of the Kronstadt Rebellion, which was described by Lenin as "A flash of lightning that lighted up reality." The Leader of the Bolshevik party pushed for the New Economic Plan, which allowed for limited private ownership and internal trade while international trade and ownership of large factories is still state only.
The NEP has help regain the support Lenin and the Bolsheviks has lost during the Civil War and the Kronstadt Uprising. -
Lenin dictates his "Testament" against Stalin
Increasingly concerned about Stalin's attitude to fellow Bolsheviks and his increasingly nationalist actions (such as sending the Red Army into Georgia), Lenin wrote a series of testaments against all of Bolsheviks (but criticizing Stalin the most).
Though Lenin's Testaments (more like prophecy) never saw the light of day thanks the the actions of Stalin, it was finally reveled to the public during the De-Stalinization process.
