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Alex III
He clung to the principles of autocracy, a form of government in which he had total power. -
Nicholas II
On this date Nicholas II became czar, and he continued the tradition of Russian autocracy. -
Russian Marxists
In 1903, Russian Marxists split into two groups over revolutionary teactics. The more moderate Mensheviks wanted a board base of popular support for the revolution. -
Bloody Sunday
About 200,000 workers and their families approached the czar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. More than 1,000 were wounded and several hundred were killed. -
Russia's first parliment.
Nicholas reluctantly promised more freedom. He approved the creation of the Duma- Russia's first parliment. -
The first Duma
The first Duma met in May of 1906. Its leaders were moderates who wanted Russia to become a constitution monarchy similar to Britian. -
World War I
In 1914, Nicholas II made the fateful decision to drag Russia into World War I. Russia was unprepared to handle the military adn economic costs. -
Death of Rasputin
In 1916, a group of nobles murdered Rasputin because they feared his increasing role in government affairs. -
Petrograd strike
In March 1917, women textile workers in Petrograd led a ctiywide strike for the next five days, riots flared up over shortages of bread and fuel. -
Winter Palace in Portugal
In November 1917, without warning, armed factory workers stormed the Winter Palace in Portugal -
the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
In March 1918, Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia surrendered a large part of its territory to Germany and its aliies. -
Civil War Rages in Russia
From 1918 to 1920, civil war raged in Russia. Several Western nations, including the United States, sent military aid and forces to Russia to help the White Army but they were of little help. Around 14 millions Russians died in the three-year struggle. The victory showed that the Bolshviks were able both to seize power and to maintain it. -
the New Economic Policy.
In March 1921, Lenin temporarily put aside his plan for a state-controlled economy. Instead, he resorted to a small-scale version of capitalism called the New Economic Policy (NEP). This allowed peasants to sell their crops instead of turning them over to the government. -
Lenin's stroke
Lenin suffered a stroke in 1992, he survived but the incident set in motion competition for healing up the Communist Party. Shortly before he died in 1924, Lenin wrote a note stating the way he feels about Stalin and by 1928, Stalin was in total command of the Communist Party. -
Stalin total command of the Communist Party
By 1928, Stalin was in total command of the Communist Party. Trotsky, forced into excile in 1929, was no longer threat. Stalin now stood posied to wield absolute power as a dictator.
