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Alexander III
Alexander succeded his father and grandfather. Like his grandfather, Alexander III clung to the principles of autocracy, a form of government in which he had total power. Anyone who worhsiped outside the Russian orthodox Church, or spole any other language than Russian was labeled dangerous. -
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Russia
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Nicholas II
Nicholas II became czar in 1894. He continued the tradition of Russian autocracy. -
Russian Marxists
Russian Marxists split into two groups over revolutionary tactics. They were the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks wanted a broad base of popular support for the revolution, The Bolsheviks supported a small number of committed revolutionaries willing to sacrifice everything for change, -
Revolution of 1905
200,000 workers and their families approached the czar's winter Palace in St. Petersburg. They carried a petition asking for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national. Nicholas ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd. More than 1,000 were injured and hundreds were dead. -
Freedom
Nicholas promised more freedom. He approved the creation of the Durna, Russias first parliament. -
First Duma
The first Duma met in May 1906. Its leaders were moderates who wanted Russia to become a constitutional monarchy simiilar to Britain. The czar dissolved the Duma after 10 weeks. -
The final Blow
Nicholas II made the fateful decision to drag Russia into World War I. Russia was unprepared to handle the military and economic costs. German machine guns mowed down advancing Russians by thousands. Defeat followed defeat. Before a year passed, more than 4 million Russian soldiers had been killed, wounded, or taken into prison. -
Murder
A group of nobles murdered Rasputin. They feared his increasing role in government affairs. -
Strike
Women textile workers in Petrograd led a citywide strike. In the next five days, riots flared up over shortages of bread and fuel. Nearly 200,000 workers swarmed the streets. -
The treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia surrendered a large part of its territory to Germany and its allies. -
Civil War
Russia had a civil war. -
Capitalism
Lenin temporarily put aside his plan for a state-controlled economy. He resorted to a small-scale version of capitalism called the New Economic Policy. -
Soviets
The country was named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, in honor of the councils that helped launch the Bolchevik Revolution. Lenin suffered a stoke in 1922. He survived, but the incident set in motion competition for heading up the Communist Party. -
Stalin
Stalin was in total command of the Communist party.
