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Russo-Japanese War
War between the Russians and Japanese, decisive Japanese victory. This humiliated Russia as a nation, and made the Tsar fairly unpopular among the peasants. -
The 1905 Revolution
The revolution started when protesters gathered at the gates of the Tsar's palace, they protested the lack of food. The Tsar ordered the soldiers to fire into the crowd, people got angry started to strike. Tsar gave in and gave the October manifesto which set up the Duma (parliamanet). -
First World War
Russia entered the war on the side of the Allies, she had an army of one million however the men were poorly equipped and poorly trained. Russians further disapproved of the Tsar for putting Russia in the war. -
Tsar Takes Command of Russian Army
After many crushing defeats Tsar Nicholas assumes command of the Russian army, thinking it would raise the morale of soldiers. This proved a disaster since he left his German wife in charge of running the country, who consulted Raputin on political matters. -
March 1917 Revolution
International women's day, and women are protesting infront of the Winter Palace. From the front the Tsar orders the soldiers to fire at the crowd, they refuse and join the protest. Kerensky and his revolutionaries storm the palace and force the Tsar to abdicate and form the provisional government. -
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Provisional Government
The provisional government formed by Alexander and 11 former Duman memebers, are now in control. However, they did not pull Russia out of the war and have not addresed the famine and land ownership issue. Making them just as unpopular as the Tsar was. -
April Thesis
Communist Lenin returns from exile in Switzerland via Germany stowed away in a train cart. He delivers his April Thesis with his famous slogen,"Peace, Bread, Lande" meaning ending the war with Germany, solving the famine, and dividing the land among the peasants. -
Kornilov Affair
There was unrest in Petrograd due to the provisional government, Kerensky called for aid from the army. Kornilov instead attempted to overthrow the government, Krensky panicked and called for aid from the Bolsheviks. This showed the power that the Bolsheviks in terms of military. -
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Russian Civil War
Lenin's Red Army fought the Whites an army composed of many political ideologies from Tsarists to democrats. This war was for complete control of Russia. It was in this war that Lenin showed the Red Army's superiority and raw power, and Trotsky showed his military intelligence. However, countries like finland used this war as a method of independence from Russia. -
November Revolution 1917
Lenin once again returned to Russia from Finland after his failed revolution in july. This time he was more organized and formed alliances with the Petrograd Soviets, his organization and planning brought the provisional government to its knees. He seized various key points in Moscow and Petrograd. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
With Lenin in control he first decreed to end the war with Germany, he signed Brest-Litovsk. It was humiliating to Russia as she lost all her western states like the Ukraine to Germany. However, Lenin could now focus on issues like the widespread famine. -
War Communism
Lenin's way of being able to fight the Whites during the Russian civil war. It has three main parts: nationalization of industry, compulsory labour, no private trade, and the seizure of all food produced by peasants. Millions of peasants died of starvation, and the people started to doubt if Lenin would actually change things for the better. -
New Economic Policy
After the Kronstadt rebellion of 1921, lenin saw how War Communism was harming the populace. NEP was put in place in order to encourage a moderate amount of capitalism among the peasants. This allowed citizens to keep their food and trade it with other people. The peasants finally were starting to get their way. -
Treaty of Rapallo
A treaty signed between Russia and Germany. Russia built illegal war material for Germany that was forbidden by the treaty of Versailles. In return Germany gave steel manufacturing intelligence to the Russians. -
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Five Year Plans
These plans were put in place by Josef Stalin Lenin's successor. His aim with these plans were to rapidly industrialize Russia, at any cost. He introduced command economy which is the opposite of free market, he implemented collectivization which was war communism but on steroids. They were successful but with great human cost. -
Kellog-Briand Pact
The Kellogg Briand pact was not signed by the USSR, however it signed Litvinov's Pact, the Soviet version. It sateted the same things that the Kellogg Briand pact did. It was a sign that the USSR was willing to participate in foreign affairs, and that it was not all that violent. -
The Purges
from 1936-1939 Stalin used the NKVD (OGPU) his secret police to prefrom these purges. Stalin killed members of his own party because he saw them as a threat for his quest for ultimate power. He killed %90 of his top ranking army officials, all his naval admirals, and regular people. All of this because of his extreme paranoia. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Hitler and Stalin signed a non-aggression pact, not only that but they also agreed to invade Poland at the same time and carve the country between the two. -
League of Nations
The League expells the USSR because it invaded Finland. This comes after USSR signed a pact that condemned violence as a tool to solve issues. Stalin and his USSR truly are an extremely aggressive country,
