-
Feburary/ March 1917 Revolution
The Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was forced to abdicate his throne and put on house arrest. This put the Provisional Government into power. The Tsar had never been a great leader and when he stepped down, there was little disagreement between the citizens. -
April Theses
When Lenin returned to Petrograd after his exile, he immedietly started making speeches and gathering Socialists to help him form the Bolsheviks and overthrow the Provisional Government. His ideas from his speeches were printed in a newspaper and became known as the April Thesis. -
Kornilov Affair
General Kornilov sent his troops toward Petrograd to start a putsch. This led to Kerensky turning toward the Bolsheviks for help. This resulted in the Bolsheviks becoming more popular and the Provisional Government looking more unstable. -
Bolshevik Revolution
The Bolsheviks, fed up with the Provisional Government, stormed Petrograd and overthrew the Government with little resistance. This caused a split in Russia between the Bolsheviks and the other more tradtionalists. This will later lead to a civil war between this divided society -
Period: to
New Government
The New Government was implementing many new changes, such as signing a peace treaty with Germany, nationalizing all banks, and illegalizing all opposing groups. -
Treaty Of Brest-Litovsk
Lenin had this treaty signed to get Russia out of WWI. The treaty gave Germany parts of Russian land as well as coal mines. This was the only way for Russia to survive the war. People were slightly angered at the loss of Russian land, due to sever feeling of Nationalism, but Lenin had very little other choice. -
Period: to
Civil War
The Civil War was a fight between the Communist army, The Red Guards, versus the Whites. Allies joined the war in 1918, but mostly just supplied equipment and protection to the Whites. The Whites were unable to seize control of the big cities due to the overwhelming Red Guard, under the control of Military Genius, Leon Trotsky. However they were able to gain control of many small countrysides. Due to the Whites lack of organization, they were unsuccessful in conquering Russia.
Picture -
Period: to
War Communism
War Communism was a plan made by Lenin to keep supplies and food evenly distributed to everyone. A group of farmers called the "Kulaks" refused to do so, instead choosing to burn their crops, seeds, and kill their livestock. This led to wide-spread famine and deaths of millions due to lack of food and starvation.
PICTURE -
New Economic Policy (NEP)
When Lenin realized that his War Communism Policy was failing, he came up with a new idea to appease the peasants of Russia. In order for this plan to work, he had to compromise some of his Marxist beliefs. The New Economic Policy allowed peasants and farmers to sell any surplus they had, as well as some private trade and private ownership. -
Treaty Of Rapallo
This treaty between Germany and Soviet Russia was an agreement to end all other treaties with each other. They agreed to "co-operate in a spirit of mutual goodwill in meeting the economic needs of both countries". (Wikipedia) -
Lenin's Death
Lenin's death in January was a huge loss in Russia. Thousands came to the Hall where is embalmed body was kept and mourned the loss of this great leader. Upon his death, Lenin's position as party leader started a political war between Joesph Stalin and Leon Trotsky. -
Political Upset
Upon the death of Lenin, the position of leader of the party was between 2 men, Leon Trotsky and Joesph Stalin. Although Trotsky was the most likely person to take the position, it was Stalin who won the political war. Stalin had been appointed as General-Secretary by Lenin, and with that position was able to appoint Government members to positions of power, which helped give him the political leeway to get into power. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was to eliminate war for any reason other than self-defense, which was signed by the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Japan and a few other countries. The Pact however, was unable to stop invasions by Japan, Germany, Russia, or a few other countries. -
The First Five Year Plan
Stalin decided that it was time to industrialize Russia. He felt that they needed to do what all the other central powers had done in 50 years, in 5 years. This meant an increase in iron and steel, electricity, transport and machine tools. He also set high standards for workers as motivation. He created rewards for high achievers and punishments for workers who didn`t meet their goals. The first 5 year plan only lasted until 1933, where the new one was implemented. -
Normalization
From 1932 to 1935, the government tried to Normalize Russia by slowly intergrading it back into international relations by making pacts with other countries. These acts of normalization were part of Stalin's 5 year plans. -
Second Five Year Plan
Stalin decided to implement a second 5 year plan in 1933. This plan focused more on heavy industries such as steel, As well, communications, such as railroads were improved. Agriculture also desinigrated due to the lack of experienced farmers, who were all killed or arrested during the years of War Communism. Due to factories focusing on military equipment instead of other consumer goods, the Soviets slowly began their descent from power. -
Entering League Of Nations
Soviet Russia joined the League Of Nations, bringing some more military back up to the League. However, after an agression uprising between Russia and Finland, Russia was expelled from the League on December 14, 1939. -
The Purges
After Stalin's rise to power, he became paranoid and worried that people were coming after him, or plotting against him. This paranoia escalated into what they call, "Purges." These purges were used to kill astronomical amounts of people. Stalin had Secret Police keeping tabs on memebers of society in casew someone was plotting against him. He also had Secret Police spying on his Secret Police. Stalin's control of everyone has been copied in books and movies such as "1984" by George Orwell. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
This non-agression pact, signed between Germany and Russia, was a Pact to both invade and split Poland. They also would not attack each other, should a war come up soon. This could be seen as a sign of World War I. The Pact probably wouldn't have been made if it hadn't been necessary.
