-
Period: to
Tsarist empire
In the early 20th century, the tsars ruled a vast empire where the system of absolute monarchy continued. Politically, tsarsim was an autocracy. The tsar had absolute power: he ruled by decree, was not subject to any constitution and did not have to answer to a parliament. -
The 1905 Russian Revolution
The 1905 Russian Revolution was a wave of mass political upheaval throughout large areas of the Russian Empire throughout 1905. Some of the altercations were directed against the government, others simply lacked object beyond the very specific claims of the working class or peasantry. -
The start of the First World War
World War I, also known as the Great War, began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. His murder catapulted into a war across Europe that lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Canada, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). -
The end of tsarism
The tsar and other Romanovs were executed by the Bolsheviks after the revolution. Bloody Sunday in 1905 and the Russian defeat in the Russo-Japanese War both helped lead to the 1917 revolution. After taking over, the Bolsheviks promised 'peace, land, and bread' to the Russian people. -
Period: to
Bolshevik Revolution and the Civil War
In early 1918, those who supported the return of tsarism or the maintenance of a liberal political system took up arms against the Soviet government. With the help of French, British, Japanese and American troops, the White Army confronted with the Red Army, which was led by Trotsky and the Bolsheviks. -
October Revolution
In February 1917, there was a bourgeois revolution, Abdica Nicholas II, the Duma was restored and a provisional government was established, whose main figure will be the socialist leader Alexander F. Kerenski. -
Treaty of Brest- Litovsk.
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (also known as the Treaty of Brest in Russia) was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire), that ended Russia's participation in World War I. -
Assassination of the tsar.
Nicholas Romanov, the last Russian emperor, and his entire family were murdered in a prison by their Bolshevik captors over his poor handling of “Bloody Sunday” in which hundreds died in a stampede during a royal event and for Russia’s role in World War I in which hundreds of thousands of Russians were killed. The family’s death led to the end of the royal line and the birth of the Soviet Union. -
Period: to
The formation of the USSR.
The Soviet Union had its origins in the Russian Revolution of 1917. Radical leftist revolutionaries overthrew Russia's Czar Nicholas II, ending centuries of Romanov rule. The Bolsheviks established a socialist state in the territory that was once the Russian Empire. -
Constitution of the Soviet Union
Soviet constitutions declared certain political rights, such as freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of religion, and inline with the state Marxist-Leninist ideology also identified a series of economic and social rights, as well as a set of duties of all citizens. -
Death of Lenin
Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin died on January 21st 1924. The death of Lenin followed a period of poor health, in the wake of an unsuccessful assassination attempt (August 1918) and several severe strokes in 1920-21.