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Bolshevik Revolution
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, devised a plan to overthrow the Russian Provisional Government, led by Alexander Kerensky. For two days the Bolsheviks fought the armies of the Russian Provisional Government in Petrograd and Moscow. Eventually, the Bolsheviks gained power in the those two central Russian cities. This marked the beginning of Lenin's rule and signified the rise of the Bolsheviks to power, as well as the end of the Provisional Government. -
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Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War marked the struggle between two opposing groups, the Reds and the Whites, in the desire to control Russia. The Whites consisted of the bourgeoisie and cossacks, former military elite of the Tzars, who were unhappy with the way that Lenin controlled the government. The Reds consisted of the Bolsheviks and its military strategies were the brainchild of Leon Trotsky. Several nations, including America, Britain, France, Italy, and Japan sent several of their forces over to... -
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Russian Civil War (continued)
Russia to provide assistance to the White forces. However, the Reds retained control of almost all the Russian cities and the Whites were only capable of controlling some of the Russian countryside. Due to Trotsky's military genius, the Reds were able to quell the White resistance and eventually end the civil war. However, the Russian Civil War set Russia against the West, as many Western nations did not want Russia to potentially spread communist ideologies throughout Europe. -
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New Government Winter
After the Provisional Government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks, the Russian government shifted towards a Communist Soviet government. Lenin took steps to introduce the concept of communism to Russia; peasants were encouraged to seize the bourgeoisie-owned land along with factories. Banks were nationalized, consequently disallowing private bank accounts, and trade was state-controlled. Opposition groups were deemed illegal by the Soviet government. Lenin withdrew from the First World War. -
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Signed between Russia and Germany, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk outlined terms where Russia willingly gave land to Germany to ensure peace between the two. The treaty ended Russia's involvement in the war, as the newly formed Soviet Government was too young to participate in war. The treaty also gave Germany a one front war, in the First World War, that allowed her to focus her efforts solely on Western Europe. -
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War Communism
Lenin introduced a series of policies known as "war communism." Within these policies, Lenin decreed forced rationing, state-ownership of industry, compulsory labour, and no external trade except with the government. This marked Lenin's attempt to carry out communist ideals and war communism helped transition Russia into the New Economic Policies. However, the totalitarian and brutal policies were universally disliked amongst peasants, who resisted with little success. -
New Economic Policy
Ushered in by Lenin, the New Economic Policy was a series of economic policies meant to usher in state capitalism. With the New Economic Policy, some private trade was permitted, peasants were allowed to sell their surplus, and factory workers were able to buy off small factories. The New Economic Policy marked a slight change in Soviet ideology by sacrificing some Marxist ideals for the sake of capitalist production. -
Treaty of Rapallo
The Treaty of Rapallo was an agreement between Russia (U.S.S.R) and Germany in Rapallo, Italy. This restored normal relations between the two nations. The nations agreed to cancel all financial claims against each other, and the treaty strengthened their economic and military ties. They also agreed that the U.S.S.R would manufacture illegal war material for Germany forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles and would receive steel manufacturing teachnology from Germany. -
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First Five - Year Plan
It was a list of economic goals, created Stalin. Key features of the plan were command exonomy, collectivization and heavy industry. Command exonomy is one in which the forces of a free market are eleminated,production,distribution and consumption are all controlled by the centralized state. Collectivization is when peasants were to give up their land to work on the collective farms. The U.S.S.R was forced the development of heavy industry so they could build weapons to defend itself. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
The Kellogg-Briand Pact was an agreement to outlaw war. Sometimes called the Pact of Paris for the city in which it was signed. Aristide Briand, foreign minister of France, proposed to the U.S. government a treaty outlawing war between the two countries. Frank B. Kellogg, the U.S. Secretary of State, returned a proposal for a general pact against war. After the lengthy neogotiations the Pact was signed by 15 nations. -
Kelogg-Briand Pact (Continued)
The 15 nations that signed the Pact was Australia, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, the Irish Free State, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, and the United States.However the pact proved to be meaningless because of the undeclared wars in the 1930s. -
Normalization (1932 - 1935)
As the USSR was beginning to recover from the disastrous effects of WWI and the Civil War, it began to build a strong military.The U.S.S.R signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact to denounce war as a way of solving disputes with other nations as well as joining the League of Nations in 1934. The government tried to Normalize Russia by slowly intergrading it back into international relations by making pacts with other countries: Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Finland (1932), Czechoslovakia, Romania. (1934) -
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The Second Five- Year Plan
The Second Five-Year Plan gave heavy industry top priority, putting the Soviet Union not far behind the Germans as one of the major steel-producing countries of the world. Further improvements were made in communications, especially railways, which became faster and more reliable. The second was not as successful, failing to reach the recommended production levels in such areas as the coal and oil industries. -
League of Nations
In 1934, U.S.S.R had joined the other countries in the League of Nations. By joining the U.S.S.R had significantly been added to the development of a Soviet Foreign Policy under the rule of Stalin. Also the U.S.S.R joined to the League of Nations to adopt collective security -
The Purges (1934-1941)
The beginning of the Purges was when Stalin had shot Kirov. The OGPU or soviet police was renamed the NKVD and became Stalin's instrument for removing his enemies. Old heroes of the Revolution were convicted of treason and executed for plotting to overthrow the government. -
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The Third Five Year Plan
The Third Five-Year Plan ran for only 3 years, up to 1941, when Germany invaded the Soviet Union during the Second World War. As war approached, more resources were put into developing armaments, tanks and weapons, as well as constructing additional military factories east of the Ural mountains.
