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Russians Unite
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Marxists Revolutionaries Split
Marxists revolutionaries disagree over revolutionary tactics. The more radical Bolsheviks are ready to risk everything. The charismatic Vladimir Lenin becomes the leader. -
Here Comes the Blood
200,00 unarmed workers and their families to to czar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to deliver their petition. In the petition they wanted better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. Unfortunately Nicholas II’s generals ordered soldiers to shoot the crowd and this left 1,000+ wounded and hundreds were killed during this terrible attack. -
The 1st Duma
Due to Bloody Sunday, Nicholas II agreed to give more freedom and so he created Duma, the first parliament. Parliament was lead by moderates that wanted russia to become a constitutional monarchy similar to Britain. Nicholas II was too worried about losing his power so, after 10 weeks of the Duma being created, he put an end to it. -
Bring On World War I
Unprepared to handle the fighting and economic cost, Nicholas II sent his troops into World War I. The Russian army was no match for the Germany army, thousands died from defeat after defeat. After four years of fighting, 4+ million wounded, died, or imprisoned. This showed Nicholas II’s weaknesses in military leadership. -
Women Fight For What's Right
200,000 angry women textile workers swarmed the streets of Petrograd and riots began because of the shortages of bread and fuel. At first, soldiers obeyed their command of shooting, but eventually sided with the women. Due to the riots and fighting, the March revolution occurred. This revolution caused Nicholas II to resign and one year later, him and his family were executed. With Alexander Kerensky leading the temporary government, to fill Nicholas II’s place, Kerensky continued in World War I -
Stroming The Winter Palace
Angered, armed, and dangerous factory workers stormed the Winter Palace without so much as a warning. They called themselves the Bolshevik Red Guards. When they got there, they not only arrested the leaders of the provisional government, but they also took over the government offices. A few days passed before Lenin finally ordered the factory workers to to control the factories. -
Peace At Last
After months of discussion and negotiations, Russia and the central powers both agreed to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Signing this treaty finally meant that the Russian’s would be taken out of the war at last, but this also meant that Germany would gain a large part of Russia’s land. What really angered the Russians were the humiliating terms of the treaty. These terms had objected the murder of the royal family. -
Red Versus White
The Russian civil war was the Reds, against the Whites. The Reds were the people who wanted to eliminate the monarchy. On the other side, the Whites were made of three groups. One group was made up of people who still supported their Czar. Another were people who wanted a democratic government. The third were socialists who opposed Lenin’s style of socialism. Three years later, and about 14 million Russians died, the Reds had defeated the Whites. -
Formation of NEP
Lenin put his plan for a state-controlled economy aside and resorted to a small-scale version of capitalism. This plan was called New Economic Policy or (NEP). This allowed peasants to sell their surplus crops instead of giving them to the government. The government still controlled major industries, banks, and means of communications. Everything else was left to the people. -
A New Russia
To keep nationalism in check, Lenin organized Russia into several self-governing republics under the central government. He gave it the name the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR. The Bolshevik named their party the Communist Party. Their name came from the writings of Karl Marx.
