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Russo-Japanese War
A military conflict in which Japan won a series of victories over the Russians, who underestimated the military potential of its non-western opponent. This forced Russia to abandon its expansionist policy in the Far East, resulting in Japan being the first Asian power in modern times to defeat a European power. -
Revolution of 1905
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Bloody Sunday
A group of workers led by the radical priest Georgy Apollonovich Gapon marched to the czar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to make their demands. Imperial forces opened fire on the demonstrators, killing and wounding hundreds. Strikes and riots broke out throughout the country in outraged response to the massacres. -
Creation of the Duma
After Bloody Sunday, Nicholas responded by promising the formation of a series of representative assemblies, or the Duma, to work toward reform. -
Russia enters WWI
Russia entered WWI after Austria declared war on Serbia, as they were an ally to Serbia. Russia started mobilizing its forces to protect Serbia which then caused Germany to declare war on Russia. Russia was also concerned about the growing power of Germany. -
March Revolution begins
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Nicholas II abdicates the throne
During the February Revolution, Czar Nicholas II, ruler of Russia since 1894, was forced to abdicate the throne by the Petrograd insurgents, and a provisional government was installed in his place. -
Lenin returns from exile in Germany
Vladimir Lenin, leader of the revolutionary Bolshevik Party, returns to Petrograd after a decade of exile to take the reigns of the Russian Revolution. -
Kerensky heads the provisional government
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Civil War begins
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Lenin takes power
Vladimir Lenin was one of the leading political figures and revolutionary thinkers of the 20th century, who masterminded the Bolshevik take-over of power in Russia in 1917, and was the architect and first head of the Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). -
Russia pulls out of WWI
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Assassination of Romanov family
In Yekaterinburg, Russia, Czar Nicholas II and his family are executed by the Bolsheviks, bringing an end to the three-century-old Romanov dynasty. -
Trotsky wins Civil War
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Stalin comes to power
After Lenin died, Joesph Stalin rose to power. Under Stalin, the Soviet Union was transformed from a peasant society into an industrial and military superpower. However, he ruled by terror, and millions of his own citizens died during his brutal reign. -
Russia becomes a totalitarian state
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Great Purge
The Great Purge, launched by Joseph Stalin was a series of campaigns designed to get rid of the Communist Party, the military and other parts of Soviet society from those he considered a threat.
