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Abolition of Serfdom
The aboliton of serfdom was made by Alexander II in a major agrarian reform stimulated in part by his view that "it is better to liberate the peasants from above" than to wait until they won their freedom by risings "from below". However it had some drawbacks, The newly freed serfs were saddled with a crippling, ‘redemption tax’ to be paid to the former landowners. Many of them had to give away all their grain to pay the tax, leaving them with nothing to survive on. -
Abolition of State Owned Serfdom
In 1866, the twenty three million state owned serfs were freed. Unlike the privately owned ones, they received larger plots of land to make a living from. -
Marxist and Anrchist split
After the Paris Commune (1871), Bakunin characterised Marx's ideas as authoritarian, and argued that if a Marxist party came to power its leaders would end up as bad as the ruling class they had fought against (notably in his Statism and Anarchy). In 1872, the conflict in the First International climaxed with a final split between the two groups at the Hague Congress. This clash is characterised for being the source of the rivalry between marxism and anarchism. -
Alexander III
Alexander III (1845-1894) was emperor of Russia from 1881 to 1894. He was the succesor of Alexandre II and during his reign he adopted programs, based on the concepts of Orthodoxy, absolutism, and narodnost (a belief in the Russian people), that included the Russification of national minorities in the Russia Empire as well as persecution of the non-Orthodox religious groups. His conservative reign was characterised by the peaceful times since Russia did not participate in any major war. -
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Tzar Alexandre III reign
Alexander III (1845-1894) was emperor of Russian from 1881 to 1894. He was the succesor of Alexandre II and during his reign he adopted programs, based on the concepts of Orthodoxy, absolutism, and narodnost (a belief in the Russian people), that included the Russification of national minorities in the Russia Empire as well as persecution of the non-Orthodox religious groups. His conservative reign was characterised by the peaceful times since Russia did not participate in any major war. -
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Transiberian construction
Railroad traversing Siberia, from Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains to Vladivostok: constructed by the Russian government 1891–1916. over 4000 miles (6440 km) long. During World War II, the Trans-Siberian Railway played an important role in the supply of the powers fighting in Europe. -
Nicholas II
As his predecessor, Alexander III, he continue the tradition of Russian autocracy. His ruled was marked by events like the Ruso-Japanese War and the involvement in the World War I. After his abdication in 1917, he was imprisioned and later executed with his family and closest relatives in 1918 -
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Tzar Nicholas II reign
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Bloody Sunday
On this day 200,000 Russian workers demonstrated in front of the Winter Palace asking for better working conditions, more personal freedom and an elected national legislature. Nicholas II’s generals ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd. More than 1,000 were wounded and several hundred
were killed. -
Ruso-Japanese War
War (1904-05) between Russia and Japan, caused largely by rivalry over Korea and Manchuria. Russia suffered a series of major defeats. After these defeats Tsar Nicholas II signed the Japan-Russia Treaty of Peace so he could concentrate on the problems within Russia after the Bloody Sunday. -
March Revolution
Revolution lead by women textile workers in Petrograd. This revolution was triggered by the shortages of bread and fuel and around 200,000 workers rioted in the streeks. They shouted things like “Down with the autocracy!” At first the soldiers obeyed orders to shoot the rioters but later sided with them. -
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World War 1
War between the allies (Russia, France, British Empire, Italy, United States, Japan, Rumania, Serbia, Belgium, Greece, Portugal, Montenegro) and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey, Bulgaria) from 1914 to 1918 -
Trans-Siberian railway
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Rasputin Murder
Rasputin. gain confidence of the Royal family for being able to stop the illness of the heir Alexei. When Nicholas II departed to WWI he ruled through the Tsarina Alexandra. Nobels who did not like his influence on the Tsarina murdered him on December 30, 1916. -
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Provisional government
This was the government set up just after Tsar Nicholas II abdication. Its intention was the organisation of elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and its convention. The government first consisted of the KDT coalition led by Prince Georgy Lvov, which was replaced by the Socialist coalition led by Alexander Kerensky. Decission like staying in the WWI or not give land to the peasants made the provisional government unpopular. -
Bolchevik Revolution
By the fall of 1917 Lenin was gaining popularity in major cities and Lenin´s slogans like " Peace, land and bread" were becoming popular. The Bolcheviks put in prison the royal family and arrested the leaders of the provisional government. As a result land was given to the peasants and workers took control of the factories. -
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Russian Civil War
This was the war that followed just after the Russian Revolutions of 1917. It confronted the Red Army, who defended the Bolcheviks form of socialism and the White Army which included diverse interests favoring monarchism, capitalism, and alternative forms of socialism, each with democratic and antidemocratic variants. There was also a third side who fought both the White and Red Army called the Green Army. It ended with the victory for the Red Army and the stablishment of the Soviet Union. -
Lenin
Lenin (1870-1924) was founder of the Russian communist party (bolcheviks), as well as the leader and inspirer of the Bolchevik Revolution (1917) and first head of the Soviet State (1917-1924). Before returning to Russia he had been in exile for several years since he was persecuted for his relation with anti-tsarist groups. He was also the founder of the organization known as Comintern (Communist International) and the posthumous source of “Leninism. -
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Lenin rule
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Treaty of Brest-Litvosk
Peace treaties signed at Brest-Litovsk (now in Belarus) by the Central Powers with the Ukrainian Republic (Feb. 9, 1918) and with Soviet Russia (March 3, 1918), which concluded hostilities between those countries during World War I. The negotiation of the treaty was requested by the Soviets on Nov 8th, 1917, and finally began on Dec 22nd. -
Execution of the Romanovs
The Russian Imperial Romanov family and its closes relatives that went with them were shot n Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918 by the Bolcheviks. -
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NEP ( New Economic Policy)
A program in effect from 1921 to 1928, reviving the wage system and private ownership of some factories and businesses, and abandoning grain requisitions. It was created because the policy of War Communism (1918-1921) brought Russia's conomy to the point of total breakdown. This was impulsed by the Kronshtadt Rebellion of March 1921. It is said it ended with the introduction of the first five-year promoted by Stalin. -
USSR
The USSR was the marxist-leninist state in the Eurossian continent wich had its roots in the Bolchevik Revolution (1917). It was a highly centralised state which had just one party, the communist one, and it had its capital in moscow. In 1991 after Gorbachev (last head of the state) resign, it was dissolved -
Stalin
Stalin (1878-1953) was the former dictator of the USSR ( Soviet Union) who ruled for more than two decades. After Lenin's death Stalin as General Secretary of the Communist Party eventually seized power, becoming a Soviet dictator. During his dictatorship he transformed the Soviet Union from a peasant society to a indistrualized and militarised superpower, reesulting in millions dying from famine while others were sent to camps. His Red Army helped defeat Nazi Germany during WWII. -
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Stalin dictatorship
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The murder of Trotsky
Lev Trotsky was a Russian politician and revolutionary. Although at the beggining was a member of the memcheviks and had some differences with Lenin, he was one of the most important figures of the Bolchevik Revolution of 1917. He lead the Red Army during the civil war. Some time later after some disputes with Stalin, he was accused for treason and had to go into exile. In 1940 he ended up murdered in Mexico City where he lived with his family by a Spanish communist ordered by Lenin.
