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Nicholas II becomes Czar of Russia
When Nicholas II became czar, he continued with the tradition autocracy. He then began making plans to buildup Russian industries which lead to the government to raise taxes and seek foreign investors. -
Centuries of autocratic rule by the czars
Nicolas was having trouble leading the nation. -
Dissatisfied workers organized strikes
Even though there were growing factories in Russia, there were harsh work conditions, very low wages, and child labor. To demonstrate that the workers were upset with these factors, they started strikes. This then lead to a group that followed the words or Karl Marx and started the Marxist revolutionaries who planned to over through the czar. -
Revolutionary movements begin and compete for power
The Marxist revolutionaries then split into two groups, the Mensheviks who wanted popular support of the revolution and the Bolsheviks who were willing to sacrafice everything for a change. The leader of the Bolsheviks was every powerfula and later fled to western Europe to escape arrest. -
Russia loses war with Japan
Russia broke an agreement over territories with Japan, leading to Japan attacking the Russians at Port. This then led to a revolt in the midst of war. -
Bloody Sunday
200,000 workers and their families went to the czar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg with a petition asking for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. Nicholas II then told his soilders to fire into the crowd killing several hundred people and wounding 1,000. -
Russia enters World War I
Russia was forced into WW1 by Nicholas II and was unprepared to handle the military and economic costs. They had weak generals and poorly equipped troops making it easy for the Germans to defeat them. -
March Revolution
Woman textile workers led a citywide strike in Petrograd for five days. There were riots over a shortage of bread and fuel with nearly 200,000 workers in the streets. -
Czar Nicholas abdicates the throne
In March 1917, the army garrison at Petrograd joined striking workers in demanding socialist reforms, and Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. -
Lenin Returns to Russia
The Germans saw Lenin and his Bolsheviks as a threat to the Russians war effort against Germany. With this, Lenin was then sent to Petrograd in a railway boxcar ariving in April 1917. -
Bolshevik Revolution topples provisional government
Russia's Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky. -
Civil War between Red and White Armies
The main fighting was between the Red Army and the White Army. The Red Army was an army of communists. The White Army opposed the communists. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ends Russia’s involvement in World War
By signing the treaty of Brest-Litosk, Russia surrendered a large part of their teritory to Germany and it's allies. This then angered many of the Russians and objected to the Bolsheviks and their policies. The Bolsheviks oppenents then became the White Army. This then created rage in Russia with several other nations als becoming involved. -
Bolsheviks change name to the Communist Party
During this congress the Bolsheviks changed the name of the party to include the word "Communist". -
Lenin establishes New Economic Policy
Lenin put aside his plans state-controlled economy and instead created a small-scale version of capitalism. This then let peasents to sell their crops instead of giving them to the government . This new plan also let small factories, bussinesses, and farms operate under priveate ownership. -
Russia is organized into several self-governing republics
Since the Bolshevik leaders saw nationalism as a threat, Lenin organized Russia nto several self governing republics under the central government. -
Lenin suffers stroke
Lenin was a survivor of his stroke, but after the incident, there was a compotition for who would lead the Communist Party. The two men with the most popularity were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. Lenin then died in 1924. -
Stalin becomes Dictator
Before Lenin died, he said that he thought Stalin was a dangerous man. He also said that he did not belive Stalin knew how to handle all his power the right way.