-
Nicholas becomes Tsar of Russia
Nicholas II was crowned Tsar of Russia in 1894, after his father Alexander III died suddenly. So many people came to see him being coronated that 1,200 people were crushed to death in the crowd. Nicholas II firmly believed in the Tsar as the one and only ruler, and did not like the idea of change.
At the time, Russia's population was 126,000,000, with 194 different ethnic groups, and most lived in poverty. -
Bolsheviks emerge as a political group
The Tsar faced opposition from three groups: the liberals, the Socialist Revolutionaries, and the Social Democratic Party. In 1903, the Social Democratic Party split into 2: the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, believed it was their duty to start a revolution. However, Lenin fled Russia to escape arrest, and waited for an opportunity to come back and lead the overthrow of the tsar's government. -
Period: to
Russo-Japanese War
The Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan went to war over Manchuria and Korea, where Japan came out victorious. The Russians were humiliated over their loss and riots began among commoners who were unhappy about Nicholas and his government. -
Bloody Sunday
A crowd of 200,000 protesters, led by priest Father Gapon, met at the Winter Palace, requesting better working conditions. These peaceful protesters were met by open fire from the Tsar's soldiers. Because of this violent attack, many Russian people lost the respect of the Tsar. -
Peter Stolypin appointed Prime Minister
Peter Stolypin was a tough prime minister, and started to crack down on some of Russia's problems. He was harsh to all the government's opposers, exiling 20,000 and hanging over 1,000. Stolypin also tried to appeal to the peasants by offering them land. Because of this, production did increase, but many peasants still lived in horrible conditions. He also tried to improve Russian industries. The economy grew significantly, but it was still behind other countries like the U.S. -
Russia enters WWI
After Germany declared war, Russia joined in. -
The Constituent Assembly is formed
The Constituent Assembly, was an assembly that met to form a government for post-revolutionary Russia. It was stopped by the Bolsheviks government. -
Tsar Nicholas II abdicates
Tsar Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia after being forced to abdicate. The army garrison at Petrograd joined the striking workers that were demanding socialist reforms. -
Provisional Government takes control
The Provisional (temporary) Government, sent up by the Duma, took over the government after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas. It was never the true leader of Russia because it had to share power with the Petrograd Soviet, which had the support of the army and workers. The Provisional Government did not carry out any major reforms; it didn't stop the war, there was still a shortage of food, and told the peasants to wait for land, which didn't work. -
October Revolution
As support for the Provisional Government went down, the Bolsheviks support increased. Lenin's slogan of 'Peace, Bread, and Land' greatly appealed to the Russian people.
At the end of October, Lenin knew it was time to act. On the 6th, the Red Guards, led by Trotsky, took control of the offices, bridges, and banks. The next day, most of Petrograd was in their control, and that evening, they stormed the Winter Palace and arrested the ministers of the Provisional Government. -
Vladimir Lenin seizes power in Russia
After the October Revolution, Lenin made a announcement to the Russian people saying the Provisional Government had been overthrown, and the Soviets now controlled Russia. -
Lenin sets up the Cheka
The Cheka was the first of many Soviet Union apparatuses created to control the people. By 1918, hundreds of committees had sprung up. Cheka was short for 'All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution and Sabotage'. -
Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Also known as the Brest Peace in Russia, The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a treaty of peace signed between the Bolshevik government and the Central Powers. The treaty ended Russia's participation in WWI. -
Tsar Nicholas II & family are assassinated
On the night of July 16, Commandant Yurovsky said that "We must kill them all tonight." In the early hours of July 17th, Yurovsky woke the family and took them and their servants to the cellar. He told the guards not to be alarmed if they heard gunshots, and within a 2-3 minute lapse, they were all on the floor, dead. -
New Economic Policy (NEP) put into place
After the Kronstadt sailors mutinied, demanding an end to War Communism, Lenin recognized that charges were needed.
He put the NEP into place, which allowed peasants to keep some of their produce to sell for a profit, instead of the government taking the surplus. Small factories could now be owned by individuals and the private trading of goods was allowed.
These new policies shocked many of the Bolsheviks, saying that Lenin had betrayed Communism. -
Vladimir Lenin dies
He suffered several strokes that left him paralysed. -
Trotsky flees Russia
When Lenin died, a new leader was needed. Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky struggled for power, throughout the 1920s. Stalin used tricks to make Trotsky look bad, such as when Stalin told Trotsky the wrong date of Lenin's funeral and so Trotsky showed up a day late. In 1927, Trotsky was dismissed from the Communist Party, and then exiled to Siberia in 1928. He was later murdered in 1941. -
Stalin sets up the 1st Five Year Plan
The 1st Five Year Plan was part of a series of plans set out by Stalin, to rapidly modernize and industrialize the USSR. The 1st plan concentrated on improving the heavy industries- coal, oil, steel, and electricity. The USSR had many natural resources, but they were all located in remote places like Siberia, so whole cities were built from nothing in a short period of time. Housing, wages, and working conditions were still rough, but production improved significantly. -
Joseph Stalin becomes leader of Russia
In the years following Lenin's death, Stalin rose to power and officially became the supreme leader of Russia in 1929 until his death in 1953. -
Stalin collectivized Russian agriculture
A policy adopted by by the Soviet government to transform traditional agriculture and reduce the economic power of the peasants. -
Period: to
The Purges Occur
The terrifying period known as the Purges began in 1934, when the leader of the Leningrad Communist party, Kirov, was murdered. Stalin used this murder as an excuse to purge out anyone suspected to be disloyal or a rival by killing them or sending them to labor camps. Members of the Communists Party and army were purged, as well as ordinary civilians. It is estimated 950,000 to 1,200,000 were killed. Stalin greatly weakened the USSR by killing so many skilled people. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
Also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Nazi Soviet Pact was a neutrality pact between Germany and the Soviet Union. It was done by Joachim von Ribbentrop and Vyacheslav Molotov. The treaty renounced warfare between the two countries. -
WWII starts
WWII starts after Germany attacked Poland, unprovoked. France and Britain declared war on Germany after Hitler refused to abort his invasion.