Russian Revolution

By Lugi07

  • March Revolution

    Russian Revolution, also called Russian Revolution of 1917, two revolutions in 1917, the first of which, in February (March, New Style), overthrew the imperial government and the second of which, in October (November), placed the Bolsheviks in power.

  • Nicholas II becomes Czar/Tsar of Russia

    Czar Alexander III dies. His son, Nicholas II, becomes the emperor of Russia.

  • 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 sacrifice everything for a change. The leader of the Bolsheviks was very powerful and later fled to western Europe to escape arrest.

  • Russia loses war with Japan

    Japan won a convincing victory over Russia, becoming the first Asian power in modern times to defeat a European power. Russia's Baltic Fleet sailed halfway around the world only to meet its demise at the guns of Adm. Togō Heihachirō and the superior ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Battle of Tsushima.

  • Revolution of 1905—Bloody Sunday

    Bloody Sunday, Russian Krovavaya Voskresenie, massacre in St. Petersburg, Russia, of peaceful demonstrators marking the beginning of the violent phase of the Russian Revolution of 1905.

  • Russia enters World War I

    Drawn into the conflict by the alliance system and its promises of support to Serbia, its Balkan ally. War patriotism helped douse anti-government sentiment, which had been building steadily in months beforehand, peaking with a general strike in July 1914.

  • Bolshevik Revolution defeats Tsar Nicholas' monarchy government

    Bolshevik revolutionaries toppled the monarchy, ending the Romanov dynasty. Czar Nicholas II and his entire family—including his young children—were later executed by Bolshevik troops.

  • Czar Nicholas abdicates the throne

    The army garrison at Petrograd joined striking workers in demanding socialist reforms, and Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. Nicholas and his family were first held at the Czarskoe Selo palace, then in the Yekaterinburg palace near Tobolsk.

  • Lenin Returns to Russia

    Lenin returning to Russia was important because he started the Russian revolution and communism eventually became the government ideology.

  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ends Russia’s involvement in WWI

    The terms of the Brest-Litovsk treaty, signed on March 3, 1918, were very onerous: Russia lost territories inhabited by more than one-quarter of its citizens and providing more than one-third of its grain harvest. It also exempted citizens and corporations of the Central Powers from Soviet nationalization decrees.

  • Lenin establishes New Economic Policy (NEP)

    Introduced by Vladimir Lenin, the New Economic Policy (or NEP) was a radical shift in Bolshevik economic strategy. It eased the harsh restrictions of war communism, the Bolshevik economic policy during the Civil War, and allowed the return of markets and petty trade.

  • Civil War between Red and White Armies

    The warring factions included the Red and White Armies. The Red Army fought for the Lenin's Bolshevik government. The White Army represented a large group of loosely allied forces, including monarchists, capitalists and supporters of democratic socialism.

  • Stalin becomes Dictator

    Lenin died on 21 January 1924. Stalin was given the honour of organizing his funeral. Upon Lenin's death, Stalin was officially hailed as his successor as the leader of the ruling Communist Party and of the Soviet Union itself. Initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s.