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Period: to
Russian Revolution
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Reign of Czar Alexander III (1881-1894)
Czar Alexander III ruled in favor of the nobility. He believed in the three principles of aim, autocracy(one-man rule), one religion, and one race. He persecuted Jews because he thought them not only be a different faith than the Russians but also a different race. Along with this, he used Jews as a scapegoat for the assassination of his father. This lead to organized violence against Jews. Because of this, the workers disliked the Czar and this dislike would carry on to Czar Nicholas II. -
Reign of Czar Nicholas II (1894-1917)
Believed in one-man rule. He didn't do anything about the attempts for Russia to industrialize and urbanize. Because people hated him, he created a Duma: an elected legislature created a in hopes of getting more people on his side. WWI, took control of the army and the blame for their failures. March 1917, street demonstrations break out in the capital, which starts the revolt and he steps down. In the end, he created the duma, lead the army to fail, and he was in power for the Russians revolt. -
Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905)
Russia and Japan were in an argument over who should own land in N. China. Japan was closer to the land and only had to cross a small amount of water, so they had more ground troops, their navy was superior to Russia, and they were more industrialized. This was significant because losing this war was embarrassing to Russia, it forced Czar Nicholas to make the Duma, and all the blame was put on Czar Nicholas for the defeat. -
Bloody Sunday
200,000 workers march to Nicholas II winter palace to peacefully create better working conditions. He wasn't home. Police opened fire and killed 100 of them and injured 3,000. This allowed protestors a reason to be more angry because so many innocent were killed, it also influenced the creation of the duma, and it created more disorder throughout Russia. -
Establishment of the Duma
Czar Nicholas II was disliked by most Russians and wanted to gain their respect. Also, he had to make up for the loss during WWI, the Russo-Japanese war, and Bloody Sunday. He made the Duma, an elected legislature intended for people to have some say in the gov't. It made the gov't a constitutional monarchy as well. -
Russia's Participation in WWI (1914-1917)
Russia entered WWI in hopes of helping their allie, Serbia. When Russia joined the war, so did Germany. Russia was not industrialized and they were defeated by Germany and had to drop out of the war early. This caused people to hate Czar Nicholas II more because he took charge of the army, and was blamed for Russia's poor performance in the war. -
Death of Rasputin
When Czar Nicholas II was at war (WWI), he left the power to his wife. Most people believe, however, Rasputin had all the power and was making decisions based on favorites and biosts. The Nobility hated him and killed him. In the end, Rasputin contributed to the bad reputation of the Czar. -
Abdication of Czar Nicholas II and Establishment of the Provisional Government
By 1917, Czar Nicholas has given the people several reasons to hate him. He had lost them land in northern China, he lead them to failure during WWI, he was blamed for Bloody Sunday, and he let Rasputin into the gov't. Him stepping down lead to the rise of the Provisional (temporary) Gov't. The new gov't promised to leave WWI, give peasants their land back, and food for all but did not fulfill these promises leaving the people of Russia angry and impatient. -
Bolshevik Revolution (1917-1920)
The Bolsheviks were people who wanted a revolution and communism. They overthrew the Provisional Gov't and fulfilled the promises of them too. They took Russia out of WWI, redistributed farmland to the peasants, and gave factory workers more power. They also created a secret police force called the Cheka that killed anyone who was against the revolution. Then, they participate in the Civil War and win, making them in charge of Russia. -
The Civil War (1918-1920)
The Bolshevik Red Army and the Conservative White Army fought a civil war. The Red Army had advantage because they had more supplies and were more unified, but had disadvantage because the rest of the world was against them. The White Army had advantage because they had support from the Allies, but had disadvantage because they didn't have enough supplies and were un-unified. The Red Army won but the war had caused 5 million deaths and the forcing of Peasants to give their grain to the gov't. -
Establishment of USSR
The USSR, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or Soviet Union, rose to power after the Bolsheviks. They were lead by Vladimir Lenin. Lenin attempted to lead Russia to be a communist country, but ended up dying before he reached this goal. The Soviet Union was a long last gov't as well, they didn't fall until 1991. -
Lenin's Death
Vladimir Lenin died in 1924 due to a stroke. His death was significant because it caused competition for his replacement. -
Trotsky's Exile
During Stalin's reign, Leon Trotsky was exiled. Trotsky was Stalin's competition for power over the Soviet Union. When Stalin came to power, he exiled Trotsky and while being exiled, Trotsky died. This showed how paranoid Stalin was for losing power. -
Stalin's Rise to Power
Stalin was a man who was constantly in fear of loosing his power. He made it his life's goal to make Russia a full communist country. Because of his ruling, Trotsky died, he became the first dictator of the soviet union, and Russia took a couple of steps further to being a full communist country.
