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Nicholas II becomes Czar/Tsar of Russia
he succeeded to the Russian throne upon the death of his father, Czar Alexander III -
Period: to
Japan won a convincing victory over Russia
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. -
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 every powerful and later fled to western Europe to escape arrest. -
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Revolution of 1905
Up to 200 people were killed by rifle fire and Cossack charges. This event became known as Bloody Sunday and is seen as one of the key causes of the 1905 Revolution. The aftermath brought about a short-lived revolution in which the Tsar lost control of large areas of Russia. -
Russia enters World War I
Russia entered World War I drawn into the conflict by the alliance system and its promises of support to Serbia, its Balkan ally. 2. War patriotism helped douse anti-government sentiment, which had been building steadily in months beforehand, peaking with a general strike in July 1914. 3 -
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 Tobols -
Bolshevik revolution
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. -
Lenin Returns to Russia March Revolution
Vladimir Lenin, leader of the revolutionary Bolshevik Party, returns to Petrograd after a decade of exile to take the reins of the Russian Revolution. -
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Civil war between 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. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ends
in the city of Brest-Litovsk, located in modern-day Belarus near the Polish border, Russia signed a treaty with the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria) ending its participation in World War I -
Lenin establishes New Economic Policy
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. -
Stalin becomes dictator
He held power as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union.Initially governing the country as part of a collective leadership, he consolidated power to become a dictator by the 1930s