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Nicholas II becomes Emperor of Russia
Czar Alexander III dies and his son, Nicholas II, becomes the Emperor of Russia with absolute power. -
War leads to accumulating unrest
During the Russo-Japanese war, Russia suffered humiliating defeats that lead to the substantial loss of troops, ships, money, and international prestige. Word of these events exacerbated the existing discontent within the country and sparked protests and calls for reform. -
The Bloody Sunday Massacre
During a peaceful procession to the tsar's winter palace, unarmed protesters were shot at by the tsar's (who was out of town at the time) troops leaving over one hundred dead and several hundred injured. After this, Nicholas II agreed to allow a Duma/legislature for the people. -
The Russian Revolution of 1905
The 1905 Revolution was triggered by the Bloody Sunday Massacre, to which enraged labourers responded with a string of strikes, demonstrations and military mutinies across the country. These events lasted for around 2 years and were all directed at the tsar, nobility and ruling class whose actions had greatly devastated the people. -
Russia enters WW1
Russia entered WW1 in support of the Serbs, French and British, but quickly suffered heavy losses as a result of them being no match for industrialized Germany. So, Tsar Nicholas left Petrograd (St. Petersburg) to take command of the Russian army front leaving the Tsarina in charge of imperial matters. -
Tsarina Alexandra and Rasputin
In the tsar's absence, Tsarina Alexandra removed elected officials at the instruction of her problematic advisor, Grigory Rasputin. Rasputin was later assasinated by Russian nobility in order to end his harmful influence over the royal family. During this time the Russian economy was stagnant, there was widespread government corruption and Nicholas II frequently disbanded the Duma when it disagreed with him, leading moderates to join radical groups demanding the overthrow of the tsar. -
The February Revolution
The February Revolution began with demonstrators taking over the streets of Petrograd, refusing to leave despite being fired at by the army garrison who eventually subsided. On March 12, the Duma established a provisional government and just a few days later, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated. -
The October Revolution
Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin led leftist revolutionaries in an almost bloodless revolt against the Duma's provisional government, which was then composed of leaders of Russia's bourgeois capitalist class. The Bolsheviks and their allies took over government facilities and quickly established a new administration led by Lenin in response to his own demands for a Soviet government directly governed by councils of soldiers, peasants and workers. -
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Reds vs. Whites
The October Revolution set off an extensive civil war in which the Bolsheviks, or Red Army, prevailed against the anti-communist White Army. -
Russia turned U.S.S.R
Following the October Revolution, Lenin became the leader of the world's first communist state. Four socialist republics (Russian and Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republics and the Ukrainian and Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republics) met and approved a treaty and declaration that established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or U.S.S.R.