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Czar Alexander II is assassinated by the terrorist group ‘People’s Will’
Czar Alexander II, the ruler of Russia since 1855, is killed in the streets of St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by a member of the revolutionary “People’s Will” group. The group made multiple attempts previously on the czars life that failed. The group also killed government officials before assassinating the czar -
Nicholas II crowned czar of Russia
Nicholas II was the last czar to rule Russia. Nicholas was not trained or ready to rule a country He succeeded his father Alexander III after he died. As czar Nicholas resisted reforms and wanted to have the czarist government to live longer. He was executed on July 16, 1918 and so was his family. -
Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg begins the 1905 Russian Revolution
At the time of Bloody Sunday Russia was at war with Japan. On Sunday January 22 the discontent of losing the war exploded on the streets in a whole ball of violence thirteen people died and fourteen were injured -
Lenin returns from exile and arrives in Petrograd via a sealed train
On April 16, 1917, Vladimir Lenin, leader of the revolutionary Bolshevik Party, returns to Petrograd after a decade of exile to take the control of the Russian Revolution. After his exile ended in 1900, Lenin went to Western Europe, where he continued his revolutionary activity. It was during this time that he adopted the -
World War I begins
World War I began after the assassination of Franz Ferdinand the Archduke. It was a battle between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. Thanks to new military technologies and the horrors of trench warfare, World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people—soldiers and civilians alike—were dead. -
The February Revolution begins with strikes, demonstrations, and mutinies in Petrograd
In Russia, the February Revolution (known as such because of the calendar Russia used at the time) begins on this day in 1917, when riots and strikes over the scarcity of food erupt in Petrograd now St. Petersburg. People were starting to starve because of the scarcity of bread because of war rations -
Czar Nicholas II abdicates (gives up power)
Crowned on May 26, 1894, Nicholas was neither trained nor inclined to rule, which did not help the autocracy he sought to preserve in an era desperate for change. The disastrous outcome of the Russo-Japanese War led to the Russian Revolution of 1905, which the czar diffused only after signing a manifesto promising representative government and basic civil liberties in Russia. -
Russian civil war begins
The Russian revolution lasted about three and a half years. It started because many groups started to oppose Lenin and the Bolsheviks. There were three groups that formed because of it. The Bolsheviks were the Reds, the Whites were anti communists and the Greens were peasants who wanted to keep their land -
The October Revolution - the Bolsheviks take over Petrograd
The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and other strategic locations in the Russian capital of Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) and within two days had formed a new government with Lenin as its head. Bolshevik Russia, later renamed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was the world’s first Marxist state. -
Russia withdraws from World War I
Russia’s disastrous involvement in World War I was a primary factor that led to Vladimir Lenin’s successful Marxist revolution in November 1917. In December 1917, Germany agreed to an armistice and peace talks with Russia. Lenin authorized the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on March 3, 1918. -
The capital of Russia is changed from St. Petersburg to Moscow
The capital was changed because the Bolsheviks only controlled a few cities at the time Petrograd, Moscow and some other industrial regions. There was already government set up in Petrograd so Lenin decided to set more of his up in Moscow so he could win the elections. -
Czar Nicholas II and his family are executed
After a weak rule over Russia and failed attempts to stop some of the revolution Nicholas and his family were executed -
The Bolshevik Party changes its name to the Communist Party
Under the Czar the common people were denied education and were open to propaganda. The Communist party was one of the smallest parties at the beginning of the Civil War but were the best organized and committed. Calling themselves the majority party (Bolsheviks) was brilliant bringing many of the peasants who wanted to be with the winning side to support the Communist. -
Russian civil war ends
The Russian Revolution of 1917 was one of the most explosive political events of the twentieth century. The violent revolution marked the end of the Romanov dynasty and centuries of Russian Imperial rule. During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks, led by leftist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin, seized power and destroyed the tradition of czarist rule. The Bolsheviks would later become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. -
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) established
During the Russian Revolution of 1917 and subsequent three-year Russian Civil War, the Bolshevik Party under Vladimir Lenin dominated the soviet forces, a coalition of workers’ and soldiers’ committees that called for the establishment of a socialist state in the former Russian Empire. -
Lenin dies
Vladimir Lenin, the architect of the Bolshevik Revolution and the first leader of the Soviet Union, dies of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 54. In the early 1890s, Lenin abandoned his law career to devote himself to Marxist study and the provocation of revolutionary activity among Russian workers.
