-
Marxists revolutionaries disagree over revolutionary tactics. The more radical Bolsheviks are ready to risk everything. The charismatic Vladmir Lenin becomes leader.
-
Russia and Japan faught over Korea and Manchuria; they signed agreements over the lands, which Russia broke. Japan retaliated by attacking Russia at Port Arthur, Manchuria.
-
Workers and their families went to the czar's winter palace in St. Petersburg and petitioned for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. The czar ordered his soldiers to shoot the crowd, wounding 1,000 people and killing several hundred.
-
Russia's first parliament, the Duma, met for the first time. However, the czar didn't like giving his power up and disbanded the Duma after 10 weeks.
-
Russia entered WWI, which they were unprepared for because of their poor military and unstable economy. Russia lost many battles (4 million soldiers were killed, wounded, or taken prisoner), which revealed the weakness of the czar's rule and military leadership.
-
Women textile workers led a citywide strike: 200,000 workers fiiled the streets. The soldiers were ordered to kill them, but then the soldiers sided with them. This forced Nicholas off the throne; he and his family were then exicuted. The Duma established a temporary government. However, the people were still unhappy and formed soviets.
-
Lenin and the Bolsheviks returned and gained control over the Petrograd soviet. The Bolshevik Red Guard attacked the winter palace and the government. The Bolshevik government signed a treaty with Germany to stop fighting and begin peace talks.
-
Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, in which Russia had to surrender a large part of its territory to Germany and its allies. This angered the Russians and they objected the Bolsheviks and their policies and how the had murdered the royal family.
-
A civil war raged in Russia, in which 14 million people were killed in three years. The Bolsheviks were able to seize power and maintain it.
-
Lenin developed the New Economic Policy. In the policy, peasants were allowed to sell extra crops instead of giving them to the government. Also, small factories, businesses, and farms were allowed by the government to operate under private ownership.
-
The Bolshevik leaders saw nationalism as a threat. Lenin reorganized Russia into several self-governing republics under a central government to deal with the threat of nationalism. Russia was then named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
