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Czar Nicholas II Crowned Emperor
Czar Nicholas II would be the last Czar of Russia. The revolutionary movement in Russia had been kept in check until the 1890's, in which a series of bad harvests caused many peasants to starve. Also, when industrialization increased, discontent grew among the rising middle class and workers living in the cities. -
February Revolution
On January 22, 1905, thousands of unarmed workers on strike marched to the czar's Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and planned to ask him for reforms. They were fired upon by government troops and many workers were killed or wounded. After the march, the liberal constitutionalists became very popular, the Czar agreed to make an elected body called the Duma. In the years that followed, Russia went through significant advances in the arts, education, farming, and industry, -
October Revolution
During World War I, Russia could not balance the needs of its citizens and the needs of its soldiers. This led to even more unhappiness in the Russian people. On November 7, 1917, workers, sailors, and soldiers took over the Winter Palace and toppled the provisional government, creating a new one led by V. I. Lenin. Russia immediately withdrew from WWI, and in the years that followed, Lenin and the communists formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R), or the Soviet Union. -
Lenin Dies
In 1924, V. I. Lenin died. The general secretary of the Communist Party, Joseph Stalin, slowly rose to power, until in 1929, he became dictator of the Soviet Union. He instituted a new socialist economic system, in which he emphasized heavy industry and large, governement-run farms. -
The Great Purge
In 1934, Stalin began the Great Purge. His secret police arrested millions of people, who were then shot or put into brutal labor camps. Many of those arrested were influential people who helped get Stalin into power, therefore tightening his iron fist on the Soviet Union. -
Berlin Falls
In June, 1941, German forces invaded Russia and began a long, bloody campaign to Moscow, the capital. After a long stretch of hopeless defense and bloodshed, the Red Army finally started to push Germany back in the city of Stalingrad (now Volvograd). They then pushed the Germans all the way back to Berlin and took it, not only ending the war in Europe,
but after World War II, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R remained the only superpowers in the world. -
Stalin Dies
On March, 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin died. Nikita S. Krushchev became head of the Communist Party, and later, premier of the Soviet Union. Krushchev eased the terror of Stalin's reign, relaxed restrictions between the East and West, and improved Soviet quality-of-life. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1953, a revolution in Cuba toppled the government, and Fidel Castro became the dictator of Cuba. Castro then aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union, and after a fateful sight by a US spy plane, President JFK found out that Castro had brought Soviet nuclear missiles onto Cuban soil. After tense moments of the world holding their breath, moments away from what could be a nuclear holocaust, JFK agreed to not invade Cuba if Krushchev removed the missiles. The world sighed in relief. -
Invasion of Afghanistan
In 1964, the highest ranking communists overthrew Krushchev, and replaced him with Leonid Brezhnev. Brezhnev put a lot of resources into the armed forces and invaded Afghanistan for more Soviet support and control. This not only stagnated the economy but also dragged Russia into another long, bloody war.
