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Bolshevik Revolution
October Revolution
The Bolshevik revolution was planned by Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin and the Soviets. The Bolsheviks took control of Petrograd and Moscow, then arrested the Provisonal Government. The government did not fight back, and easily fell. -
The New Government
This was Lenin's new government, and he had two main goals: To end the war immediately and for the peasants to take over the land. The government was established by the Soviets, and the main leaders were Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin. Unfortunately, they did horrible things in order to achieve these goals. The main leaders gave themselves supreme authority over all, and began to introduce communism to Russia. They gave the land to the peasants and banned any opposing political groups from running. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
This treaty was conducted by Lenin with Germany. In contrast to everyone else's opinion, Lenin thought it would be easier for the new government to fix Russia's problems by ending the war as soon as possible. He sacrificed large parts of Russia in order to gain peace with Germany.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk -
War Communism
War communism consisted of three main goals: the nationalization of industry, mandatory labour, and suppressing private trade. This was put into place by Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin. The state took control of the industry, and began rationing and requisitioning. This was not popular with the peasants, because they had to give up their food without getting enough back in return. This was met with some resistancei from the peasants, and eventually led to the Civil War. -
Civil War
Russian Civil WarThe Civil War involved two opposing groups: the Reds and the Whites. The Reds were Bolsheviks and the Whites were made up of Tsarist army officials, Cossacks, the bourgeoisie and outlawed political groups. The whites had control of the countryside, and the reds controlled the area around Petrograd, Moscow and Kiev. Some Allied countries helped the whites by sending supplies, creating a rift between the Western capitalist countries and communist Russia. Eventually, the reds won. thanks to Trotsky -
New Economic Policy
New Economic PolicyLenin created the NEP when it was clear that war communism was not helping Russia's economic recovery. This policy showed that Lenin could be flexible with Marxism, because he allowed some private trade, co-operative agreements for factories, and peasants could sell surplus. This did eventually improve Russia's recovery. -
Treaty of Rapallo
The treaty of Rapallo was signed between Germany and the USSR. They agreed that te USSR would make Germany forbidden war materials, and that Germany would give the USSR steel making technology. This treaty was meant to benefit both countries after they lost land and goods from the Treaty of Versailles. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
This pact was signed y Germany, USA and the USSR, among others who signed afterwards. This was essentially a declaration that denounced war as a method of solving disputes. It ended up to be ineffective in its promise, but it used as a basis for creating modern peace treaties. -
Five Year Plans
Five Year PlansThe first five year plan introduced forced economic planning. It was created by Stalin in order to live up to his slogan "Socialism in one country." It was made of three parts: a targeted command economy, forced collectivization, and heavy industry. The state controlled the economy, and all the peasants had to give up their land, sometimes resulting in famine. The heavy industry was meant for Russia to defend itself with weapons. It did improve the economy, but at a terrible cost (Kulaks, Gulags -
Normalization
NormalizationWith Russia's recovery from WWI and the Civil War, she began to interact with the Western nations more. She signed pacts urging collective security, including the Kellogg-Briand Pact and other non-aggression pacts. However, this "rapprochment" was more about Russia's own safety than actual trust of other nations. Russia continued to strengthen its economy with building a huge military. -
League of Nations
The USSR joined the League of Nations as means of collective security under Stalin's decision, in order to begin normalization. Unfortunately, she was expelled in 1939. -
The Purges
The Purges Stalin exceuted "heroes" of the revolution under charges of treason for overthrowing the previous government. He killed one of every five Red Army officers, in "show trials." Once regarded as revolutionary heroes, these people had to confess what they had done. Stalin used this to rid himself of enemies, and this would prove to be a big mistake in the future. -
Non-Soviet Pact
This pact took place between Stalin (USSR) and Hitler (Germany), and was simply an agreement of strict neutrality. The two nations still hated each other, but they both needed the other. Germany needed one less war front (Russia's border with Germany) and Russia needed time to prepare for war through industrialization. They also secretly agreed to divide Poland.
