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Decembrist Revolt
3,000 men assembled in Senate Square where they refused to swear allegience to Nicholas I, the new tsar.
They instead proclaimed their loyalty to Constanntine and the Constitution.
They expected to be joined by the rest of the troops stationed in Saint Petersburg, but were not.
Their leader of the revolt, Prince Trubetskoy had a last minute change of heart and failed to show up. -
Emancipation of the serfs
Serfdom meant that the peasant belonged to the land.
Serfdom became the foundation of the Russian economy.
Alexander II felt it was time for change and the emancipation decree that abolished the landlord's power of the peasant was then signed on March 3rd 1861, and two weeks later it was read out in all the churches of Russia. -
Revolution of 1905
Vast areas of the Russian Empire were in a wave of mass political and social unrest.
Some of this was directed at the governement and some was not.
It included terrorism, worker strikes, peasant unrest, and military mutinies.
The revolution led to the establishment of limited constitutional monarchy, the State Duma of the Russian Empire, the multi-party system, and the Russian Constitution of 1906. -
Bloody Sunday
Unarmed, peaceful demonstators marching to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II in St. Petersburg, Russia were gunned down by the Imperial Guard.
The petition was led by Father Gapon
By the Tsarist regime showing desregard for ordinary people, the massacre caused undermined support for the state. -
Russia Enters WWI
Russia entered the first world war with the largest army in the world.
The Russian Ministry of War was commanded by General Sukhomlinov.
Tsar Nicholas' uncle, Nikolai Nikolaevich, Commander in Chief.
Russia launched their first offensive attack in Germany in East Prussia, then they planned to march on Berlin. -
Rasputin Murdered
Several members of the aristocracy wanted to murder Rasputin because he was a peasant in a high position.
Rasputin had powers of healing and prediction and was a very holy man.
The conspirators came up with a simple plan to poison the man, and when that didn't work, they shot him, beat him, and threw him in a frozen river where he drowned. -
March Revolution
Revolution focused around St. Petersburg.
During the revolution members of the Imperial parliament assumed control of the country forming the Russian Provisional Government.
The Soviets which were led by more radical socialist factions also ruled resulting in a period of dual power. -
Tsar Nicholas II Abdicates
Last emperor of Russia.
He resigned, on 15th of March, 1917
His reign saw Imperial Russia go from one of the great powers of the world to economic and military collapse.
After his abdication, he and his wife were murdered by Bolshivik's. -
Bolshevik Revolution
In this revolution also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, the Bolshevik party led by Vladimir Lenin and the workers' Soviets overthrew the Provisional Government in St. Petersburg.
They seized control of the countryside and appointed themselves the leaders of various government ministries.
Civil war erupted between the Bolshevik's and anti-Bolshevik factions which continued for several years until the Bolshevik's won. -
Murder of the Romanovs
At the height of the Russian civil war, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, their daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and their son, Alexei were murdered.
They were being held prisoners and shot by their Bolshevik captors.
Their murderers tried to cover up the killings and burned the bodies, and tried to hide them where no one could find them. -
Treaty of Versailles
Peace treaties at the end of WWI
Russia was exclued because it had negotiated a separate peace with Germany in 1918, where Germany gained a large fraction of Russia's recources.
The negotiators at Versailles felt Russia's treaty with Germany was very harsh. -
Stalin Takes Power/ Death of Trotsky
Stalin was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central committe when Lenin died, and after that continued to consolidate more and more power.
Stalin beat out Leon Trotsky, who everone thought would take over.
Stalin's idea of socialism in one country became the primary line of Soviet politics.
Trotsky was deported from the Soviet Union in February 1929.
On August 20, 1940, Trotsky was attacked with an ice ax and died on August 21st from brain damage. -
Lenin Dies/ USSR formed
Lenin suffered a series of 3 strokes, after which he was bed-ridden and mute until his death.
More than 900,000 mouners viewed his body.
A treaty of creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR was signed on December 30th, 1922.
On the 1st of February 1924 the USSR was recognized by the British Empire.
