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February/March Revolution
8th-12th March 1917, first of two revolutions in Russia in the former capital city St. Petersburg. There were many riots, breakouts and demonstrations across Russia for the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. The reason for this is because he was a weak leader who failed to withdraw from WWI and did not focus on the needs of the people in his autocratic rule. Furthermore, his wife Tsarina Alexandra was under the influence of an infamous “holy man” called Father Grigori Rasputin. Due to his reputatio -
Tsar/Czar Nicholas II Abdicates
On 15th March 1917, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated after many riots and demonstrations against as him due to his failure to withdraw from WWI and his weak leadership. Like his predecessors, the Tsar was the emperor of Russia, Nicholas II was the most powerful monarch in Europe as he was an absolute monarch who established autocratic rule and was the sole voice of government. Since people wanted an end to the autocratic rule of the Tsars, they established a Provisional Government led by Prince Georgy -
Provisional Government takes Control
On March 15th 1917, after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, former members of the Duma and other members of the government formed the provisional government, the provisional government was led by Prince Georgy Lvov, the purpose of this government was to maintain stability after the fall of Nicholas II. The Socialist Revolutionary Party led by Viktor Chernov shared power with democratic social forces with the Provisional government, after the party split, many people stayed loyal to the Provisi -
Lenin Returns and the April Theses/Thesis
On April 3rd 1917, V.I. Lenin former leader of the radical revolutionary Bolshevik party who believed in the idea of Marxism, and was a communist who wanted power to return to the working class, returned to Russia after being exiled to Switzerland for being a radical revolutionary (his brother was executed for the same reason by Alexander III). Lenin’s return to Russia was assisted by the Germans as he favored the withdrawal of Russia from WWI. The April Theses was declared by Lenin and the Bol -
Storming of the Winter Palace/October/November Revolution
On the 7th-8th of November 1917 (Gregorian calendar), the radical Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government after they stormed the winter palace and ended the term of the provisional government and the current leader of the provisional government, Alexander Kerensky. Without warning, armed factory workers and Bolshevik loyalists who called themselves the Bolshevik Red Guards, stormed the Winter Palace and arrested all members of the provisional government and gained control which caused th -
Lenin Takes Control
After the October revolution, the Bolshevik party was now in power and it did not take much time for their leader, Lenin, to establish new laws. Within days Lenin ordered that all farmland should be distributed among the peasants and the Bolsheviks managed to give control of the factories to the workers. Many people supported Lenin coming into power at first as Lenin wished to back out of WWI and signed a truce with Germany to engage in peace talks unlike the Tsar’s regime and even the provision -
Treaty of Brest Litovsk-
On March 3rd 1918, the Bolsheviks signed a Treaty called the Treaty of Brest Litovsk with Germany to end Russia’s participation in WWI. This treaty not only ended Russia’s participation in WWI, but also caused Russia to surrender a major portion of it’s land, almost 80%, to the German government. The surrendering of the territories caused many of the Russian people to be ashamed as they had to give up a majority of their land to the Germans. This was one of the main reasons which led to the rise -
Russian Civil War (Include NEP, War Communism, Kulaks, etc)
From the beginning of 1918-1920 Russia was engaged in a civil war. This war was between the White army which consisted of monarchists, militarists and other political parties against the Bolshevik Red army. One of the reasons for this war was because of the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, however, unlike the Red army the White army had very little communication with each other as they were mostly different groups of people fighting against the Bolshevik idea of communism. The Bolsheviks -
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Russian Civil War
From the beginning of 1918-1920 Russia was engaged in a civil war. This war was between the White army which consisted of monarchists, militarists and other political parties against the Bolshevik Red army. One of the reasons for this war was because of the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, however, unlike the Red army the White army had very little communication with each other as they were mostly different groups of people fighting against the Bolshevik idea of communism. The Bolsheviks -
Five Year Plans
In 1922 V.I Lenin suffered a stroke which caused two men, Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin to compete for command of the Communist party. After Lenin’s death, by 1928 Joseph Stalin who was known to be ruthless, cold, hard and impersonal took command of the Communist party after he put his supporters in motion when he was General Secretary of the Communist party. Stalin established five year plans for the revival of Russia’s economy after the civil war and to transform Russia into a feared and powe -
Great Purges
From 1934-1937 Stalin now dictator of Russia, started purging many former members of the Communist Party. In 1929 Stalin exiled Leon Trotsky and later had him killed, in 1934 Stalin went against many members of the Communist part and by 1937 Stalin started the Great Purge. This was a campaign of terror which eliminated anyone who spoke against, or even threatened his rule. He made many old Bolshevik members stand trial and many were either killed or sent to labor camps which were run by the gove -
Soviet Nazi Pact Signed
In August 1939 Russia made a Pact with Germany in which through the Soviet Nazi Pact, both the leaders, Stalin of Russia and Adolf Hitler of Germany agreed not to go to war with each other and they secretly agreed to split Poland between them.
