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Czar Nicholas becamse czar in 1894 and continued the tradition of Russian autocracy.
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Czar Nicholas launched a program to industrialize Russia and caused it to become the fourth ranking steel producer. However, unhappy workers organized strikes. Revolutionary powers began to grow and compete for power.
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Marxist revolutionaries believed the industrial class of workers could overthrow the czar. Marxist groups split into two opposing forces: The Mensheviks and The Bolsheviks. The Mensheviks were more moderate and had a popular support for the revolution, whlie the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, supported a small number of committed revolutionaries and were willing to sacrifice everything for change.
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200,000 workers approached the Czar's winter palace to with a petition for better working conditions, personal freedom, and a national legislative. Czar Nicholas' generals ordered soldiers to fire at the crowd, killing several hundred people.
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Russia went into World War I unprepared to handle military and economic costs. Russia had weak generals and poorly equipped troops, and were mowed down by German machine guns. More than 4 million Russian soldiers were wounded, killed or taken prisoners before a year had passed.
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Female textile workers led a citywide strike in Petrograd. 200,000 workers swarmed the streets. Soldiers began to obey orders to shoot the rioters down, but eventually sided with them.
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A local protest turned into a general uprising, also known as the Market Revolution. The upristing forced Czar Nicholas to step down. A year later, revolutionaries killed the czar and his family.
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Lenin gained control of the Petrograd Soviet and soviets in under major Russian cities. Armed factory workers stormed the winter palace calling themselves the Bolshevik red guards and took over government offices.
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Lenin began a small scale version of capitalism, which he called New Economic Polity, to attempt to revive the economy. The government kept control of major industries, however some small factories and businesses were allowed to operate under private ownership. In addition, foreign investment was encourages. The Bolsheviks named their party the Communist party.
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Lenin had a stroke in 1922, and Stalin began to climb to the head of the government office. In 1924, Lenin died and by 1928 Stalin was in total command of the Communist party. Stalin used his power as a dictator.
