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Marxists revolutionaries disagree over revolutionary tactics. The more radical Bolsheviks are ready to risk everything. The charismatic Vladimir Lenin becomes the leader.
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Japan and Russia signed a series of agreements over the territories, but Russia broke them. Japan responded by attacking the Russians at Port Arthur, Manchuria. News of repeated Russian losses sparked unrest at home and led to a revolt in the midstof the war.
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200,000 workers carried a petition asking for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. Nicholas II's generals ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd. More than 1,000 were wounded, and several hundred were killed.
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The first Duma met in May, 1906. It's leaders were moderates who wanted Russia to become a constitutional monarchy similar to Britian. But because he was hesitant to share his power, the czar dissovled the Duma after ten weeks.
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Nicholas II made a decision to drag Russia into WWI. Russia was unprepared to handle the military and economic costs. Russia was defeated over and over, more than 4 million soilders had been killed, wounded, or taken prisoner. Russia's involvment in WWI revealed the weakness of czarist rule and military leadership.
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Women textile workers in Petrograd led a citywide strike. Riots flared up over shortages of bread anf fuel. At first soliders obeyed orders to the rioters but later sided with them.
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Factory workers stormed the winter palacein the petrograd. They called themselves the Bolshevik Red Gaurds, they took over gov. officers. Arrested the leaders of the provision gov. Kerensky and his colleaues disappeared.
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Russia and Germany signed a treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Russia surrendered a large part of their territory to Germany, and its allies. They objected to the Bolsheviks and their policies and to the murder of the royal family.
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The revolutionary leader, Leon Trotsky, expertly commanded the Bolshevik Red Army. From 1918 to 1920 , civil war raged in Russia. Several Western nations, including the U.S., sent military aid and forces to Russia to help the White Army. However, they were no help at all.
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Lenin temporarily put aside his plan for a state-controlled economy. Instead he resorted to a small-scale version of capitolism called the New Economic Policy (NEP). The government also encouraged foreign investment.
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Stalin began his ruthless climb to the head of the government between 1922 and 1927. As general secretary of the Communist Party, he worked behind the scenes to move his supporters into positions of power. Lenin believed that Stalin was a dangerous man. By 1928, Stalin was in total command of the Communist Party.
