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Rasputin was a peasant who claimed he could of heal and predict. He worked in the castle for Czarina Alexandra in order to save her son, the only male heir to the throne, who had hemophilia. The aristocracy did not like a peasant having a high post. Rasputin was considered "the dark force" and that he was ruining Mother Russia. He was killed by Prince Felix Yusupov.
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The February/March Revolution begins with strikes, demonstrations, and mutinies in Petrograd. This event is very important because it eventually results in the abolition of the monarchy in Russia. 90,000 textile workers protested, and around 1,300 people were killed or injured. (February 23 - March 3)
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Czar Nicholas II abdicates and removes his son from the succession. Nicholas’ brother Mikhail refuses the throne the day later. A provisional government is put in place with the Prince Lvov taking the lead. This event is crucial as it marks the end of the monarchy in Russia.
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Lenin returns from exile, travelling to Petrograd in a sealed train from Switzerland via Germany and Finland. Lenin becomes very important to the party due to his leadership and influences.
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The July Days begin in Petrograd with spontaneous protests against the Provisional Government; after the Bolsheviks unsuccessfully try to direct these protests into a coup, Lenin is forced into hiding. This is important because the Provisional Government weakens and the Bolsheviks become stronger.
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The Bolsheviks take over Petrogard, and then over Winter Palace - the last remaining holdout of the Provisional Government. This meant the Bolsheviks had control over the country and this radically changes the path the country takes.
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Lenin established the first communist government in Russia.
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During the Russian Civil War, the Red Army successfully defended the new Bolshevik government against various Russian and interventionist anti-Bolshevik armies.
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Lenin dies, Stalin becomes the new leader. Stalin gets rid of Trotsky - his greatest competitor.
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The First Five-Year Plan called for the organization of the peasantry into combined units that the government could easily control, to solve starvation in the country. This was one of the several things Stalin planned to do in his First Five-Year Plan.
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This pact established that Germany would exchange manufactured goods for Soviet raw materials. Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union also signed a ten-year nonaggression pact on August 23, 1939, in which they promised not to attack the other.
