-
Bloody Sunday
After the humiliating loss of the Russo-Japanese war, the people were losing admiriation and faith with the Tsar. The war left the people in horrible living conditions and economic distress so when a group of protestors went to the Tsar for help, troops open fired on the group of protestors which resulted in 130 killed and hundreds of casualties, Because of this event, many people that previously favoured the Tsar joined revolutionary groups because of his incompetency of dealing with issues, -
The October Manifesto
Because of the large strike happening and the entrance of WW1, the Tsar decided to put the October Manifesto in place. This included: providing some civil liberties and creation of the Duma (a legislative assembly). With this in mind, he hoped to improve the conditions of what was currently going on, -
Ra Ra Rasputin
This date marks the death of Grigori Rasputin who was a self proclaimed healer sent by God. It was said that he became very influential to the Romanov family and especially to the Tsarina when she was ruling Russia while the Tsar was at the war front. He met the royal family when he claimed he could heal their youngest son of his hemophilia. Many peasants had no idea the intentions and the actions of the Tsar and because of this, peasants thought he was a detriment to Russia and he was killed. -
February 1917 Revolution
The beginning of the revolt and rebellion from the public started on February 22. The steelworkers went on strike and the next day following, the Women's Day parade turned into a strike. Soon after,over half of Petrograd was on strike. Because of this social uproar, the Tsar felt threatened and ordered troops to fire on the crowds which led to 40 fatalities. Though this was a poorly organized strike, it showed how careless and inconsiderate the Tsar was towards anyone that went against his rule. -
Closing of the Duma
Because the Tsar only listened to himself and agreed only with what he thought was right, he decided to close the Duma. After having the people try and rebel against him a few days prior, he shut it down so nothing would stand in his way of ruling. -
The Tsar Abdicates
After losing complete support and authority from his army, the Tsar decided to abdicate when he realized that since he lost his army, he has no one. This showed how detrimental the Tsar was and how detesed he was by his people at this time. -
Creation of the Provisional Government
After the closing of the Duma and the abdication of the Tsar, a form of ruling had to be set in place, thus, the Provisional Government. It was created sometime in early March and consisted of 12 members led by Alexander Kerensky.It was set in place to rule until elections could be held. The dualing government was The Petrograd Soviets which consisted of 2500 deputies which were determined to share the power with the provisional government. -
Creation of the Provisional Government PART II
The problems with this government was that it failed to recognize the state of Russia. The peasants were tired of famine and wanted land reform to be dealt with promptly. The leaders of the government saw themselves as illegitiment because they weren't formally elected. Lastly, they didn't know how desperately the people wanted out of the war and because of this, they unknowingly stayed in the war and kept fighting. -
April Thesis
When Lenin returned to Russia from being in exile, he was smuggled back from Germany via sealed train. Upon arrival he presented his revolutionary ideas to the proletariats and peasants. His thesis included: immediate peace-which meant withdrawl from the war, seizure of the gentry land, all power to the soviets and seizure of the factories. Because of these ideas, he became known for his rallying slogan, "Peace, Bread and Land". -
Kornilov Affair PART II
...them from Kornilov revolting. This action showed ther increasing power of the Bolsheviks and how weak the Provisional Government was in respects to defending itself against an opposing force. -
Kornilov Affair
During the month of August, two loose alliance groups were exisiting: Socialists who were not communists and led by Kerensky and the Constitutional Democrats led by General Kornilov. Because of a disturbance, troops were sent to protect the government by Kerensky and Kornilov. Though Kornilov decided to betray Kerensky and take over the provisional government and replace it with a military government. This disturbance resulted in the provisional government asking the Bolsheviks to protect.... -
Bolshevik Revolution
Previously, the Bolsheviks were unsuccessful at overthrowing the government, though this time, they were orgaized and thoughtful. on this day, the Bolsheviks gained control of the Provisional government by taking over not only the Winter Palace, but strategic places such as post offices. This allowed them to gain control of Petrograd, On October 23, when Lenin returned, they took over Moscow . With Trotsky, Lenin and the Soviets on Nov. 7th, the Bolsheviks seized the govt with limited resistance -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Lenin recognized that he needed to take Russia out of the war and with that, against the opposition of almost everyone, he created a peace negotiation with Germany. He did this because he didn't think that the newly formed Soviet government would be able to deal with situations concerning the war. It was a humiliating agreement for the Russians which gave up huge masses of land, 60 million people, 3/4 of their coal, iron and farms in exchange for peace. -
Civil War
The Civil War began sometime in 1918 and consisted of 2 groups: The Reds (the Bolsheviks) and The Whites (all other groups that oppose them). The Whites gained most of their support from Tsarist Army Officers, Bourgeoisie and outlawed polictical groups. During this year, 14 countries including Japan, USA, Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Czechoslovakia and Canadian troops were sent to Russia to supply the Whites with protection and equipment. They also were there to prevent the Germans from... -
Civil War PART II
.. seizing materials for war. In the summer of 1918, the Reds claimed victory against the Whites because of the following: half-hearted efforts from the allied countries, many aspects of Russia were controlled by the Reds, the Reds were more unified whereas the Whites were more of a collaboration of groups mixed together and that Leon Trotsky was a organized leader. -
War Communism
In the summer of 1918, because of the pressures of the Civil War, the State decided to impose strict rules to conserve resources. Some of these included: all weapons and all food given to the army, the state controlled all factories, food rations set on citizens and that the Cheka seized all grain from peasants. Because of these actions taken, it created horrible famine throughout the country which resulted in the fatalities of 4 million people. -
Execution of the Tsar and his family
After the Tsar abdicated, himself along with his family were sent to Sibera. Because the Red's wanted to maintain optimum power, they thought if they Romanov family was still alive, it could rally the troops of the Whites and give them a reason to fight hard for their Tsar. It was decided that the whole family would be assassinated and thus they were all shot and killed. -
League of Nations
This league was set up as a constitution of rules set in place to maintain peace with all of the contries involved. Though the league had good intentions, they had many flaws regarding the strength and co-operation of the countries and how matters were dealt with. -
The Kronstadt Revolt
In this year, sailors at Kronstadt revolted and accused Lenin of breaking promises to help them. Because of War Communism, it made Lenin's government very unpopular which made the peasants become violent. When this revolt took place, the Red Army came to shut it down which resulted in 20,000 casualties. -
New Economic Policy
In March of 1921, Lenin launched the New Economic Policy (NEP) because it was evident that War Communism was not helping Russia. It meant that some private trade was allowed, peasants were allowed to sell their extra goods and that workers from small factories had to "buy" the factory in a co-operative agreement which meant that it was changed to a private ownership. -
Treaty of Rapallo
This was a treaty between Russia and Germany which stated that Russia would illegally build war material for Germany against the Treaty of Versailles rules. In return, Russia would receive steel manufacturing technology. -
Five Year Plans
Under Stalin's control, there were 13 Five Year Plans. The first one started in 1928 and went till 1932. The second, from 1933 to 1937, the third, from 1938 to 1941 and the thirteenth from 1991-1995. The main goals of these plans were to make the soviet industry a larger producer and contributer to the economy. This would include: tank, boats, coal and steel.Stalin also aimed to erase all capitalism and industrialize the Soviet Union as soon as possible. There were many problems associated.... -
Five Year Plan PART III
These plans ended because of the Soviet Union becoming dissovled. This showed how Stalin did want to improve Russia, but he did so without any regard for human life. -
Five Year Plans PART II
...with the plans, there were many flaws with consumer goods and food which resulted in a catastrophic famine in 1932 and 1933. He wanted to modernize the agriculture and in it's production which lead to these types of problems. Many of the other problems revolved around the production of goods because many peasant workers were untrained, which resulted in low quality standard items. Though many suffered through the plans, they were able to make Russia a world leader in the industry. -
Kellog-Briand Pact
This agreement, which was supported by the USA, declared that 15 nations, including USSR, Germany and USA would denounce war as a method of solving disputes. In the future, this agreement will be totally thrown away as countries enter WWII. -
The Purges
With the help of Stalin's NKVD, he was able to conduct "trials" for people he believed were trying to over throw the government. Many would be executed or exiled for crimes that they never actually committed. Because of this, many were killed just because of Stalin's insecurities. Not only did this include common people, but also high governemnt officials which Stalin feared. -
Nazi- Soviet Pact
This was an agreement set in place between Russia and Germany which stated that those countries were not allowed to attack eachother. Though in the near future, Germany will break these ties and attack Russia.
