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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 competed for Korea and Manchuria. Both countries came to an agreement, but Russia broke it. Japan retaliated by attacking Russia at Port Arthur, Manchuria, in February 1904. A revolt took place in the middle of the Russo-Japanese war.
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Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of 1905 | 200,000 workers and their families petitioned for better working conditions and an elected national legislature outside the Czar’s winter palace. He then ordered his soldiers to open fire and more than 1,000 were killed and several hundred were wounded
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Czar Nicholas finally promised more freedom by creating the Duma. They first met on May, 1906 and its leader wanted a constitutional monarchy similar to Britain, but the Czar dissolved the Duma after ten weeks because he didn’t want to share his power.
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Czar Nicholas brought Russia into WWI, but Russia was unable to handle the costs of the war. Russia was no match for the more powerful German army and lost more than 4 million troops after one year. This revealed the disadvantages of czarist rule and military leadership
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Textile workers led a citywide strike. In the days after, riots broke out over bread and fuel shortages. Nearly 200,000 workers filled the streets in revolt against the Czar. This small protest grew into a general uprising forcing Czar Nicholas to step down and was then executed a year later by revolutionaries
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The Provisional government the Duma had set up after the Czar’s rule, now falls due to armed factory workers storming the Winter Palace calling themselves the Bolshevik Red Guards. The guards proceeded to take over the government and arrested the leaders of provisional government
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Russia and Germany sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovisk. Russia surrenders a large part of its territory, and the Russian people are outraged
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The Black Army (guerillas from Ukraine) signed a treaty of alliance with the Red Army which will prove to be deadly for the White Army
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Vladimir Lenin, the new Russian leader, puts into action the “New Economic Policy” which lets peasants sell surplus crops instead of turning them over to the government, however the government still kept ahold of major industries
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Vladimir Lenin suffers a stroke, but manages to survive. This opened up a position to head the Communist party. Stalin, formerly a Bolshevik is put into power in 1928 after the other candidate, Leon Trotsky, is put into exile
