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Russian Czars Are Oppressive
Throughout the 19th century, Russian czars were the cause of much social unrest. Army officers revolted, secret revolutionary groups planned to overthrow the government, and Czar Alexander II was assassinated. This social unrest set the stage for revolution. -
Alexander III becomes Czar
Alexander III becomes Czar after his father is assassinated and immediately stops all reforms. Alexander III preferred an autocracy, giving him total power, and labelled anyone who questioned him or spoke a language other than Russian as dangerous. The end of reforms and institution of a controlling and harsh czar created tension throughout Russia. -
Trans-Siberian Railroad
The construction of the railroad was an example of the rapid industrialization taking place in Russia. Industrialization brought about low wages, child labor, and poor working conditions and labor unions were outlawed. This led to strikes amongst working people that fostered an environment for revolutionary groups to flourish. -
Marxists Split
Russian Marxists split into the Mensheviks, a moderate group, and the Bolsheviks, a more radical group. The Mensheviks wanted a broad support base and popular support for reform, while the Bolsheviks were willing to risk everything for reform. These two groups essentially were the revolution. -
Bloody Sunday
200,000 Russian workers and their families approach the Czar's Winter Palace with a petition for better working conditions, more freedom, and an elected national legislature. Czar Nicholas II's generals order open fire on the crowd and thousands were wounded and hundreds killed. Bloody Sunday prompted strikes and violence across the country in protest of the oppressive czar. -
Russia Joins World War I
Nicholas II makes the decision to join WWI, but the Russian army is not properly equipped and has poor leadership. Russia constantly faced defeat, losing more than 4 million troops in under a year. Food and fuel were in low supply, prices inflated, and people were ready for change and an end to the war, bur the many defeats revealed that the Czar was incapable in making the necessary reforms. -
Invasion of the Winter Palace
Factory workers invade the Winter Palace to overthrow the provisional government, arresting government officials along the way. They called themselves the "Bolshevik Red Guard", and very quickly, they, along with Lenin, quickly took over Russia's government. This brought the Bolsheviks into power and the end of Russia's involvement in the war, but also anger and opposition to the Bolsheviks and their policies. -
March Revolution
Women textile workers led a city-wide strike in Petrograd over shortages of bread and food. 200,000 workers protest, and even the guards ordered to shoot at the protesters join the crowd in their strike against autocracy and the war. The protest developed into a nation-wide uprising, forcing Czar Nicholas II to abdicate the throne, however, no stable government was set up. -
Russian Civil War
The Bolsheviks made internal enemies with the White Army, an eclectic group of people loosely unified by their desire for to defeat the Bolsheviks. About 14 million people died in the war and the following famine. Russians were still angry about the Bolsheviks, but were now also dealing with famine, the flu, the developing revolution, and a state-controlled society. -
Satlin Gains Control of the Communist Party
For years, Stalin had been moving his supporters into positions of power in preparation for his eventual takeover. When Lenin dies in 1924, Stalin is left with the perfect opportunity, after Trotsky's exile, to gain total control of the Communist party and thus, all of the USSR. Stalin's rise to power marks, in a way, the end of a revolution but the need for another as Stalin's rise to power gave the appearance of a strong government, but the horrors of Stalin's rule where yet to be uncovered.
