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Russo-Japanese War
Russia broke an agreement with Japan so, Japan attacked Russia in 1904. Russia and Japan fought for control over the Korean and Manchurian territory. The Russo-Japanese war started a revolt within Russia. -
Bloody Sunday
Workers and families reached Winter Palace in St. Petersburg with a petition for better wages, working conditions, personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. Nicholas II's generals ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd wounding and killing people. Nicholas promised to create Duma, Russia's fist parliment, but it was later dissolved after ten weeks. This caused violence and riots spread throughout the country. -
Russia Enters World War I
Nicholas moved his headquarters to the front lines in 1915. When Russia entered World War I they were unprepared to handle the military and economic costs, and had weak generals and poorly armed troops. Russia's involvement in World War I revealed the weakness of the Czar's military leadership and rule. Soldiers in war refused orders and all classes wanted an end to the war. -
Lenin Returns to Russia
The Germans thought that if Lenin returned to Russia and gained supporters it would create tension in Russia. Germany arranged for Lenin to be returned from exile and he reached Petrograd in April 1917. Lenin's return to Petrograd hurt the Russian war effort against Germany. -
Provisional Government Falls
Factory workers, Bolshevik Red Guards, stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd. They took over government officials and arrested the leaders of the provisional government. This ended the provisional government and Lenin took power in Russia. -
Form of the Communist Party/ Constitution
After Lenin reorganized Russia into several self-governing republics, Russia was renamed the Union of Soviets Socialist Republic.Then the Communist party created a constitution based on democratic and socialist principles where the communist party held all of the power. The Communist Party took power in Russia and Lenin created a dictatorship of the Communist Party not of the Proletariat . -
March Revolution
Duma set up a provisional government when Nicholas II resigned from the throne after many protests and uprisings happened in Russia. The leader, Alexander Kerensky, continued Russia in World War II, which lost him support from both soldiers and civilians. The March Revolution btought down the Czar and worsened conditions in Russia. -
Russian Civil War
The White Army, made of different groups of people, wanted to defeat the Bolshevik Red Army. Western nations, like the United States, sent troops and aid to Russia. Famine, flu, hunger, fighting, and destruction left chaos in Russia and proved that the Red Army could seize power and keep it. -
Bolshevik in Power/ Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
Once Lenin and the Bolsheviks came to power they ordered all farmland to be divided by the peasants and gave control of factories to the workers. Also Russia and Germany signed a truce and the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which gave a large piece of Russian territory to Germany. This stopped the fighting between Russia and Germany. The terms of the treaty caused overall anger among many Russians towards Lenin and the Bolsheviks. -
Stalin Becomes Dictator
When Josef Stalin became Secretary of the Communist Party he started his climb toward the head of the government. He did this by moving his supporters into power and was in total control of the Communist party by 1928. Stalin forced Leon Trotsky into exile and held all absolute power over Russia.
