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These two Soviet groups split, seeing as the Mensheviks wre more radical than the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks believed that the socialist revolution would be the work of the masses, but the Bolsheviks believed that a socialist society could be introduced by fource. The Bolshevik leader was Lenin. Without this split, the Bolsheviks wouldn't have been their own entity and able to start the revolution.
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Russian troops started to mobilize on July 29th, 1914. They did this because Russia saw themselves as a protector of Serbia. Russia's involvement in World War One, caused their economy to plummet, and while the Duma representatives supported Russia's involvement. the Petrograd Soviet didn't. The continued economic problems because of the war served to strengthen the Soviet's influence.
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Rasputin was a corrupt monk who claimed to have magical healing powers and manipulated the royal family--Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their son, Alexis. Alexis had hemophilia and Rasputin used this fact to manipulate the family. Relatives of the tsar feared Rasputin was endangering the monarchy, and decided to kill him. They first poisoned him, but when that did not work, they shot him three times and beat him, before weighing down his body and dumping him in a river.
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The murder of Rasputin didn't actually solve anything, and on March 8, 1917, the people revolted against the tsar. On March 11 and 12, the government troops refused to stop the riots. Nicholas II abdicated from his possion as tsar on March 15.
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The murder of Rasputin didn't actually solve anything, and on March 8, 1917, the people revolted against the tsar. On March 11 and 12, the government troops refused to stop the riots. Nicholas II abdicated from his possion as tsar on March 15.
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Russia's political authroity is transfered to a tempory central government called the provisional government. They planned for elections in Novmember which would then become a permanent government. There were problems with this because though the provisional government was mainly moderate, Duma representatives, they couldn't achieve anything without the help of the Petrograd Soviet.
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In November 1917, the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government. Once the Bolsheviks aimed the guns of a warship at the Winter Palace, the minisisters of the provisional government surrendered, and as a result to revolution was relatively bloodless.
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In January 1918, the Bolshevik dissolved the contituent assembly after just one day. Every though they had already overthrown the government, the election still took blace and out of the 420 seats, only 225 were Bolshevik seats. Even so, the Bolsheviks were able to dissolve the assembly.
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Lenin wanted to get Russia out of the war, and when the Allies rejected the Bolshevik proposal for an armistice, Lenin negotiated a separate peace prize with Germany. In March of 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed and Russia ceded the Baltic provinces, Ukraine, and Poland to Germany.
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After the fall of Nicholas II many parts of Russia took the opportunity to declare their independence, including Finland in March of 1918. During the early months of 1918, Russia entered into a civil war between the Bolsheviks and their opponents. The Bolsheviks were called the Reds, because their flag of revolution was red. The various other groups against them were called the Whites. The Whites were able to get help from the Allies, so that after the civil war, Russia would enter WWI again.
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The Russian Civil War lasted until 1921. The Whites suspected they would have a quick victory with the help of the Allies' forces and the fact that they had many more soldiers. The Whites lacked unity, though, and were made of 3 main groups--royalists, middle-class liberals, and moderate Socialists, who didn't trust each other. Leon Trostsky effectively lead the Red Army. He restored discipline to the army and created soldiers who were loyal to communism by teaching them how to read and write.
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After the Allies withdrew from Russia, the Whites, who were not a conhesive group, were pretty much ineffective after that as the warring factions didn't work together in trying to defeat the Reds.
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Alexsandr Kolchak was an important leader for the Whites and when the Red Army forced his forces to retreat into Siberia where they were surrounded, Kolchak had no choice but to surrender. .
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From November 1920 on, White forces in the south out of the country were evacuated from Crimea, signifying the changing tide of the war. After these forces were gone, the only remaining problem the Red Army faced was with Poland, who had gained its independence in 1918, and had invaded Ukraine in 1920.
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After Russia succeeded in breaking through the Polish lines and advance on Warsaw, Polish forces started a counter-attack on the troops. Lenin decided to cut his losses. Much of Russia had been ravaged during the civil war, by both sides, and Lenin wanted to concentrate on creating a communist Russia. As a result of this treaty, 10 million Ukranians and White Russians were put under Polish rule. The treaty also brought an end to the Russian Civil War.
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By the end of 1921, Lenin extended Communist control throughout the country. The Russian Civil War was over, and Russia oficially became a communist state, and communist government was secure.
