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Bloody Sunday
A massacre where a crowd of unarmed people outside of Czar's Winter Palace of St. Petersburg were shot down by Russian soldiers. These people were peacefully marching to present a petition to the Tsar when they were gunned down. This was one of the key events beginning the Russian Revolution of 1917. There were hundreds of casualties. -
The October Manifesto
The October Manifesto was issued by Czar Nicholas II which promised civil liberties and an elected parliament. The civil liberties included personal immunity, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom of association, a broad participation in the Duma, and introduction of universal male suffrage. The October Manifesto brings an end to the 1905 Russian Revolution. -
The Fundamental Laws of 1906
This constitution is created, reflecting the promises of the October Manifesto. It contained major revisions from the 1832 Fundamental Laws of Russia. This constitution was a last resort to keep the nation from falling into a complete anarchy. The Fundamental Laws of 1906 wrapped up the Russian Revolution of 1905 and fulfillled the promises seen in the October Manifesto. It provided a two-housed Russian Parliament. -
World War I Begins
Some of the many causes of World War I include the conflicts and hostility of the four decades leading up to the war. Militarism, alliances, imperialism, and nationalism played major roles in the conflict as well. The crisis came after a series of issues within the Great Powers. WWI amplified many of the issues leading up to the Russian Revolution. The Russian Revolution actually took place during the last phase of WWI. -
Nicholas II assumes supreme command of Russian army
Czar Nicholas II takes personal command of the Russian Army. Losses to the Czar's army from the Austro-German offensives in Galicia and Poland include over 1,400,000 casualties and 750,000 captured. Russia is weakened economically by the loss of Poland's industrial and agricultural output. Also, the ongoing mass exodus of Russian troops and civilians from Poland, called the Great Retreat, spurs dangerous political and social unrest in Russia. -
Rasputin is murdered
After a series of attempts to kill Rasputin, he finally died in a near escape from death a third time. The first attempt, Rasputin was poisoned with enough poison to kill several men. Then, he was shot several times. Still alive, Rasputin was tied up and thrown into the river. He was found on shore, almost out of the fabric used to contain him. The death of Rasputin sparked the beginning of the Russian Revolution. Unfortunately, Rasputin couldn't make up for his mistakes before his death. -
Alexander Kerensky becomes Prime Minister of the Provisional Government
Alexander Kerensky was originally a prominent lawyer who joined the Socialist Revolutionary party and became Prime Minister of the Provisional Government. Unlike some of the radicals, Kerensky supported Russia's involvement in WWI. When the February revolution occured, he urged the dissolution of the monarchy. When a public uproar over the announcement of Russia’s war aims (which Kerensky had approved) forced several ministers to resign, Kerensky was transferred to the posts of minister of war. -
The October Revolution
This revolution was lead by the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks take over Petrograd creating a political uprising and a mass insurrection. The importance of the October Revolution was that in Petrograd overthrew the Russian Provisional Government and gave the power to the local soviets dominated by Bolsheviks. -
Russian Civil War Begins
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war in the former Russian Empire fought between the Bolshevik Red Army and the White Army the loosely-allied anti-Bolshevik forces. The Red Army defeated the White Armed Forces of South Russia in Ukraine and the army led by Aleksandr Kolchak in Siberia in 1919. The remains of the White forces were beaten in Crimea and got evacuated in the fall of 1920. A number of independent countries were established. -
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a peace treaty signed between Russia (the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic) and the Central Powers marking Russia's exit from World War I.
The treaty took away territory that included a quarter of the Russian Empire's population, a quarter of its industry and nine-tenths of its coal mines This treaty between Germany and Russia is important because it takes Russia out of World War I. -
Russian Civil War Ends
There are many days that people argue that the Russian Civil War actually ended, but on November 11, the White Forces were defeated by the Red Army. After this war, the communists established the Soviet Union in 1922.The Russian Revolution of 1917 had just ended. -
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is established
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics began with Russia and three other republics: Belorussia, Ukraine and the Transcaucasian Republic (composed of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia). The government had an executive branch, called the Central Executive Committee, along with a legislative organization called the Council of People’s Commissars. The USSR existed until 1991, when Russia, Belarus and Ukraine—the three remaining states that founded the Soviet Union—declared that it was dissolved. It
