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Russian Marxists Split
The Marxists split into the Mensheviks, who had more moderate beliefs, and he Bolsheviks, who had a more radical viewpoint. Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, fled to Europe to escape his arrest. He kept in touch with the Bolsheviks in Russia and kept their group alive until he could return to Russia. -
The Russo-Japanese War
Russia and Japan competed for control over Korea and Manchuria and Japan attacks Port Arthur after Russia breaks their agreement. Russia continues to lose against Japan. This causes tension in Russian and a revolt breaks out during a time of war. -
Bloody Sunday
Over 200,000 workers marched on the Czar's palace with a petition for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected legislature. Soldiers were ordered to fire at the crowd and left 1000 wounded and several hundred killed. This incident induced a violent revolt that quickly spread across the country. -
Russia Enters World War I
When Russia entered the war they were extremely unprepared and their generals and untrained troops were incomparable to the German army. Four million Russian soldiers died before Russia had been a year into the war. This event revealed the people's belief that the rule of a Czarist weakens the country. -
Civil War in Russia
After the Bolsheviks' rise to power, many different people in society came together to fight against them. These groups of people formed the White Army. The Russian Revolution failed and the Bolsheviks maintained their power. -
Bolsheviks Take Power Over the Provisional Government
The Bolsheviks' Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace and took over the government offices.This put Lenin in power once again, and one of the biggest things he did was create peace with Germany. In this process, Russia lost a lot of land to Germany and this angered many of the people of Russia. -
March Revolution
Women workers led a strike because of the lack of resources in Russia, that lasted five days. At first soldiers followed through with the order to shoot the protesters, but then, later, they sided with them. While this event caused the Czar, Nicholas II, to step down, it also did not put in place a new government to replace the old one. -
The Return of Lenin
Germany returned Lenin from exile because they wanted to hurt the Russian army and cause chaos in Russia. Lenin traveled back to Petrograd on train. The return of Lenin led to the Bolsheviks gaining power in Russia. -
Lenin's New Economic Policy
Lenin's new policy created a smaller-scaled version of capitalism by allowing peasants to collect money from their crops, but by keeping control of large industries. The new policy was called the NEP. After it was put in place, the country began to recover and by 1928 farms and factories were producing as much as they were before World War I. -
Stalin Becomes Dictator
Stalin was a part of the Communist Party during the time of Lenin's power, but after his stroke Stalin worked his way up in the government. He secretly worked to help his followers gain power. After the death of Lenin and the exile of Trotsky, no one else stood in Stalin's way and he had complete control over the government.
