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Russia Industrializes
Rapid industrialization stirred discontent among the people of Russia. The growth of factories brought new problems, such as grueling working conditions, miserably low wages, and child labor. As a result, workers went on strike in an effort to improve their lives and several revolutionary movements began to grow, such as Marxism. -
Bloody Sunday: The Revolution of 1905
Around 200,000 workers and their families approached Czar Nicholas II's Palace with a petition asking for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. The Czar's generals ordered soldiers to fire on the crowd, leaving several hundred killed and at least 1,000 wounded. Bloody Sunday provoked a wave of strikes and violence across the country, and eventually the Czar approved the creation of Duma-Russia's first parliament-which he dissolved after ten weeks. -
The Provisional Government Topples
In November, armed factory workers calling themselves the Bolshevik Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd. They took over government offices and arrested the leaders of the provisional government. Kerensky and his colleagues disappeared almost as quick as the czarist regime they had replaced, and this allowed for the Bolsheviks to come into power. -
The March Revolution
Women textile workers in Petrograd led a citywide strike, and in the next five days, riots flared up over shortages of bread and fuel, with nearly 200,000 workers swarming the streets and shouting. The local protest exploded into a general uprising, forcing Czar Nicholas II to abdicate his throne, and he and his family were executed a year later. The March Revolution succeeded in bringing down the czar, yet failed to set up a strong government; because of this, conditions in Russia worsened. -
Lenin Returns to Russia
The Germans believed that Lenin would cause unrest in Russian and hurt the Russian war effort against Germany in World War I, so they arranged for Lenin to return to Petrograd after many years in exile. Lenin and the Bolsheviks soon gained control of many major soviets in Russian cities. Lenin's movement gained widespread appeal to the people, so Lenin decided to take action. -
Bolsheviks in Power
Lenin ordered that all farmland be distributed among the peasants, and gave control of factories to the workers. In March, Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk which surrendered a large part of Russia's territory to Germany and its allies. The humiliating terms of this treaty triggered widespread anger among many Russians, objecting to the Bolsheviks and their polices; now the Bolsheviks faced a new challenge - stamping out their enemies at home. -
Civil War Rages In Russia
The Bolshevik's opponents formed the White Army, which was made up of several different groups; the groups barely cooperated with each other, and only the desire to defeat the Bolsheviks united the White Army.Russia's civil war proved more deadly than earlier revolutions-around 14 million Russians died.In the end, the Red Army crushed all opposition; the victory showed that the Bolsheviks were able to seize power and maintain it, it also created a state-controlled society that lasted for decades -
Lenin Restores Order
War and revolution had destroyed the Russian economy - trade was at a standstill, industrial production had dropped, and many skilled worked had fled. Lenin temporarily turned to a small scale version of capitalism called the New Economic Policy which allowed peasants to sell their surplus crops and let some small factories, businesses, and farms operate under private ownership. Thanks partly to the new policies, the country slowly recovered. -
Political Reform
Bolsheviks saw nationalism as a threat to unity and party loyalty, so Lenin organized Russia into several self governing republic under central government, and in 1922, the county was named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The Bolsheviks renamed their party the Communist Party and created a constitution based on socialist and democratic principles. In reality, the Communist Party held all the power - Lenin had established a dictatorship of the Communist Party, not of the proletariat. -
Stalin Becomes Dictator
Lenin suffered a stroke in 1922; he survived, but the incident set in motion competition for heading up the Communist Party, with two of the most notable men Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin.Stalin began his ruthless climb to the head of the government 1922-1927 and worked behind the scenes to move his supporters into positions of power.By 1928, Stalin was in total command of the Communist Party and in 1929,Trotsky was no longer a threat-Stalin now stood poised to wield absolute power as dictator.
