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Abolishment of Serfdom
Serfdom became the dominant form of relation between peasants and nobility in the 17th century. Serfdom only existed in central and southern areas of the Russian Empire. It was never established in the North, in the Urals, and in Siberia. Tsar Alexander I of Russia wanted to reform the system but was stymied. New laws allowed all classes (except the serfs) to own land, the privilege that was previously confined to the nobility. -
Division of Marxists into two groups
In Marxist theory, the capitalist stage of production consists of two main classes: the Bourgeoisie, the capitalists who own the means of production, and the much larger Proletariat (or working class) who must sell their own labour power. This is the fundamental economic structure of work and property, a state of inequality that is normalised and reproduced through cultural ideology. -
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Alexander III
Alexander III was the second son of Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna. Brought up as a Grand Prince, rather than a future Tsar, he was destined for a military career. However, fate decided otherwise. In April 1865 his brother Nicholas suddenly died and since that moment Alexander was proclaimed the heir to the Russian throne. -
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Nicholas II
He inherited the throne when his father, Alexander III, died in 1894. Although he believed in autocracy, he was eventually forced to create an elected legislature. Nicholas II’s handling of Bloody Sunday and World War I incensed his subjects and led to his abdication. Bolsheviks executed him on July 17, 1918, in Yekaterinburg, Russia. -
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Lenin
Vladimir Lenin was a Russian communist, revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He served as head of government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1917, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death. Under his administration, the Russian Empire was replaced by the Soviet Union; all wealth including land, industry and business was confiscated. Based in Marxism, his political theories are known as Leninism. -
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Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin founded the Russian Communist Party, led the Bolshevik Revolution and was the architect of the Soviet state. He was the posthumous source of "Leninism," the doctrine codified and conjoined with Marx's works by Lenin’s successors to form Marxism-Leninism, which became the Communist worldview. He has been regarded as the greatest revolutionary leader and thinker since Marx. -
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Stalin
Was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who took part in the Russian Revolution of 1917, Stalin was appointed general secretary of the party's Central Committee in 1922. He subsequently managed to consolidate power following the 1924 death of Vladimir Lenin through suppressing Lenin's criticisms (in the postscript of his testament) and expanding the functions of his role, all the while eliminating any opposition. -
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Trans-Siberian
British and French investors worked on the world's longest continuos rail line, the Trans-Siberian railway. They started in 1891, but until 1916 it wasn't completed. It connected European Russia (west) with the Russian ports on the Pacific Ocean (east). -
Russo Japanese War
The Russo Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was a military conflict in which a victorious Japan forced Russia to abandon its expansionist policy in the Far East, becoming the first Asian power in modern times to defeat a European power. The Russo-Japanese War developed out of the rivalry between Russia and Japan for dominance in Korea and Manchuria. -
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World War I
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war mostly centered in Europe. More than 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, paving the way for major political changes, including revolutions -
Murder of Rasputin
To save the monarchy, several members of the aristocracy attempted to murder the holy man. Rasputin, a peasant who claimed powers of healing and prediction, had the ear of Russian Tsarina Aleksandra. The aristocracy could not stand a peasant in such a high position. Peasants could not stand the rumors that the tsarina was sleeping with such a scoundrel. Rasputin was seen as "the dark force" that was ruining Mother Russia. -
March (February) Revolution
In Russia, the February Revolution (known like this because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar) begins when riots and strikes over the scarcity of food erupt in Petrograd. One week later, centuries of czarist rule in Russia ended with the abdication of Nicholas II, and Russia took a dramatic step closer toward communist revolution. On March 8, 1917, demonstrators clamoring for bread took to the streets in the Russian capital of Petrograd (now known as St. Petersburg). -
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Provisional Government
The Provisional Government replaced the tsar's government that collapsed during the revolution. The Provisional Government never really ruled Russia. Right from the start, it had to share power with the Petrograd Soviet, which had a rule that its members should only obey the Provisional Government if the Soviet agreed with it. For this reason, March to November 1917 is sometimes called the period of Dual Government in Russia. -
October Revolution
The October Revolution, officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution and commonly referred to as Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a seizure of state power instrumental in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917. It took place with an armed insurrection in Petrograd traditionally dated to 25 October 1917 (by the Julian or Old Style calendar). -
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Civil War in Russia
The Russian Civil War was to tear Russia apart for three years. The civil war occurred because after November 1917, many groups had formed that opposed Lenin’s Bolsheviks. These groups included monarchists, militarists, and, for a short time, foreign nations. Collectively, they were known as the Whites while the Bolsheviks were known as the Reds. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk brought about the end of the war between Russia and Germany in 1918. The German were reminded of the harshness of Brest-Litovsk when they complained about the severity of the Treaty of Versailles signed in June 1919. Lenin had ordered that the Bolshevik representatives should get a quick treaty from the Germans to bring about an end to the war so that the Bolsheviks could concentrate on the work they needed to do in Russia itself. -
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The New Economic Policy (NEP)
The New Economic Policy (NEP) was a policy proposed by Vladimir Lenin, which he called state capitalism. Allowing the establishment of private companies, the NEP allowed small businesses such animals or snuff shops to reopen for private profit while the state still controlled foreign trade, banks and major industries. It was officially decided in the course of the 10th Congress of the Communist Party of the USSR. The New Economic Policy was replaced by the First Five-Year Plan of Stalin. -
USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
In post-revolutionary Russia, the USSR is established, comprising a confederation of Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation (divided in 1936 into the Georgian, Azerbaijan, and Armenian republics). Also known as the Soviet Union, the new communist state was the successor to the Russian Empire and the first country in the world to be based on Marxist socialism. In the USSR, all levels of government were controlled by the Communist Party. -
Trotsky into exile
When the United Opposition tried to organize independent demonstrations commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Bolshevik seizure of power in November 1927, the demonstrators were dispersed by force and Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the Communist Party on 12 November. Their leading supporters, from Kamenev down, were expelled in December 1927 by the XVth Party Congress, which paved the way for mass expulsions of rank and file oppositionists as well as internal exile. -
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday was a day of incidents in Derry on Sunday January 30, 1972, in the context of the conflict in Northern Ireland. That was later called a demonstration for civil rights and against the imprisonment without trial of suspected members of the IRA, approved in August 1971 by the government of Northern Ireland, by which detained hundreds of people were. The protest was attended by over 15,000 people.
Fourteen protesters were shot dead by British paratroopers.
