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Events Leading to the Russian Revolution
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Decembrist Revolt
A group of people in St. Petersburg revolted against Czar Nicholas. Most of them didn’t believe that Nicholas deserved the throne, and others were fighting for a Western-European government with a constitution and Parliament. In the end, Nicholas’ forces put down the liberal revolt. This was the first sign that the people were angry enough to try and revolt against the csar, and the first event that caused the March Revolution. -
Alexander II Frees the Serfs
In 1861, Alexander II emancipated the serfs. The serfs were all of the people who lived on the land owned by many different lords. The serfs would be bound to that landlord, and were always in the midst of poverty. They would be mistreated on a regular basis, and overall it was terrible being a serf. Alexander II realized that Russia was becoming weaker due to its massive amount of serfs, so he freed them. At first, being free did not change much, because the serfs did not own much of anything. -
Assassination of Alexander II
On March 13, 1881, Alexander II was killed by a bomb thrown by an onlooker at a parade. The assassin was caught and eventually hanged. In a way, the assassination showed future czars that being a nicer czar would not end up well, which is possibly a reason that later czars were slightly more strict. The czars didn’t want to end up like their preceding czar, but the citizens of Russia of course did not enjoy the oppressive rule of the further czars, and would eventually revolt repeatedly. -
Russo-Japanese War Begins
On February 4, 1904, the Russo-Japanese war started. It started because Nicholas II wanted to take control of a warm water port on the Pacific for use as a military port and for trading. This was a terrible decision on Nicholas II’s part, because in order to get troops to the battlefront, they would have to be transported from Western Russia all the way across Siberia. Russia lost greatly in the war, and the csar's actions caused the nation to be outraged at how Nicholas II was acting. -
Bloody Sunday
On January 9, 1905, a priest leads thousands of protesters through St. Petersburg, protesting about lack of food, the want for democracy, and other reasonable requests. Czar Nicholas II was not in the city at the time, but the order came to the troops trying to hold back the protesters to shoot into the crowd. Soldiers did so, and as a result around 100 people were killed and hundreds more injured. This display of hostility by the government was a major reason that the nation revolted later, -
Revolution of 1905
In 1905, workers and peasants all across Russia revolted against the government. One problem that caused the nation to revolt was the enormous gap between the extremely rich and the extremely poor. Most of the people in Russia were in the lower class. Another problem was that the nation wanted a Parliament similar to Western European nations that were far stronger than Russia at the time. The revolution was successful because they government then set up DUMA, its own Parliament. Sadly DUMA ha -
World War 1 (Russia's Involvement)
World War I started on June 28, 1914, and Russia became a part of it on August 1 of that year. Russia was clearly not ready for such a massive war. Its industries were not yet build up enough to sustain the military, so much that only about one in three Russian Soldiers even had a gun. Also, Russia’s transportation system could not keep the troops moving at the front, which cost Russia dearly. The war ended up causing a staggering amount of Russian deaths, right around 5 million. -
March Revolution
On March 4-12, 1917, thousands of workers protested their wages and went on strikes. As the protests became more intense, Nicholas II told soldiers to stop them by force. This angered the protesters and riots broke out. Even soldiers had joined the riots! A provisional government was set up by the DUMA (Russia’s Parliament) and when Nicholas II tried to enter the city to make order, the members of DUMA convinced him to resign his right to the throne. This revolution caused unrest in the nation, -
Abdication of Nicholas II
Because of the revolutionists in Petrograd (St. Petersburg), Czar Nicholas II abdicated from the throne in March, 1917. He was then sent to the Czarskoye Selo Palace, before being sent to the Yekaterinburg Palace, and eventually executed along with his entire family. This was so people in Russia would not try to revolt and appoint him as their leader. He was the last Russian Czar in history.
