-
Nicolas II Crowmed Tsar of Russia
Nicoals II, the last tsar of Russia, was crowned in Moscow in May of 1896. He lacked important qualities it took to be a good leader. First, He resisted reform and involved Russia in costly wars. After setting up the Duma to end the Revolution of 1905, he soon dissolved it, which created discontent among the peasants. Also, Rasputin spread rumors about his relationship wit hthe tsarina that upset the people. Last, the peasants had very harsh living conditions that later caused them to rebel. -
Russo-Japanese War
This war was sparked because both Russia and Japan wanted the Manchuria nd Korea territory. The war was an embarassment for Russia. They lost badly because they fought with outdated weapons and were poorly supplied in both the troops and the city. The Treaty of Portsmouth ended the war, and gave Japan Korea and much of South Manchuria. -
Revolution of 1905
After the outcome of Bloody Sunday, public violence and deomonstrations increased all throughout Russia. Peasants attacked their landlords, sailors mutinied, and the tsar's uncle war assasinated. Leon Trotsky led a strike in Moscow that spread to other cities. Tsar Nicolas II was presented a list of reforms, later known as the October Manifesto, that he signed to end the war. The tsar then shared his power with a two chamber legislature. However, he later dissolved the lower house(Duma). -
Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday sparked the Revolution of 1905. On January 9th, 150,000 proletariats with their families, led by the priet of the Orthodox Church, Georgy Gapon, peacefully marched to the tsar's Winter Palace to have him sign a petition to help their living conditions. However, the tsar's troops (okhrana) fired upon the crowd killing 200. This day forever changed the public view of the tsar. -
March Revolution
The March Revolution was sparked from unhappy Proletariats going on strike and demanding higher wages. They were then "locked out" of work. Demonstrations began to occur all throughout the city. Riots started to get out of hand and Tsar Nicolas ordered them to be put down by force--- which made them worse. The tsar was overthrown and the Duma set up a Provisional Governmemt with Alexander Kerensky as the Minister of Justice. The Romanov family was exiled to Siberia and executed. -
October Revolution
The authorty of Rusisa was shared between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet-- two weak governemnts. So in October 24th, The Bolsheviks, led buy Vladimir Lenin, launched a coup d’état against the Provisional Government. After the successful rebellion, the Bolsheviks set up a new government with Lenin as the dictater- he was the first dictator of a Marxist state in the world. This new government made peace with Germany, gave out land, and made everything owned by the government. -
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
World War I created discontent among the Russians because of their huge casualties and defeats in battle. The Bolsheviks encouraged this discontent because it strengthened their cause. However, Russia signed the Treaty of Brest Litovsk to end their participation in World War I. It forced Russia to give up valuable land resources, and industry. Russia lost a third of its population and most of its coal, oil, and iron. -
Russian Civil War Begins
The Russian Civil War was fought between the Red Army, being the Bolsheviks and Lenin, and the White Army, being any anti-Communist group, such as the Mensheviks. Men wanted to join the Reds because Lenin insisted that supplied go to soldiers first. The Reds also had an advantage because they were one unified group, whereas that the Whites were multiple groups that only had opposition to the Bolsheviks in common. The peasants supported the Reds because the Whites wanted them to live in serfdom. -
Russian Civil War Ends
Lenin agreed to the Treaty of Riga on March 18th, 1921. The treaty put 10 million Ukrainians and White Russians under the rule of the Polish. The Red Army had then officially won the war. However, the main reason for their victory was having Leon Trotsky as the leader. He promoted successful army commanders and demoted unsuccessful ones. The Red Army then had affective officers for battle. With an end to the war, Lenin’s Communist government was now secure. -
USSR is Formed
The USSR, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was established on December 30, 1922, after the Russian Civil War. In the USSR everything was owned and controlled by the governmnet, Lenin died in 1924 and Joseph Stalin took his place as dictator of the Soviet Union. Once he was in power, he had any potential rivals executed. Stalin ruled with fear, and many people died during his reign. The Soviets "de-Stanlinized" after his death. The USSR ended in 1991.
