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April 1903
Russian Marxists didn't agree on revolutionary tactics, making them split up into two different groups. Vladimir Ilyich Lenin become the major leader of the Bolsheviks. -
February 1904
Japan attacked the Russians at Port Arthur, Manchuria because Russia broke an agreement the two countries had made. -
January 22, 1905
Russian workers went to the czar's winter palace to ask for better working conditions, more personal freedom, and an elected national legislature. Soldiers then started shooting out into the crowd, wounding and killing over 1,000 people. After, the Russians called it Bloody Sunday. -
May, 1906
The first Duma met, and tried convincing the czar to convert to a constitutional monarchy, but he hesitated on the offer. Due to his hesitation the czar was able to get rid of the Duma in about 10 weeks. -
December 1922
Russia was named, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, to honor the councils that helped the Bolshevik Revolution take place. Lenin also suffered a stroke, he survived but it set off a competition for heading the Communist Party. -
August 1914
Nicholas II made the poor decision to get Russia involved in World War 1. Death after death and defeat after defeat,it was clear the Russians could not destroy the Germans. Not even a year in, over 4 million Russian soldiers were either killed, injured, or captured and imprisoned. This proved that the czarist rule and military leadership weakened Russia. -
March 1917
Women textile workers went on a strike, and 5 days later almost 200,000 workers were out on the streets causing riots. They screamed, "Down with the autocracy!" and "Down with the war!". Soldiers at first shot at them, but soon sided with them. This caused an uprising which forced Nicholas II to back down from his throne. A year later he and his family were executed, and people called it the March Revolution. -
November 1917
Out of the blue, armed factory workers(they called themselves the Bolshevik Red Guards) invaded the winter palace. They took over government offices and arrested the leaders of provisional government. Days after their take over, farmland was portioned up for the peasants, thanks to Lenin. The Bolsheviks also signed a peace treaty with Germany to stop all the fighting, and went through peace talks instead. -
March 1918
Russia and Germany signed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. Russia had to give up a large part of their land to the Germans and their allies. This created anger in many of the Russians, who came together to form the White Army. Three different parties made up the White army so it was very difficult for them to cooperate with each other. At one point the White Army actually divided into three armies, so there were three White Armies against the Red Guards. -
October 1920
This was the last year of Russia's civil war. This revolution proved to be the deadliest revolution Russia has ever had. 14 million Russians died, not only in the three year fight, but also the famine that came after the war. -
March 1921
Lenin decided to put aside his plan for creating a state controlled economy, temporarily. For the time being he settled on a smaller version of capitalism, the New Economic Policy. This allowed peasants to sell the crops they had a surplus in, instead of having to turn it over to the government.
