The Russian Revolution

  • The start of World War I

    WWI maginified Russia's problems after the revolution of 1905. The Tsar took control of the armed forces. However, Russian industry was unable to produce the weapons needed for the war. Russia faced a huge number of losses in the next two years which disspiated the patriotic feel for war before 1914 by their government.
  • Rasputin is murdered

    Peasants and even conservative aristocrats who initially supported the monarchy needed to do something to stop the worsening of their country. To start they assassinated Rasputin, but the fall of the monarchy came shortly after in March of 1916.
  • March Revolution Begins

    At the beginning of March a series of strikes broke out in the capital. One of these was the women's bread march on international women's day. This soon led to many more workers coming together and eventually shutting down the factories on March 10th. Soldiers were sent to control the crowd but eventually some of them joined and the situation was out of the Tsar's control.
  • Provisional Government is created

    The Duma (legislature) that the Tsar had tried to resolve, met on March 12 and declared that it was assuming government responsibility. The Provisional Government ws established on March 15. It was the constitutional democrats that had taken responsibility for the establishment.
  • Amry Order N.1

    The Army Order N.1 was issued by the Petrograd Soviet to all Russian military forces. It encouraged them to remove their officers and replace them with "committees composed of the elected representatives of the lower ranks of the army." This order led to complete militay chaos. When the provisional government tried to initiate a new military is dissolved and they turned their backs.
  • Soviet of Petrogard is formed

    The councils of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies also known as soviets had been formed in 1917. This spurred an outburst of spontaneous soviets in army units and towns. They represented more radical interests of the lower class and were largely composed of socialists.
  • April Theses Issued

    The Aptrl Theses were Lenin's plan to ensure an end to the war in a peaceful and democratic way - by beating the capitalist system. He believed that Russia could move directly into socialism and not need a bourgeois revolution in between. This document set the Bolsheviks out to gain the power and trust of the rest of the people in order to prepare for their revolution.
  • The Bolshevik revolution

    By the end of October the Bolsehviks had gained quite a bit of power and support of the people. Unrest in the capital had led Lenin to believe that this was the right time for a revolution. With the help of Trotsky as chairman of the Petrogard Soviet, pro-soviet and pro-bolsheviks took control of Petrograd on the night of November 6th. This led to a quick collapse of the provisional government.
  • New Soviet government

    The collapse of the provisional government led to Lenin announcing, on the night of November 8th, that the Council of People’s Commissars, with himself as head, would be the new Soviet government.
  • The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

    Treaty signed between Germany and Russia, is signed and takes Russia out of World War I
  • Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

    Signed a treaty with germany giving up parts of eastern Europe and pulling out of WWI.
  • Russian Civil War Begins

  • Russian Civil War Ends

    By the end of the civil war, tthe Communist party had succeeded in retaining control of Russia. Additionally, during the war, he Bolsheviks regime managed to turn Russia into a "bureaucratically centralized state dominated by a single party".