Russian Revolution Timeline

1905 Revolution involved peasants arranging protests at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to show their discontent with the social/political climate in Russia. Strikes caused the tsar to issue a manifesto which stated there would be a constitution and a Duma but it wasn't effective. The uprising didn’t succeed in getting rid of the king & allowed for tensions to build up throughout the kingdom.

Nicholas II wrote a letter to the Commander In Chief of the Russian Army that he was going to take over and lead. The tsar moved army headquarters to Russian Poland and knew little about actual battle and strategies, which led to many defeats and losses. The lack of experience he had and the amount of losses the army experienced led the people to blame him for all the troubles in the country.

Protesters took to the streets in St. Petersburg, striking and demanding bread & clashed with police. An army garrison was sent to quell the uprising but instead joined. Protests and riots forced the king to give up the throne and set in place a provisional government, which ends up resulting in disagreements that lead to a Civil War.

Alexandr Kerensky set forth the offensive. it was aimed at raising morale and holding the Central Powers in the east and Allied forces in the west.
It failed to achieve any goals, weakened the Russian army further and strengthened unrest between the citizens in Russia. The Kerensky Offensive was disastrous and furthered the declining confidence of the Russian people about the government. This enabled the Bolsheviks to take over.

Also known as the Bolshevik takeover. Squads of Red Guards attacked the provisional government and in days Vladimir Lenin’s forces took over. They made Moscow their capital, ended private land ownership, gave land to peasants, gave workers control of factories and mines, and new flag w/ hammer and sickle to symbolize unity. This event sets forth the rise of the Soviets and Russian Civil War.

Signed at Brest-Litovsk (now Belarus). These were treaties signed by the Central Powers, Ukrainian Republic & Soviet Russia. It concluded hostility between these countries. The treaty of Brest-Litovsk marked Russia giving up a large part of their territory to create Ukraine, Poland and Baltic territories and left Russia without a large part of its population.

Bolsheviks quickly spread throughout the empire & used red guards as their main military force. The Whites were united with Allied forces & at first were very successful, but faced conflict within their own group. Reds had many advantages such as territory and infrastructure. They fought at Omsk and Yekaterinburg. Slowly but surely, the White army was defeated by the Reds and the war concluded. The Russian Civil War was a huge battle between parties. Ultimately, the Reds/Communists ended up winning the war since they had more advantages. This led to the communists taking full control and reformed Russia, which ended up being the Soviet Union.

Britain, France, and the US sent forces to fight with the Whites since they believed they could overthrow the communists and reopen the eastern front of Germany. They also worried about a Russio-German alliance and the ideas of communism spreading in their own countries. The intervention of the Allies gave a lot of support to the Whites, even though they didn’t win. The Allied powers wanted to twist things to their gain and were worried about how Russia was going to end up and if the country was a threat.

Vladimir Lenin created the New Economic Policy, which allowed farmers to keep some of their crops for profit, traders to set up businesses, and local nationalities to bring back their customs and languages. After an economically straining war, Lenin was able to turn the economy around and allow people to start trading and profiting from their work. This made the Russian people happy and improved morale from what it was. It also was a tactic to prevent further revolts against Lenin.

Russia and its states (Ukraine, Lithuania, etc.) decided to become united under one name, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Soon after Lenin became ill and died, leaving Leon Trotsky & Joseph Stalin as the people to take over. Stalin came out victorious and took over the USSR. The establishment of the USSR contributed to a lot of conflict and tension in the rest of world history and was the conclusion of years of turmoil in Russia.