Russia Timeline – Part 1
Key for Part 1
February Revolution
The Dual Authority and their actions
October Revolution
Establishing One Party Control
Actions of the Sovnarkom
Foreign Policy
August 1914: The Battle of Tannenberg
Huge Russian losses = Russian defeat
September 1914: The Battle of Masurian Lakes
Huge Russian losses = Russian defeat
May – Dec = 1 million Russian casualties
July 1915: Tsar pressured to reconvene the Duma
Duma want to be involved in the war to prevent revolutionary anarchy from taking over.
Also want a ‘Ministry of National Confidence’ to replace incompetent members with elected officials
Tsar consequently suspends the Duma, Milyukov: “the Duma will fight the government with all
legitimate means until you go”
August 1915: Tsar takes control over the army
Travels 60km out of St. Petersburg to Mogilev = full army responsibility
1915: Strikes emerge in major cities
Result of:
a) 8 million war casualties
b) Severe food shortages resulting from the food priority to the army, peasants not selling due to
inflation of consumer goods and a destroyed transport system resulting from land lost on key rail
networks
c) Refugees from occupied areas causing overcrowding and worse living conditions
Summer 1916: Some Russian victories in WW1
Under the lead of Brusilov against the Austrians, but didn’t last longer than summer
December 1916: Prince Yusupov assassinates Rasputin
Suspicions of involvement with Tsarina – very disliked – the focus of discontent surrounding the War
Hoped that murdering him would solve the main issues and allow continued survival of the Tsar and
aristocracy
1916: Previous strikes evolve
Larger, more frequent, and more violent
19 February 1917: Petrograd authorities announce rationing to begin on 1 st March
Queues all-night at bakeries with fights emerging on the streets
23 February 1917: International Women’s Day
Female textile workers start a march towards the city centre.
Taunt men in Vyborg to join the march, female train drivers striking, men from Putilov (very political)
join.
~100,000 people strong by the time they reach Nevsky Prospekt
24 February 1917: Demonstrations evolve into politicised violence
Statue of Alex III attacked.
Demands for bread, end of war and an end to the tsar from all classes.
No formal organisation but socialist cells are active – especially in distributing propaganda
25 February 1917: Soldiers and Cossacks join the people
, Symbolic of a monumental social shift – assured success in the revolution
NCO’s command their soldiers don’t open fire, many of the soldiers were village reservists who didn’t
want to get sent to the front = increased demands to end the war and getting increasingly more
politicised
26 February 1917: Tsar ordered Petrograd troops to suppress the uprising
Some do (50 deaths) but mostly results in infighting between regiments as soldiers decide whose side
they are on
27 February 1917: Widespread mutiny
Soldiers vs. police where police are the aggressors
Prisons thrown open and criminals released = marked increase in violence
27 February 1917: Duma meet in Tauride Palace
Decide the Tsar needs to go
27 February 1917: Petrograd Soviet established
Met in left side of Tauride Palace
Elected representatives for the soldiers / proletariat
Key people:
a) Chkheidze = 1st Chairman (leading Menshevik)
b) Kerensky = Vice Chairman
Mostly socialist membership, dominated by Mensheviks and socialist intellectuals
Main policies:
a) Supervise the Provisional Government to protect worker interests
b) Only lead a defensive war (moderates) or withdraw immediately (on the left)
c) Constituent Assembly to resolve the land issue ASAP
d) Offer self-government and local control to nationalities – especially Ukraine
28 February 1917: Riots are out of control
Features armed gangs, looting, robbery
The people need somebody to take charge – calls for the Duma to fill the gap
1 March 1917: Order Number 1
Issued by Petrograd Soviet to the Army
Stated:
a) Each regiment is to elect a representative to the Petrograd Soviet
b) Soldiers only need to obey the Provisional Government if it’s in concordance with the Petrograd
Soviet
c) Reservists in Petrograd wouldn’t be sent to the Front Line
Also disbanded Okhrana, established 8 hour work day and trade unions made legal and imprisoned
Tsarist ministers to replace them with Commissars
2 March 1917: Tsar abdicates
End of the Romanov dynasty – passes first to his ill son whom he abdicates for, and then to his brother
who declines.
2 March 1917: Provisional Government established
Meet in the right side of Tauride Palace
Chosen by a Duma committee (not elected) to fill the void until a Constituent Assembly could be
established
Key people:
a) Milyukov = leader, foreign minister, minister for war
b) Prince Lvov = Prime Minister = popular with Soldiers, involved with the Zemstva
c) Kerensky = Minister for Justice (later = Primer Minister)
Dominated by Kadets until Kerensky became Prime Minister
Main policies:
a) Continue the war
b) Leave the issue of land to be resolved by the Constituent Assembly
c) Maintain state control over nationalities
, d) Delay elections until after the war is over to improve their chances of election to CA
3 March 1917: 1st Decree of the Petrograd Soviet
Promised:
a) Amnesty for political and religious prisoners
b) Freedom of press and freedom of speech
c) Abolition of death penalty
d) Made discrimination on social, religious or national grounds illegal
Were also working to plan elections for the constituent assembly while continuing to coordinate WW1
3 April 1917: Lenin arrives in Petrograd
Travelled from Swiss border through Germany , Sweden, Finland into Petrograd with help from the
Germans alongside Zinoviev and Krupskaya on a sealed train through Germany
a) Germany wanted him to return, thinking he would cause further havoc in Russia, thereby making
them easier to beat in the war
Greeted by an excited crown (bribed to be there with beer) and Menshevik Soviet Chairman Chkheidze
who told Lenin they were managing just fine without his interference
He made a speech welcoming the revolution so far, but claimed it was far from over = become April
Thesis
a) Sukhanov claimed it was inspirational, a “revolutionary rebirth” and welcomed it enthusiastically
4 April 1917: Lenin delivers his April thesis to a meeting of Social Democrats
Called for:
a) Worldwide socialist revolution
b) Destruction of the Provisional Government: “All power to the Soviets”
c) Immediate redistribution of land to the peasants, end of the War: “Peace, Bread, Land”
Originally unpopular with the Mensheviks who saw him as an out-of-touch madman and the Bolsheviks
who thought it was too radical
Regardless, it soon became Bolshevik party policy die to Lenin’s oratory skills
a) Acted as a radically different alternative to the dual authority so was popular with soldiers and the
proletariat who were enticed by his slogans
He reasoned that the bourgeoisie was too weak for a democratic revolution as Marxism predicted
would happen next and that the proletariat had already gained power so incorporating a democratic
society as recommended by true Marxism would have been counter-productive
Also felt Russia was the weakest link the Capitalist chain and would cause a world-wide socialist
revolution since the proletariat of sympathetic countries would help Russia to develop the right
conditions for socialism, but only if they became socialist first – saw it as a vital step to establishing
security
18 April 1917: Milyukov’s note and April Crisis
Events:
a) Leaked a note written by Milyukov to the UK saying that they would fight in the War until they won
b) Mass demonstrations of soldiers and workers ensued against a continuation of the War
c) Protestors demanded all power to the Soviet
Consequences:
a) Soviet don’t think Russia is ready for their rule
b) Milyukov resigns
c) Provisional Government re-organised to include socialists like Chernov and Tsereteli
16-19 June 1917: Summer Offensive
France and Britain had been pressuring Russia to reopen an Eastern front, and patriotic sentiment
alongside a thirst for a better position from which to negotiate peace = motivation
Kerensky led a propaganda campaign where much of the idle class volunteered to fight as soldiers were
very disillusioned with the War
When it began there were high desertion rates, soldiers would rather shoot their own officers than
continue to fight, hundreds of thousands were killed and lots of territory was lost:
a) “How long must we put up with this treachery”
, 3-4 July 1917: July Days
3rd July:
a) Armed groups marching in the street, havoc in the cities and on the roads, with ‘fierce faced
civilians’
4 July:
th
a) 20,000 armed soldiers arrive from Kronstadt and marched to Tauride Palace, demanding the Soviets
take power
b) Chernov abducted and rescued by Trotsky
c) Had been encouraged by some middle-ranking Bolsheviks and lieutenants leading the army groups
d) Lenin returns from his holiday and appeals for restraint from the people
i) Bolshevik central committee call off scheduled demonstrations, following a ‘wait and see’ policy
e) Crowds dispersed by troops loyal to the Soviet
f) Provisional Government leak a letter allegedly showing Lenin was being paid by the Germans to
rouse discontent
i) Leading Bolsheviks and Trotsky arrested, Lenin goes to hide in Finland
ii) Izvestia denounced the role of the Bolsheviks – appeared to be their political destruction
8 July 1917: Kerensky made president of the Provisional Government
Appointed General Kornilov as ‘supreme commander of the Russian forces’ and told him to bring
reliable troops into Petrograd and restore law and order
a) Kornilov saw this as an opportunity to crush radical socialism
August 1917: Tsar moved to Tobolsk
He was previously being kept under house arrest but fears over the turbulence of the July Days meant
he was moved to Tobolsk in Siberia
27 August 1917: The Kornilov Affair
Kornilov sent 6 regiments toward Petrograd to seize the government and establish military control
Kerensky denounced Kornilov and called on the Petrograd Soviet to help defend against Counter-
Revolution
a) Widespread alarm
b) The people were desperate for help to defend against Kornilov so Bolsheviks were rapidly released
from prison to help organise the city’s defence
i) Kerensky weaponised the Red Guard to guard the streets
Workers stopped the transport chains of the soldiers before they even reached Petrograd = crisis
averted
Consequences:
a) Kerensky and PGs reputation = irreversibly damaged
b) Mensheviks and SRs discredited by association since Tsereteli (Menshevik leader), Chernov (SR
leader) and 5 other socialist leaders had joined the provisional government following the April Crisis
(so PG now renamed coalition government)
c) Deterioration of army discipline since soldiers saw the affair as an officer plot so many murdered
their officers – the regime couldn’t rely on the soldiers to defend them now
d) Officers also felt betrayed by Kerensky for abandoning Kornilov so also wouldn’t reliably defend the
regime
e) Bolshevik support returns – saviours of the city
i) 9 September: Bolsheviks gain overall control of the Petrograd Soviet
ii) 25 September: Trotsky = president of the Petrograd Soviet (converted to Bolshevism when
imprisoned following the July days)
f) Increased fears of counter-revolution
End of Summer 1917: Major problems still left unresolved
Food shortages = critical
a) Grain prices had already doubled and were continuing to grow
b) Huge inflation and unemployment = downward economic spiral: 100,000 jobs lost in Petrograd from
February to July 1917
Key for Part 1
February Revolution
The Dual Authority and their actions
October Revolution
Establishing One Party Control
Actions of the Sovnarkom
Foreign Policy
August 1914: The Battle of Tannenberg
Huge Russian losses = Russian defeat
September 1914: The Battle of Masurian Lakes
Huge Russian losses = Russian defeat
May – Dec = 1 million Russian casualties
July 1915: Tsar pressured to reconvene the Duma
Duma want to be involved in the war to prevent revolutionary anarchy from taking over.
Also want a ‘Ministry of National Confidence’ to replace incompetent members with elected officials
Tsar consequently suspends the Duma, Milyukov: “the Duma will fight the government with all
legitimate means until you go”
August 1915: Tsar takes control over the army
Travels 60km out of St. Petersburg to Mogilev = full army responsibility
1915: Strikes emerge in major cities
Result of:
a) 8 million war casualties
b) Severe food shortages resulting from the food priority to the army, peasants not selling due to
inflation of consumer goods and a destroyed transport system resulting from land lost on key rail
networks
c) Refugees from occupied areas causing overcrowding and worse living conditions
Summer 1916: Some Russian victories in WW1
Under the lead of Brusilov against the Austrians, but didn’t last longer than summer
December 1916: Prince Yusupov assassinates Rasputin
Suspicions of involvement with Tsarina – very disliked – the focus of discontent surrounding the War
Hoped that murdering him would solve the main issues and allow continued survival of the Tsar and
aristocracy
1916: Previous strikes evolve
Larger, more frequent, and more violent
19 February 1917: Petrograd authorities announce rationing to begin on 1 st March
Queues all-night at bakeries with fights emerging on the streets
23 February 1917: International Women’s Day
Female textile workers start a march towards the city centre.
Taunt men in Vyborg to join the march, female train drivers striking, men from Putilov (very political)
join.
~100,000 people strong by the time they reach Nevsky Prospekt
24 February 1917: Demonstrations evolve into politicised violence
Statue of Alex III attacked.
Demands for bread, end of war and an end to the tsar from all classes.
No formal organisation but socialist cells are active – especially in distributing propaganda
25 February 1917: Soldiers and Cossacks join the people
, Symbolic of a monumental social shift – assured success in the revolution
NCO’s command their soldiers don’t open fire, many of the soldiers were village reservists who didn’t
want to get sent to the front = increased demands to end the war and getting increasingly more
politicised
26 February 1917: Tsar ordered Petrograd troops to suppress the uprising
Some do (50 deaths) but mostly results in infighting between regiments as soldiers decide whose side
they are on
27 February 1917: Widespread mutiny
Soldiers vs. police where police are the aggressors
Prisons thrown open and criminals released = marked increase in violence
27 February 1917: Duma meet in Tauride Palace
Decide the Tsar needs to go
27 February 1917: Petrograd Soviet established
Met in left side of Tauride Palace
Elected representatives for the soldiers / proletariat
Key people:
a) Chkheidze = 1st Chairman (leading Menshevik)
b) Kerensky = Vice Chairman
Mostly socialist membership, dominated by Mensheviks and socialist intellectuals
Main policies:
a) Supervise the Provisional Government to protect worker interests
b) Only lead a defensive war (moderates) or withdraw immediately (on the left)
c) Constituent Assembly to resolve the land issue ASAP
d) Offer self-government and local control to nationalities – especially Ukraine
28 February 1917: Riots are out of control
Features armed gangs, looting, robbery
The people need somebody to take charge – calls for the Duma to fill the gap
1 March 1917: Order Number 1
Issued by Petrograd Soviet to the Army
Stated:
a) Each regiment is to elect a representative to the Petrograd Soviet
b) Soldiers only need to obey the Provisional Government if it’s in concordance with the Petrograd
Soviet
c) Reservists in Petrograd wouldn’t be sent to the Front Line
Also disbanded Okhrana, established 8 hour work day and trade unions made legal and imprisoned
Tsarist ministers to replace them with Commissars
2 March 1917: Tsar abdicates
End of the Romanov dynasty – passes first to his ill son whom he abdicates for, and then to his brother
who declines.
2 March 1917: Provisional Government established
Meet in the right side of Tauride Palace
Chosen by a Duma committee (not elected) to fill the void until a Constituent Assembly could be
established
Key people:
a) Milyukov = leader, foreign minister, minister for war
b) Prince Lvov = Prime Minister = popular with Soldiers, involved with the Zemstva
c) Kerensky = Minister for Justice (later = Primer Minister)
Dominated by Kadets until Kerensky became Prime Minister
Main policies:
a) Continue the war
b) Leave the issue of land to be resolved by the Constituent Assembly
c) Maintain state control over nationalities
, d) Delay elections until after the war is over to improve their chances of election to CA
3 March 1917: 1st Decree of the Petrograd Soviet
Promised:
a) Amnesty for political and religious prisoners
b) Freedom of press and freedom of speech
c) Abolition of death penalty
d) Made discrimination on social, religious or national grounds illegal
Were also working to plan elections for the constituent assembly while continuing to coordinate WW1
3 April 1917: Lenin arrives in Petrograd
Travelled from Swiss border through Germany , Sweden, Finland into Petrograd with help from the
Germans alongside Zinoviev and Krupskaya on a sealed train through Germany
a) Germany wanted him to return, thinking he would cause further havoc in Russia, thereby making
them easier to beat in the war
Greeted by an excited crown (bribed to be there with beer) and Menshevik Soviet Chairman Chkheidze
who told Lenin they were managing just fine without his interference
He made a speech welcoming the revolution so far, but claimed it was far from over = become April
Thesis
a) Sukhanov claimed it was inspirational, a “revolutionary rebirth” and welcomed it enthusiastically
4 April 1917: Lenin delivers his April thesis to a meeting of Social Democrats
Called for:
a) Worldwide socialist revolution
b) Destruction of the Provisional Government: “All power to the Soviets”
c) Immediate redistribution of land to the peasants, end of the War: “Peace, Bread, Land”
Originally unpopular with the Mensheviks who saw him as an out-of-touch madman and the Bolsheviks
who thought it was too radical
Regardless, it soon became Bolshevik party policy die to Lenin’s oratory skills
a) Acted as a radically different alternative to the dual authority so was popular with soldiers and the
proletariat who were enticed by his slogans
He reasoned that the bourgeoisie was too weak for a democratic revolution as Marxism predicted
would happen next and that the proletariat had already gained power so incorporating a democratic
society as recommended by true Marxism would have been counter-productive
Also felt Russia was the weakest link the Capitalist chain and would cause a world-wide socialist
revolution since the proletariat of sympathetic countries would help Russia to develop the right
conditions for socialism, but only if they became socialist first – saw it as a vital step to establishing
security
18 April 1917: Milyukov’s note and April Crisis
Events:
a) Leaked a note written by Milyukov to the UK saying that they would fight in the War until they won
b) Mass demonstrations of soldiers and workers ensued against a continuation of the War
c) Protestors demanded all power to the Soviet
Consequences:
a) Soviet don’t think Russia is ready for their rule
b) Milyukov resigns
c) Provisional Government re-organised to include socialists like Chernov and Tsereteli
16-19 June 1917: Summer Offensive
France and Britain had been pressuring Russia to reopen an Eastern front, and patriotic sentiment
alongside a thirst for a better position from which to negotiate peace = motivation
Kerensky led a propaganda campaign where much of the idle class volunteered to fight as soldiers were
very disillusioned with the War
When it began there were high desertion rates, soldiers would rather shoot their own officers than
continue to fight, hundreds of thousands were killed and lots of territory was lost:
a) “How long must we put up with this treachery”
, 3-4 July 1917: July Days
3rd July:
a) Armed groups marching in the street, havoc in the cities and on the roads, with ‘fierce faced
civilians’
4 July:
th
a) 20,000 armed soldiers arrive from Kronstadt and marched to Tauride Palace, demanding the Soviets
take power
b) Chernov abducted and rescued by Trotsky
c) Had been encouraged by some middle-ranking Bolsheviks and lieutenants leading the army groups
d) Lenin returns from his holiday and appeals for restraint from the people
i) Bolshevik central committee call off scheduled demonstrations, following a ‘wait and see’ policy
e) Crowds dispersed by troops loyal to the Soviet
f) Provisional Government leak a letter allegedly showing Lenin was being paid by the Germans to
rouse discontent
i) Leading Bolsheviks and Trotsky arrested, Lenin goes to hide in Finland
ii) Izvestia denounced the role of the Bolsheviks – appeared to be their political destruction
8 July 1917: Kerensky made president of the Provisional Government
Appointed General Kornilov as ‘supreme commander of the Russian forces’ and told him to bring
reliable troops into Petrograd and restore law and order
a) Kornilov saw this as an opportunity to crush radical socialism
August 1917: Tsar moved to Tobolsk
He was previously being kept under house arrest but fears over the turbulence of the July Days meant
he was moved to Tobolsk in Siberia
27 August 1917: The Kornilov Affair
Kornilov sent 6 regiments toward Petrograd to seize the government and establish military control
Kerensky denounced Kornilov and called on the Petrograd Soviet to help defend against Counter-
Revolution
a) Widespread alarm
b) The people were desperate for help to defend against Kornilov so Bolsheviks were rapidly released
from prison to help organise the city’s defence
i) Kerensky weaponised the Red Guard to guard the streets
Workers stopped the transport chains of the soldiers before they even reached Petrograd = crisis
averted
Consequences:
a) Kerensky and PGs reputation = irreversibly damaged
b) Mensheviks and SRs discredited by association since Tsereteli (Menshevik leader), Chernov (SR
leader) and 5 other socialist leaders had joined the provisional government following the April Crisis
(so PG now renamed coalition government)
c) Deterioration of army discipline since soldiers saw the affair as an officer plot so many murdered
their officers – the regime couldn’t rely on the soldiers to defend them now
d) Officers also felt betrayed by Kerensky for abandoning Kornilov so also wouldn’t reliably defend the
regime
e) Bolshevik support returns – saviours of the city
i) 9 September: Bolsheviks gain overall control of the Petrograd Soviet
ii) 25 September: Trotsky = president of the Petrograd Soviet (converted to Bolshevism when
imprisoned following the July days)
f) Increased fears of counter-revolution
End of Summer 1917: Major problems still left unresolved
Food shortages = critical
a) Grain prices had already doubled and were continuing to grow
b) Huge inflation and unemployment = downward economic spiral: 100,000 jobs lost in Petrograd from
February to July 1917
