5.RUSKI 1917-91 TIMELINE
Topic 1- Communist government in the USSR, 1917-85
Topic 2- industrial and agricultural change
Topic 3- control of the people
Topic 4- Social developments
Topic 5-Fall of the USSR
1914
● Russia Joins WW1
● Russia’s economy at the time was incapable of providing food and equipment
needed to fight the war
February 1917
● Tsar was overthrown due to economic chaos, military defeat and political
mismanagement
March 1917
● Provisional Government is set up
● Included freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion
● Democratic elections to form a new government
October 1917
● October revolution overthrows the provisional government
● Bolsheviks were 300,000 members at the time
Lenin establishes Sovnarkom (new russian cabinet, made up of 13 commisars)
● Lenin was elected the Chairman of the Sovnarkom
● Other Commissars included: Leon Trotsky (People’s Commissariart of foreign
affairs), Joseph Stalin, ( People’s Commissariart of Nationslity affairs)
● Decree on Land - gave peasants the right to seize land from the nobility and
Church
November & December 1917
● Workers’ Decree - establishes maximum of 8 hour working day & minimum
wage
● All private banks and the state bank was nationalized
● Decree on press, which gave the government the emergency power to close
any newspapers that supported any counter-revolution
December 1917
● Cheka established, a political police force tasked with defending the revolution
● Had power to censor the press
● Could kill, torture and imprison anyone they viewed as a threat. E.g Church
leaders in Ukraine impaled on spikes
January 1918
● First photograph of Lenin established. Used as form of propaganda to
promote government with titles such as ‘leader of the revolutionary proletariat’
, March 1918
● Treaty of Brest-Litovsk- The treaty took Russia out of the war at a great cost
● Russia lost control over the baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland,
Ukraine and parts of Caucus regions.
● Conservatives & military officers of Tsars regime were unhappy 58
April 1918
● Decree on workers’ Control - allowed workers to elect committees to run
factories
1918-21
The Russian Civil War
● The ‘Reds’ (Bolsheviks) were up against the ‘Whites’ ( a range of political
groups. E.g those who wanted Tsar back, liberals, military leaders unhappy
with WW1, Mensheviks
● Lenin introduces War Communism to ensure they had enough food and
resources to win the war.
● Had a harsh military style discipline (death penalty for those who went on
strike).
● Private trading banned, money replaced by bartering using goods
● Won the war but left economy in ruins
● Initially, situation looked bleak for Bolsheviks as they were surrounded on all
sides by white forces
● Overall, Reds won due to better organisation militarily, economic and
politically.
● By the end of 1920s, all of the whites strongholds had been defeated and
bolsheviks extended control across country.
● Bolsheviks able to extend government direction over the economy to ensure
resources were deployed effectively through war communism
● Bolshevik state had become highly centralised due to demands of the civil war
● Bolsheviks use of terror against political opponents set the tone for
development of the party after the civil war
● 2000 newspapers and 575 printing presses closed down.
1920
● Agitprop set up ( Agitation propaganda)
● Designed propaganda that supported the government with posters,
sculptures and paintings . For example, El Lissitzky, a photographer, created
the poster ‘Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge’ in 1918, one of the most
famous experimental posters of the Civil War as it used shapes to represent
the red and white army.
● Agitprop often produced by avant-garde artists, which was experimental art
1920-1921
Tambov Rising
Topic 1- Communist government in the USSR, 1917-85
Topic 2- industrial and agricultural change
Topic 3- control of the people
Topic 4- Social developments
Topic 5-Fall of the USSR
1914
● Russia Joins WW1
● Russia’s economy at the time was incapable of providing food and equipment
needed to fight the war
February 1917
● Tsar was overthrown due to economic chaos, military defeat and political
mismanagement
March 1917
● Provisional Government is set up
● Included freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion
● Democratic elections to form a new government
October 1917
● October revolution overthrows the provisional government
● Bolsheviks were 300,000 members at the time
Lenin establishes Sovnarkom (new russian cabinet, made up of 13 commisars)
● Lenin was elected the Chairman of the Sovnarkom
● Other Commissars included: Leon Trotsky (People’s Commissariart of foreign
affairs), Joseph Stalin, ( People’s Commissariart of Nationslity affairs)
● Decree on Land - gave peasants the right to seize land from the nobility and
Church
November & December 1917
● Workers’ Decree - establishes maximum of 8 hour working day & minimum
wage
● All private banks and the state bank was nationalized
● Decree on press, which gave the government the emergency power to close
any newspapers that supported any counter-revolution
December 1917
● Cheka established, a political police force tasked with defending the revolution
● Had power to censor the press
● Could kill, torture and imprison anyone they viewed as a threat. E.g Church
leaders in Ukraine impaled on spikes
January 1918
● First photograph of Lenin established. Used as form of propaganda to
promote government with titles such as ‘leader of the revolutionary proletariat’
, March 1918
● Treaty of Brest-Litovsk- The treaty took Russia out of the war at a great cost
● Russia lost control over the baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Finland,
Ukraine and parts of Caucus regions.
● Conservatives & military officers of Tsars regime were unhappy 58
April 1918
● Decree on workers’ Control - allowed workers to elect committees to run
factories
1918-21
The Russian Civil War
● The ‘Reds’ (Bolsheviks) were up against the ‘Whites’ ( a range of political
groups. E.g those who wanted Tsar back, liberals, military leaders unhappy
with WW1, Mensheviks
● Lenin introduces War Communism to ensure they had enough food and
resources to win the war.
● Had a harsh military style discipline (death penalty for those who went on
strike).
● Private trading banned, money replaced by bartering using goods
● Won the war but left economy in ruins
● Initially, situation looked bleak for Bolsheviks as they were surrounded on all
sides by white forces
● Overall, Reds won due to better organisation militarily, economic and
politically.
● By the end of 1920s, all of the whites strongholds had been defeated and
bolsheviks extended control across country.
● Bolsheviks able to extend government direction over the economy to ensure
resources were deployed effectively through war communism
● Bolshevik state had become highly centralised due to demands of the civil war
● Bolsheviks use of terror against political opponents set the tone for
development of the party after the civil war
● 2000 newspapers and 575 printing presses closed down.
1920
● Agitprop set up ( Agitation propaganda)
● Designed propaganda that supported the government with posters,
sculptures and paintings . For example, El Lissitzky, a photographer, created
the poster ‘Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge’ in 1918, one of the most
famous experimental posters of the Civil War as it used shapes to represent
the red and white army.
● Agitprop often produced by avant-garde artists, which was experimental art
1920-1921
Tambov Rising
