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Protesting workers are fired upon in the streets of St. Petersburg by tsarist soldiers. This caused an uprising of Russian peasants, demanding political reform. -
A humiliating defeat after being at war with Japan over the Korean peninsula; the cost of the war effort was high, contributing to a further slump of the Russian economy. -
Germany declares war on Russia, drawing Russia into the conflict. -
Rasputin was assassinated by conspirators who feared his influence over the royal family. -
Russian peasants, workers, and soldiers took to the streets in St. Petersburg to protest their living conditions, suffering beneath the restriction of resources due to WWI. The protests grew and grew and more than a thousand people were killed by the police and government militia. This protest was significant because it lead to a domino effect of change in Russia; the toppling of the Romanov dynasty and the uprising (for better or for worse) of the Soviet empire. -
Nicholas II abdicated not by choice, but by force, after the majority of the soldiers stationed in St. Petersburg join the revolt. His brother, Grand Duke Michael, refused to take the throne and brought an end to the Romanov dynasty. A provisional government was formed to rule. -
The July Days were a series of riots from workers and soldiers against the government. -
With support of both workers and soldiers, The Bolsheviks and revolutionary soldiers overthrow the provisional government and take control. Lenin withdraws Russian from WWI and 74 years of Soviet rule begins. After Lenin's death in 1924, he was succeeded by Stalin who continued to rule the USSR with a totalitarian regime and lead to the death of millions of people.
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The Russian Civil war lasted for two years. The Red Army defended the Bolshevik government against Russian and international anti-Bolshevik forces. -
As anti-Bolshevik sentiment spread in Siberia, where the Romanov family were under house arrest, the Bolshevik began to fear that Nicholas may be set free and executed the family in the cellar in the middle of the night.