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Assassination of Alexander II
On the 13th of March, 1881, Alexander II was wounded by bomb blasts in a plot sponsored by a group called People’s Will. He died due to injuries caused by the blast. -
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Alexander lll crowned Tsar
Alexander III was the epitome of what a Russian Tsar was supposed to be. Forceful, formidable, fiercely patriotic, and at 6' 4" towered over his fellow countrymen. -
Period: to
Alexander lll crowned
Alexander III was the epitome of what a Russian Tsar was supposed to be. Forceful, formidable, fiercely patriotic, and at 6' 4" towered over his fellow countrymen. -
Period: to
1881
Alexander III was the epitome of what a Russian Tsar was supposed to be. Forceful, formidable, fiercely patriotic, and at 6' 4" towered over his fellow countrymen. -
Alexander lll
Alexander lll crowned Tsar.
Alexander lll was the embodiment of an ideal Russian Tsar, At the height of 6'4, he towered over most other men. -
Von Plehve Appointed Director Of Police
The investigation of the assassination of Alexander II was led by Von Plehve, and he was made Director of the Police. This gave him full control of the entire police force and Okhrana. -
Alexander lll and Russification
Alexander III persued a policy of Russification enforcing the use of the Russian language throughout the provinces and persecuting non-Russians especially the Jews. A number of anti-Jewish pogroms took place. -
The Role of The Okhrana
The Okhrana (security police) were given new powers to search, question, detain and even exile anyone who was likely to commit a crime. -
Period: to
1883
-First Russian Marxist group formed in Geneva.
-Leo Tolstoy was fiercely critical of the Tsarist regime but wanted a bloodless revolution brought about by a moralistic reformed society. He wrote a tract entitled 'What I believe' which was banned a year later but was hugely influential nevertheless. -
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1885
-Peasant Land Banks established
-Government increased spending on the military
-A law was passed banning women and children from working at night.
-'Closed' court sessions without juries were re-iintroduced for a number of crimes. -
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1886
3 Jan- Vyshnegradsky became Minister of Finance. He wanted to improve Russian finances and build up the gold reserve -
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1888
Ivan Vyshnegradsky negotiated a loan from France which was used to grow the economy. -
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1889
Alexander III set up the new office of Land Captains. Recruited from the nobility these Land Captains had the power to over-ride decisions made by local Zemstva, overturn local court decisions and impose their own punishments. -
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1891
-Ivan Vyshnegradsky introduced a Tariff Act which reduced imports of foreign raw materials. Over the last years he had increased exports of grain by 18%
-Work began on the Trans Siberian Railway
-Russian famine - 2 million peasants died of starvation. Russia continued to export grain a move which was seen as controversial in the light of the famine and led to the dismissal of Vyshnegradsky. -
Period: to
1892
-No relief for famine victims was forthcoming from the Tsar or government and it was left to middle class philanthropists to provide aid for those feeling the worst effects of the famine. These middle classes became more opposed to the Tsar and wanted a voice in government.
-Children under the age of 12 and women were not allowed to work in the mines
-Sergei Witte became Minister of Finance - he also believed in economic modernisation and believed that Russian growth was hampered by - in -
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1894
-Alexander III died of kidney failure. He was succeeded by his eldest son Nicholas II who, like his father was a committed autocrat. However, unlike his father, Nicholas had no interest in politics and would have preferred not to be Tsar.,
-(26th November)Nicholas married Alix of Hesse, grand daughter of Queen Victoria. She had converted to Russian Orthodoxy and taken the name Alexandra Feodorovna. -
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1895
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (Lenin) was exiled to Siberia by the secret police. -
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1896
Zempstva abolished -
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1897
-Russia had become the World's fourth largest industrial economy. However, the rise in industrialisation had led to a move away from the countryside to the cities. Those that rose through the ranks of industry to become managers together with those professionals that served the cities - doctors, teachers, bankers etc created a new middle class that wanted political representation.
-Sergei Witte adopted the gold standard. This increased foreign investment. -
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1898
Trotsky was imprisoned -
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1900
Lenin was released from exile, and moved to Switzerland -
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1901
-Worldwide depression - social and industrial unrest.
-Socialist Revolutionary Party formed by Viktor Chernov. -
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1902
-The Commission on Agriculture established, led by Pyotr Stolypin.
-Trotsky escaped from prison using a false passport and went to London
-Most of the Trans Siberian Railway had been completed -
Period: to
1903
-Anti-Jewish pogroms
-Georg Gapon formed the Assembly of Russian Workers Union
-Social Democrats split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
-Witte became president of the Council of Ministers.
-Rasputin arrived in St Petersburg. -
Period: to
1904
-Russo Japanese War
-Prices of goods increased rapidly
- Father Gapon gained more recognition, Assembly of Russian Workers increased to 9,000 members
-Von Plehve assassinated
-(December) Port Arthur fell to the Japanese -
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January 1905
-The entire workforce of the Putilov Ironworks in St. Petersburg went on strike
-150,000 workers in 382 factories went on strike in support of the four dismissed ironworks workers.
-Bloody Sunday
-Father Gapon organised peaceful march to present a petition to the Tsar to ask for fair treatment.
-met by troops who fired on the demonstrators. More than 200 killed and more than 500 injured. Father Gapon escaped and left Russia. -
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May 1905
-Russian Baltic fleet reached the east, defeated by Japanese at The Battle of Tsushima -
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June 1905
-Potemkin sailors mutinied
-sailors then sailed to Odessa where they proceeded to instigate revolution
-The police and Cossacks used violence to break the revolution killing 2,000 people and injuring 3,000. The sailors escaped by sailing to Romania. -
Period: to
September 1905
Russia lost Port Arthur to the Japanese. -
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October 1905
-Strikes across Russia
-Trotsky returned to Russia
-October manifesto
-Pyotr Struve founded The Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets)
-Union of October 17 (Octobrists) formed -
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November 1905
-General Strike in St Petersburg calling for an 8 hour working day.
-Lenin returned to St Petersburg
-Peasant Union leaders arrested
-Leon Trotsky became head of the St Petersburg Soviet after its leader was arrested -
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December 1905
-Trotsky and all members of the St Petersburg Soviet were arrested.
-Nicholas once more assumed an autocratic rule
-Father Gapon returned to Russia -
Period: to
1906
-introduction of an elected Duma
-Fundamental Law introduced - Nicholas declared supreme autocrat
-Nicholas Replaced Sergei Witte with Ivan Goremykin
-(july) first Duma dismissed. Goremykin replaced with Stolypin
- Stolypin introduced military courts to deal with political unrest. Those found guilty were executed within 24 hours.
-amount of land available for peasants to buy increased
-Peasants allowed to leave communes -
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1908
-Pravda published by Trotsky -
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1911
After being shot several days earlier, Stolypin died on the 18th of September, 1911 -
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1912
-Fourth Duma established
-Lena Goldfields massacre - group of miners from the Lena Goldfields went on strike.
-Bolsheviks showed support
-thousands of workers marched
-However, roops fired on the protesters and hundreds died
-wave of strikes followed -
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1914
-World War l
-Russia declared war on Austria-Hungary
-Germany declared war on Russia -
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1915
Tsar Nicholas took charge of army- dismissed the Duma.
however, he did not have sufficient military experience, and this made him appear responsible for Russia's failures.
-Rasputin blamed for other problems. People becomming suspicious of Rasputin and Tsarina. -
Period: to
1916
-Russian soldiers started deserting army
-Rasputin assassinated -
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1917
-20,000 workers went on strike
-Women's day march, led to 250,000 people protesting
-soldiers and troops joined protestors -
Period: to
1917
Tsar Nicholas ll abdicated in favor of his brother, however brother denied throne, end of Romanov dynasty -
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1917
-Provisional Government is established (Feb 1917)
-Lenin returns to Russia and publishes his ‘April Theses’ (Apr. 1917)
-July Days (Jul 1917)
-Kornilov Affair (Aug 1917)
-Bolsheviks seize power (Oct 1917) -
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1918
-Outbreak of Civil War
-War Communism introduced -
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1921
The Kronstadt Mutiny
NEP replaces War Communism -
Period: to
1922
Creation of the USSR -
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1924
Death of Lenin
