TSARIST RUSSIA PRE-1914: TIMELINE 1861: Emancipation of the Serfs 1881: Assassination of Alexander II 1894: Nicholas II becomes Tsar 1892 1902: Economic Reforms of Sergei Witte 1905: Russo-Japanese War 1905 Revolution / October Manifesto 1906: First Duma elected and dissolved 1906 1911: Stolypin Land Reforms / State Repression 1907: Second Duma elected and dissolved 1907 1912: Third Duma 1911: Assassination of Stolypin 1912 1914: Fourth Duma 1914: Outbreak of World War One 1915: Recall of the Duma / Progressive Bloc formed Tsar Nicholas II: Tsar of Russia 1894 1917 Tsarina Alexandra: German wife of Nicholas II Sergei Witte: Minister of Finance 1892 1902 - Prime Minister of Russia 1905/6 Gregory Rasputin: Siberian Holy Man Peter Stolypin: Prime Minister of Russia 1906-1911 General Khabalov: Commander of the Petrograd Garrison Paul Milyukov: leader of the Kadets in the Duma Mikhail Rodzianko: President of the Fourth Duma Alexander Kerensky: SR leader and founding member of the Provisional Committee THE COLLAPSE OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT TIMELINE (1917) February 27 th Provisional Committee is formed March 1 st Petrograd Soviet Issues Order No. 1 April 4 th Lenin delivers his April Theses May 17 th Kronstadt Soviet declares itself independent of Provisional Government May 31 st Kerensky becomes Minister for War June 16 th Kerensky Offensive begins July 3 rd 6 th July Days Uprising July 7 th Kerensky becomes Prime Minister after Lvov s Resignation September 1 st Kornilov abandons his march on Petrograd October 8 th Trotsky becomes Chairman of Petrograd Soviet, Formation of the MRC October 23 rd Kerensky moves to crush the Bolsheviks October 25 th First Session of the Congress of Soviets Seizure of the Winter Palace, Kerensky flees from Petrograd October 26 th Lenin claims power in the name of the Congress of Soviets
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin: Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky: Chairman of Petrograd Soviet (from 8 th October) General Lavr Kornilov: Commander in Chief of Russian Army (from 18 th July) Prince Georgy Lvov: Prime Minister of the Provisional Government (until 7 th July) Paul Milyukov: Foreign Minister in the Provisional Government (until 2 nd May) Alexander Kerensky: Minister for War / Prime Minister of Russia (from7 th July) ` ONSOLIDATION OF POWER: TIMELINE 1917: Sovnarkom formed /State Capitalism introduced (dec) Cheka formed (dec) 1918: Red Army formed (Jan) Declaration of Rights (Jan) Constituent Assembly dissolved (Jan) Treaty of Brest Litovsk (Mar) Revolt of the Czech Legion (May) War Communism introduced (Jun) The Ice March / Death of General Kornilov (Apr) Yudenich s failed attack on Petrograd (Oct/Nov) Defeat of Deniken s Volunteer Army at Orel (Oct) 1919 Defeat of Kolchak s White Army at Omsk (Oct) 1920 Withdrawl of most foreign troops from Russia 1921 Tambov Rising 1921 Kronstadt Rebellion (Mar) Tenth Party Congress / War Communism ended (Mar) Lenin: Chairman of the Sovnarkom (Council of Ministers) Trotsky: People s Commissar for War General Deniken: Commander of Volunteer White Army General Yudenich: Commander of Northwestern White Army General Kolchak: Commander of White Army of Siberia Alexander Shlyapnikov: leader of Workers Opposition Alexandra Kollontai: leader of Workers Opposition Stepan Petrechenko: Chairman of Kronstadt Sailors Committee
EVOLUTION OF THE SOVIET STATE 1918-24 1918: Decree on SDeparation of Church & State 1919: Comintern (Communist International) founded 1921: Tenth Party Congress (mar) / NEP introduced Decree against Factionalism Treaty of Riga ends Russo-Polish War (mar) 1922: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) Stalin becomes General Secretary of Communist Party Treaty of Rapallo Seizure of church wealth and properties Proletkult disbanded 1923: Eleventh Party Congress (mar) Declaration of the 46 (Oct) 1924: Death of Lenin (jan) Soviet Constitution ratified (jan) The Zinoviev Letter Lenin: Chairman of Sovnarkom (Council of Ministers) and dominant figure in Politburo Leon Trotsky: Commissar for War and key member of the Politburo Felix Dzerzhinsky: Head of Cheka & Minister of the Interior Nicolai Bukharin: Editor of Pravda, member of the Politburo and a main influence behind the adoption of NEP Anatoli Lunarcharsky: Commissar of Enlightenment (Culture and Education) Alexandra Kollontai: feminist and leader of the Workers Opposition STALIN S RISE TO POWER 1924-29 1922: Stalin elected General Secretary of Communist Party 1924: Death of Lenin / Trotsky publishes Lessons of October 1925: Trotsky loses position as Commissar for War 1926: Trotsky joins Kamenev and Zinoviev in the United Opposition 1927: Trotsky, Kamanev and Zinoviev expelled from the Party 1928: Stalin denounces NEP and turns on the right 1929: Bukharin, Rykov and Tomsky removed from the Politburo; Trotsky exiled Leon Trotsky: Commissar for War (until 1925) Lev Kamanev: Chairman of the Sovnarkom (1923-4) Grigory Zinoviev: Chairman of the Comintern (until 1926) Nikolai Bukharin: Leader of the party right wing Alexei Rykov: Chairman of the Sovnarkom (from 1924) Mikhail Tomsky: Chairman of the Council of Trade Unions Vyacheslav Molotov: Close ally of Stalin, member of Politburo from 1926
THE SOVIET ECONOMY: TIMELINE 1927: Stalin announces programme of rapid industrialisation 1928: widespread collectivisation begins; First Five Year Plan implemented 1930: Collectivisation temporarily halted: Dizzy with Success 1932/3: The Great Ukrainian Famine 1933: Second Five Year Plan begins 1935: Stakhanov Movement founded 1938: Third Five Year Plan begins 1946: Fourth Five Year Plan begins 1949: COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Aid) founded 1951: Fifth Five Year Plan begins Nikolai Bukharin: Leader of the party right wing and supporter of NEP Sergei Ordzhonikidze: Commissariat for Heavy Industry Alexei Stakhanov: the inspiration behind the Stakhanov Movement THE STALINIST PURGES: TIMELINE 1928: The Shakhty Affair 1932: The Ryutin Affair 1934: The Kirov Murder / Decree Against Terrorist Acts 1936-9: The Great Purge / Terror 1936: First Show Trial (Kamanev & Zinoviev) 1937: Second Show Trial / Purge of the Red Army begins 1938: Third Show Trial (Bukharin & Rykov) 1945: Purge of wartime collaborators 1949: The Leningrad Affair 1953: The Doctors Plot Martemyan Ryutin: old Bolshevik whose Ryutin Platform set off the first wave of purges Sergei Kirov: popular Secretary of the Leningrad Soviet whose murder led to an escalation of the purges Gengrikh Yagoda: NKVD leader who presided over the early purges until being replaced by Yezhovf in 1936 Nicolai Yezhovf: NKVD leader who took over from Yagoda and became synonymous with the Great Terror Lavrenti Beria: Succeeded Yezhovf as head of NKVD in 1938 Andrey Vyshinsky: the Prosecutor General of the Soviet Union who presided over the show trials
SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY: TIMELINE 1927: Communist uprising in China crushed 1934: Soviet Union joins League of Nations 1935: Pact of Mutual Assistance with France & Czechoslovakia 1936: Anti-Comintern Pact (Germany, Italy & Japan) Spanish Civil War begins 1939: Nazi-Soviet Pact 1941: Operation Barbarossa launched Siege of Leningrad begins 1942: German surrender at Stalingrad 1943: Battle of Kursk 1945: Fall of Berlin Georgi Dimitov: Chairman of Comintern (from 1928) Maxim Litvinov: Commissar for Foreign Affairs (until 1939) Vyacheslav Molotov: Commissar for Foreign Affairs (from 1939) Georgi Zhukov: Commander of Red Army on Eastern Front ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR: TIMELINE 1945: Yalta (Feb) & Potsdam (July) Conferences 1946: Turkish Crisis Churchill s Iron Curtain speech 1947-49: Communist governments imposed on Eastern Bloc 1947: COMINFORM established Truman Doctrime amid Greek Crisis 1948: Berlin Airlift begins 1949: COMECON established NATO formed Mao Zedong seizes power in China 1950: McCarthy witch hunts in the USA 1950 53: Korean War 1953: Death of Joseph Stalin 1955: Warsaw Pact signed 1956: Kruschchev begins De-Stalinization process Vyacheslav Molotov: Commissar for Foreign Affairs Nikita Kruschchev: succeeded Stalin as General Secretary Lavrentiy Beria: NKVD Chief (1938 53) Harry S Truman: US President (1945 53) Moa Zedong: Chinese Communist revolutionary leader
SOVIET CULTURE: TIMELINE 1929: Stalin s 50 th Birthday Celebrations 1932: Avant-garde replaced with Socialist Realism 1933: Maxim Gorky returns from exile 1938: Official History of the Communist Party published 1939: Stalin and the Soviet People Exhibition 1940: Execution of Vsevolod Myerhold 1949: Stalin s 70 th Birthday celebrations 1953: Death of Stalin 1956: Kruschchev begins the period of De-Stalinisation Il Lissitsky: leading avant-garde artist in Soviet Russia Sergei Eisenstein: celebrated Russian film director Maxim Gorky: famous Russian novelist, prominent in the socialist realism movement Vsevolod Myerhold: famed theatre director brutally murdered by the NKVD Marina Raskova: first female pilot and navigator in the Soviet Air Force