OCR A Level History: Russia Key Dates

1894

Death of Alexander III; Nicholas II becomes tsar

1898

Socialist Democratic Workers' Party formed

1906

First Duma set up; Fundamental Laws passed

1917

Abdication of Nicholas II; formation of Provisional Government; revolutions

1918

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed

1924

Death of Lenin; power struggle ensued

1927

Stalin controlled Party Congress and expelled main rivals

1936

New constitution issued

1904-5

The Russo-Japanese War

1914-18

World War One

1917

The Russian Revolution

1917-21

The Russian Civil War

1939-45

World War Two

1900

JJ Hughes' factory made 1/2 of Russia's steel

1900

Dissident students could be sent to an army disciplinary battalion, causing first examples in history of public demonstrations in Moscow and St Petersburg

1914

Delyanov's policies not followed entirely; 39% university students and 50% secondary students from poorer backgrounds

1905

Particularly bad pogroms after this

1897

Jews form own 'Bund' (Union) which helps develop social democratic movement

1 November 1894

Alexander III dies of a kidney complaint

1911

State owned 69% of railways

1892-1903

Sergei Witte as Finance Minister

1893-97

Income from industry increases from 42 million to 161 million roubles

1883-1900

Oil production in Baku rises by 1000%

1890s

Economy grows at about 8% per year

1906-14

After short freeze in early 1900s, economy increased further at 6% per year; Witte set this development firmly in motion

1890s-1908

Recession annoyed those who gave up land and farms to move to the city, with poor living and working conditions

1890s

Railway boom: At end of this time nearly 60% of all iron and steel was used by the railways

1891-1901

Total amount of railway track opened rose from 17264 miles to 31125 miles

1900

269 foreign companies, engineers and ezperts contribute commercial and technological expertise to Russia

1900

By this time, 20% of government budget had been used to pay off foreign debt (high interest rates), 10 times more than was spent on education

1894

State monopoly on vodka

1910

By this time vodka state monopoly produced 1/4 of state revenue

1894

Japan fight a limited war against China and win

1897

Germany invades Kiaochow in eastern China and the other Great Powers demanded a share of the spoils

1902

Japan forms an alliance with Britain as a result of Russia's refusal for diplomacy over the Korean issue

29 August 1905

Treaty of Portsmouth means Russia forced to withdraw from Port Arthur, South Sakhalin and south Manchuria; while Russian leaders had to acknowledge Japanese sovereignty in Korea

December 1905

Russians at Port Arthur surrender after Japan's siege isolates about 60,000 troops

May 1905

Russia's Baltic Squadron, on the way to relieve Port Arthur (taking over 6 months), is defeated by Admiral Togo's fleet at Tsushima Straits, emphasising the Japanese navy's technological superiority

1900

Productivity of peasants was 1/4 of Britain, while 22% of families had less land than they were entitled to

1902-3

Bad harvest

March 1905

Russian army defeated at Mukden

November 1905

National Zemstvo Conference is sent over 5,000 telegrams urging delegates to press for fundamental changes including extension of franchise/electorate, civil liberties and a national representative body

1903

Union of Liberation founded by Peter Struve to campaign for reform by organising 'banquets' where liberal intelligentsia discussed reforming the political system and extending civil rights; however it failed to gain peasants' and workers' support

7 January 1905

4 workers sacked at giant Putilov engineering workers, resulting in a strike of over 100,000 workers; at this point an economic on wages and working hours

9 January 1905

Bloody Sunday: Up to 150,000 men women and children peacefully march up to the Winter Palace to seek the tsar's help, led by Father Gapon. But as they approach the Cossacks opened fire, killing 130 and seriously wounding 300

May 1905

Union of Unions formed from professional (lawyers, engineers) and trade (clerks, book keepers) organisations, an umbrella body to press the cause of liberal political reform

June - July 1905

As mood of revolt spread to the countryside, peasants seized land, grain and animals, burned landlords' houses, illegally cut timber and refused to pay taxes

July 1905

At end of this time the All-Russian Peasant Union met near Moscow, with peasants setting up effectively peasant republics (self-government rather than overthrowing the tsar)

September 1905

General strike called, spreading from educated and skilled workers to railway workers who halted the central railway system

17 October 1905

October Manifesto offers civil liberties and an elected Duma; liberals hail it as the first step towards constitutional government and move to support the tsar

13 October 1905

St Petersburg Soviet forms with mainly factory representatives, directed general strike, Izvestia newspaper and food supplies. Leon Trotsky was driving force as deputy chairman

3 December 1905

Leaders of the soviet and hundreds of deputies are arrested, leading to an armed uprising in Moscow led by the Social Democrats, erecting barricades (crushed by police)

January 1906

Government promised to cut peasants' redemption payments by half

January 1907

Redemption payments are removed completely by this time

Summer 1906

Field court-martials killed hundreds of peasants, causing resistance to authorities to retreat as the Old Order was back

April - July 1906

First Duma: Rigorous debate over Empire matters, angered by government statement ruling out compulsory redistribution of land. Duma's more radical solution quickly gained press coverage, but in response Nicholas II declared the lower chamber's activities illegal and disbanded it after 2 months

February - June 1907

Second Duma: Stolypin's policies greatly alter composition, fewer Kadets and Labourists but more SDs, SRs, Octobrists and far right. Tsar and Stolypin continue to mistrust Duma over land reform and army management. When a SD Duma member is framed for attempting to arrange mutiny, the tsar proclaimed Duma to be subversive, dissolving it and overhauling the electoral system

November 1907 - June 1912

Third Duma: Electoral reforms, mainly consisted of tsarists such as wealthy property owners, reduction of nationalists from non-Russian parts of the Empire, major reforms strengthened army and nay, improved judiciary, replaced land captains with JPs, state-run insurance schemes for workers, showed more trust in the lower chamber. Served its full term of office despite Stolypin's manipulation of Article 87 of the 1906 Fundamental Laws as a autocratic bias

November 1912 - February 1917

Fourth Duma: Again dominated by far right, coinciding with brutal repression of state disorder, Lena Goldfields massacre outraged members. Pressured Nicholas to abdicate but remained dominated by the 'old guard'. Instigated widely beneficial political, economic and social changes. Left-wing members were largely ignored by the government and the majority in the lower chamber remained loyal to autocracy

1912

Lena Goldfields massacre by state police

Progressive Bloc demanded a national government take charge of the war effort

1915

August 1915

Nicholas suspends the fourth Duma and personally takes charge of the armed forces

February 1917

Okhrana (secret police) disbanded by the Provisional Government

23 February 1917

International Women's Day demonstrators are joined by many strikers - soldiers are reluctant to use force against them

24 February 1917

Strikes spread through Petrograd

25 February 1917

General strike paralyses Petrograd; workers demand food and an end to the War, soldiers defect to demonstrators

26 February 1917

Nicholas orders the army put down demonstrators; troops still loyal to the government kill 50

27 February 1917

Mutiny of many Petrorad garrisons; Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies forms in the Tauride Palace; Nicholas dissolves the Duma but some form the Provisional Committee

28 February 1917

Virtually all soldiers in Petrograd join the Revolution; Nicholas tries to return to Petrograd but is stopped by railway workers and munitions troops

1 March 1917

Mutiny spreads to Moscow and Kronstadt naval base

2 March 1917

Provisional Committee appoints ministers and declares itself the Provisional Government of Russia; Nicholas abdicates after generals and Duma members advise him he has lost the army's support

27 March 1917

Petrograd Soviet formed

16-19 June 1917

Kerensky (Summer) Offensive against Germany in order to fulfil the treaty obligation to GB and France; falls apart due to high desertion rate and officers killing each other, with more territory lost. Caused the July Days, an armed uprising; long-term effect of moderate socialist leaders in government lost credibility with soldiers and workers

April 1917

Milyukov crisis: War Minister hoped to make territorial gains if the Allies won (Constantinople, straits into the Black Sea), outraging socialists who were committed to defensive war. Milyukov is forced to resign after Bolshevik-led protests, leaving the Provisional Government in chaos until it reforms on 5 May

5 May 1917

Provisional Government reformed; 5 socialist leaders joined (Tsereteli of the Mensheviks and Chernov of the SRs now associated with war conduct) but the liberals still dominated (Kadets, etc.)

July 1917

Alexander Kerensky (of the SRs) becomes Prime Minister and the balance shifts in the socialists' favour, although there is a strong liberal presence

9 September 1917

The Bolsheviks gain overall control of the Petrograd Soviet

25 September 1917

Trotsky becomes President of the Petrograd Soviet

24 October 1917

PM Kerensky closes down two Bolshevik newspapers and announces his opposition to the party; giving Trotsky the excuse to say the soviets were under attack and ensure popular support - Williams, 2000, called it "unbelievable ineptitude"

10 October 1917

Lenin meets the Central Committee and persuades them of the necessity of an armed takeover was necessary, apart from Zinoviev and Kamenev

May 1917

Trotsky joins the Bolsheviks

16 October 1917

Military Revolutionary Committee created to protect the Petrograd Soviet from German invasion; Bolshevik majority; Lenin hoped it would take the blame for mistakes

25 October 1917

MRC issues statement proclaiming the Petrograd Soviet as government; delegates for the All-Russian Soviet begin to meet, with the 390 Bolsheviks accepting Lenin's actions

28 October 1917

Cossack uprisings suppressed by the Red Guard

7 December 1917

Cheka (Lenin's secret police) use violence to crush any opposition

1918-20

Russian Civil War

Autumn 1919

By this time the Reds (Bolsheviks) turned Kolchak's advance into a long retreat

1918

Trotsky made Commissar for War

Summer 1918

Cheka launch the Red Terror; arresting SRs, Mensheviks; killing 300,000; worsened class warfare; grain requisitioning; killed the Tsar and his family

1917

Lenin introduces state capitalism

November 1917

Decree on Workers' Control - sets up workers' committees to give workers extra control over factories

November 1917

Decree on the Land - divides land amongst peasants

December 1917

Supreme Economic Council (SEC) formed to manage key industrialised which were then nationalised with no compensation

1920

By this time under Lenin, the rouble was worth only 1% of its 1917 value

1918

Food riots in cities under Lenin, following inflation

June 1918 - March 1921

War Commmunism introduced - a temporary retreat; SEC ran Russia; industry nationalised; private trade banned; grain requisitioning; terror and slave labour