Russia 1853-1936 Flashcards
1853-56
Crimean war
1855
Alexander II comes to the throne
1861
Edict of Emancipation of the serfs
1881
Alexander II assassinated
1864
Zemstva formed
1855-81
Over 13400 miles of railway built
1866
Attempt on Alexander II’s life
1863
Polish revolt
1890
Zemstva act meant reduced peasant representation
1881
Okhrana established
1892
Municipal Government Act meant local self government was subject to constant interference by government
1881
Statute published giving government far-reaching powers with regard to civil liberties
1886
Higher education for women closed
1887
Lenin’s brother Alexander executed
1887
Increase in university and secondary school fees excluded all but the wealthy
1890
New curriculum reduced time studying latin and greek (Russification)
1885
Minister of justice given increased disciplinary powers over the judiciary
1889
Crimes against state officials were to be heard in special courts without jury
1897
Census shows that only 21% of population literate
1889
Volost justices (exclusively for peasants) abolished
1886
Poll tax ended
1889
Land Captains replaced the elected Justices of the Peace. They could suspend verdicts and cancel decisions
1891
350 000 die in famine due to weather and epidemics of cholera and typhus
1883
Peasant land bank provides cheap loans to buy land
1882
Factory legislation where women and children’s working hours are reduced
1897
Witte introduces new rouble linked to the gold standard - in the hope that it would increase investors’ confidence
1892
Trans-Siberian railway started
1904
Trans-Siberian railway completed. Connected Moscow and Vladivostok
1881
Alexander III comes to throne
1886
revival of People’s Will
1892
Witte’s rapid industrialisation programme begins
1894
Nicholas II comes to throne
1896
Witte encouraged migration to Siberia
1897
Bund (Jewish socialist organisation) formed and Lenin exiled to Siberia
1898
Plekhanov - Marxist - founds Social Democratic Workers’ Party
1899
Minister of Education assassinated and control over universities tightened by making them wear uniforms
1900
90% of finance behind mining and metallurgy came from foreign investment
1902-04
Peasant attacks on landlords in Poltava and Kharkov districts
1901
Lenin publishes ‘What is to be done?’ emphasising elite party and revolution
1901
Chernov founds Social Revolutionary party - terrorist factions form
1902
Witte issues Martial Law and from thereon in dubbed ‘the hangman’
1903
SDs split in to Bolsheviks (Lenin) and Mensheviks (Martov)
1904
Outbreak of Russo-Japanese War (until 1905)
1904
SRs assassinate Plehve
Jan 05
Revolution - begins with strikes at Putilov iron works but spreads to whole of Russia and epitomised on Bloody Sunday
oct 1905
October Manifesto issued and Kadets and Octobrists formed
1905
Ultra-conservative nationalists called ‘The Black Hundreds’ attack Jews
1906-11
Stolyepin’s agrarian reforms ended redemption payments - encouraged migration to Siberia - set out to end Mir system and strip farming.
1906
First Duma. Short lived because of too many divisions
1906
Fundamental Laws gave ‘Supreme Autocratic Power’ to Tsar giving him right of veto. Could still govern by decree
1906
Stolyepin introduces Martial law
1906-07
Stolyepin introduces measures to restore the peasants’ sense of security by ending strip farming
1909
saw a peak in the number of peasant households that set up independen farms - 580000
1912
Lena Goldfields incident where miners demanded better pay and conditions but were met by Okhrana
1914
Outbreak of WW1
1915
Progressive Bloc formed of Kadets
sep 1915
Tsar Nicholas II becomes commander-in-chief on the front line.
dec 1916
Rasputin murdered
1913-16
price of salt rose by 483%
march 1917
Tsar Nicholas II abdicates on the 15th
march 1917
Nicholas’ brother Grand Duke Michael refuses the crown on the 16th
june 1916
Brussilov offensive. initially successful against Germans and relieved the French at Verdun
1900 and 1902
Poor harvests, leading to starvation and violence in the countryside
after 1902
economic slump
jan 1905
Lost Port Arthur in Russo-Japanese war
1904
Liberal groups set up ‘Union of Liberation’ in St Petersburg
1907
Second Duma. Dissolved with little achievements
1907 - 1912
Third Duma. Successful with setting up schools and national insurance for industrial workers
1912 - 1914
Fourth Duma. Dissolved because of war
april 1917
USA enters WW1 giving Russia (and allied powers) hope of victory
june 1917
First all-Russian congress of soviets meet in Petrograd
june 1917
June offensive against Austria - huge losses (400,000) and desertions and mutinies
8th july 1917
Kerensky becomes PM and moves ino Winter Palace
5th July 1917
Provisional government troops cleared the streets of Bolshevik protestors
25th oct 1917
Second All-Russian congress of Soviets: Lenin giving his government the stamp of legitimacy
24th oct 1917
Kerensky sent troops to arrest Bolsheviks and shut down Bolshevik newspapers
aug 1917
Kornilov Coup - Bolsheviks now armed and army had little faith in provisional government
April 1917
April theses as Lenin returns from Switzerland in a sealed train - Germany also wanted to end the war with Russia
nov 1917
Decree on land. Abolished private property
nov 1917
Decree on workers’ control - instructed workers’ committees to maintain strict order in the workplace. Vesenkha (supreme council of the national economy) was set up to oversee it
june 1918
decree on nationalisation - banks, factories, railways and mines were nationalised
july 1918
new constitution introduced - sovnarkom (bolshevik govt) at top, then congress, then local soviets
1919
power divided in to two sub-committees: Politburo (high policy) and Orgburo (internal administration)
mar 1918
treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany - devastating losses and harsh terms for Russia
jan 1918
red army established
may 1918
conscription to red army introduced
jul 1919
Trotsky offers his resignation because of criticism but is refused
mar 1921
Treaty of Riga (establishing Polish-Russian border) signed
mar 1921
peace treaty of Riga signed by Russia and Poland - established border
mar 1921
Kronstadt uprising; Bolsheviks show their strength in a bloody battle against the Kronstadt sailors
june 1918 - nov 1920
Russian Civil war; reds vs whites
dec 1922
U.S.S.R established
jan 1924
Lenin dies; power struggle ensues
1918
Red terror
1921
New Economic Policy (NEP) established. Followed by Kronstadt uprising and heavily cricised by many -replaced by Stalin’s Five Year Plan in 1928
1918-21
War Communism
1922
Stalin made general-secretary of the communist party
1919
Stalin becomes head of the Orgburo (organisation)
1925
Trotsky removed from position on War Commissar
1928-32
First Five Year plan. End of NEP; emphasis on rapid industialisation. In reality, most targets were not met
1926
Treaty of Berlin with Germany. Both countries pledged neutrality if they were to be attacked
1929
Trotsky exiled
by 1940
Entire politburo had been purged/wiped out
1929
Kolkhoz (collective farms) established.
1932-33
Holodomor. Worst famine in Russia’s history, 11 MILLION dead in the Ukraine - seen by many as genocide as Stalin continued the grain requisitioning and collectivisation
1936
Zinoviev and Kamenev executed in ‘Show Trials’
1934
Assassination of Kirov (suspicious as to who did it - could have been on Stalin’s orders). Provided a pretext for the purges of the 1930s