Post by Mr Smith on Jul 14, 2013 17:06:19 GMT
TSARIST REGIME - TIMELINE OF EVENTS - 1894-1914
(The events of 1905 and 1917 will be covered in the other sections of the forum)
The Mid Nineteenth Century
• 1848-70: Alexander Herzen's ideas begin to blend Western Socialism with the traditional peasant communes of Russia.
• 1861: The Emancipation of the Serfs: peasants are freed from feudal controls and tied closely to their village communes.
• 1861 - 64: Disappointment at the emancipation leads to small amounts of physical rebellion and a surge in intellectual unrest; the Zemyla i volya (land and liberty) party is formed.
• 1864: The Zemstvo, local councils, are created to replace feudal courts and government; the nobility are generally in charge.
• 1866: Karakozov tries to kill Tsar Alexander II, prompting The White Terror.
• 1866 - 70: The White Terror, a period of intense anti-rebellious activity by the government.
• 1867- 1870's: The ideas of Revolutionary Populism (narodnichestvo) develop, based on an idealistic look at rural communes as collective, land sharing, power sharing groups. Believers are called narodniki.
The Late Nineteenth Century
• 1874: The Mad Summer, where thousands of young intellectuals flock unorganized to the countryside in order to teach socialism; peasant disinterest causes it to fail dismally and the socialists begin a turn to underground activity.
• 1876: A second Zemyla i volya group forms, but they split in 1879 over the issue of terror: the Cherny peredel denounce it, while the Narodnaya volya, want to use it to achieve their aims.
• 1881: Tsar Alexander II is killed by members of Narodnaya volya; the new tsar, Alexander III, begins a repressive, racist and xenophobic crackdown on the Russian people.
• 1883: The first Russian Marxist group is formed (in Switzerland): The Group for the Liberty of Labour.
• 1880-1900: Russia begins a period of swift industrialisation under Witte, creating a densely packed factory workforce living in poor conditions and doing dangerous jobs; this new population looks remarkably like Marx's proletariat and Russian Marxism grows around them. The new workers are politically aware, organising and striking.
• 1894: Death of Alexander III; Nicholas II succeeds as Tsar.
• 1897: A young radical is given a three year exile in Siberia for illegal workers activities; his name is Lenin.
• 1898: The First Congress of the Russian Socialist Democratic Labour Party (RSDRP) meets, an attempt to unite the many small Russian socialist/marxist groups. It takes place outside Russia and isn't very successful.
The Early Twentieh Century
• 1900: Socialist Revolutionary (SR) parties form, reflecting the aims of the Narodniki and the methods of the Narodnaya volya; Lenin is amongst a group that publishes Iskra (The Spark).
• 1901-5: An economic downturn creates discontent; the zemstvos begin to organise and form a coherent agenda; workers develop a strong strikers movement.
• 1902 - 7: The 'Years of the Red Cockerel', a period of rural unrest caused by anger at the injustices of the 1861 emancipation.
• 1902: The campaign for a national zemstov assembly begins; Lenin publishes What is to be Done?, a work with very strong views on party organisation.
• 1903: The Second RSDRP Congress meets abroad; this achieves little, but Lenin and a friend argue over organisation, creating a divide that forms two new sub groups: the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
• 1904: The Russo-Japanese war begins.
• 1904: 13 zemstovs organise a medical brigade for the war led by Prince Lvov, who persuades the Tsar to allow it; this is the first time zemstovs are allowed to unite nationally; Lvov becomes a hero.
• July 1904: Plehve, Minister of Interior and hardliner against reform, killed by SR's; public either indifferent or celebratory. Other opposition groups join campaign for national zemstov assembly.
• November 6-9 1904: The Zemstov Assembly: 103 representatives meeting with permission from the Minister of Interior; produces resolution on assembly and reforms, which is rejected by the Tsar.
• December 12 1904: Decrees expand the rights of zemstovs and ease censorship, but there is no assembly.
1905 covered in 1905 Revolution Thread
January 1906
• January 9-10: Vladivostok experiences an armed uprising.
• January 11: Rebels create the Vladivostok Republic.
• January 19: Vladivostok Republic overturned by Tsarist forces.
February 1906
• February 16: The Kadets condemn strikes, land seizures and the Moscow Uprising as they try to secure the new political scene against further revolution.
• February 18: New punishments for those seeking to undermine government offices and agencies by verbal or written 'inaccuracy'.
• February 20: Tsar announces the structure of the State Duma and State Council.
March 1906
• March 4: Provisional Rules guarantee rights of assembly and of association; this and the Duma allows political parties to legally exist in Russia; many form.
April 1906
• April: Stolypin becomes Minister of Interior.
• April 23: Fundamental Laws of the Empire published, including the creation of the State Duma and State Council; the former is composed of 500 delegates drawn from every Russian region and class. The Laws are cleverly written to meet the October Promises, but not diminish the Tsar's power.
• April 26: Provisional Laws abolish preliminary censorship.
• April 27: The First State Duma opens, boycotted by the left.
June 1906
• June 18: Hertsenstein, a Duma Deputy of the Kadet party, is killed by the Union of Russian People.
July 1906
• July 8: The first Duma is deemed too radical by the Tsar and is closed.
• July 10: Vybord Manifesto, when radicals - mainly Kadets - call for the people to snub the government via a tax and military boycott. The people don't and the 200 Duma signatories are tried; from this point the Kadets separate themselves from the views of 'the people'.
• July 17-20: Sveaborg Mutiny.
• July 19-29: Further mutiny in Kronstadt.
August 1906
• August 12: Fringe SR's bomb Stolypin's summer home, killing over 30 people - but not Stolypin.
• August 19: The government creates a special courts martial to deal with political incidents; over 60,000 are executed, imprisoned or exiled by the system.
September 1906
• September 15: The government orders its local branches to use 'any means' in maintaining public order, including aiding loyalist groups; political parties are threatened by the Tsar.
• September - November: Members of the St. Petersburg Soviet tried. Thanks to Trotsky's grandstanding, few are convicted, but he is exiled.
1907
• January 30: Union of Russian Peoples try to murder Witte.
• February 20: The Second State Duma opens, dominated by the left who cease their boycott.
• March 14: Iollos, a Duma Deputy of the Kadet party, is killed by the Union of Russian People.
• May 27: Union of Russian Peoples try to murder Witte again.
• 3 June: The Second Duma is also deemed too radical and closed; Stolypin alters the Duma voting system in favour of the wealthy and landed in a move branded his coup d'etat.
• July: Stolypin becomes Prime Minister.
• November 1: The Third Duma Opens. Mainly Octobrist, Nationalist and Rightist, it generally did as it was told. The failure of the Duma causes people to turn away from liberal or democratic groups in favour of radicals.
1911
• 1911: Stolypin is assassinated by a Socialist Revolutionary (who was also a Police agent) while attending an Opera; he was hated by the left and the right.
1912
• Two hundred striking workers shot during the Lena Goldfield Massacre; reaction to this sparks another year of unrest. The fourth state Duma is elected from a far broader political spectrum than the third as the Octobrist and Nationalist parties divide and collapse; the Duma and government are soon in heavy disagreement.
• 1912 - 14: Strikes begin to grow, with 9000 during the period; Bolshevik trade unions and slogans grow.
• 1912 - 1916: Rasputin, a monk and favourite of the Imperial family, accepts sexual favours for political influence; his carousel of government appointments creates great division.
1914
• June - July: General Strikes in St. Petersburg.
• July 19th: Germany declares war on Russia (WWI), causing a brief sense of patriotic union amongst the Russian nation and a downturn in striking.
• July 30th: The All Russian Zemstvo Union for the Relief of Sick and Wounded Soldiers is created with Lvov as president.
• August - November: Russia suffers heavy defeats and a large shortage of supplies, including food and munitions.
• August 18th: St. Petersburg is renamed Petrograd as 'Germanic' names are changed to sound more Russia, and hence more patriotic.
• November 5th: Bolshevik members of the Duma are arrested; they are later tried and exiled to Siberia.
1915
• February 19: Great Britain and France accept Russia's claims to Istanbul and other Turkish lands.
• June 5th: Strikers shot at in Kostromá; casualties.
• July 9th: The Great Retreat begins, as Russian forces pull back into Russia.
• August 9th: The Duma's bourgeois parties form the 'Progressive bloc' to push for better government and reform; includes the Kadets, Octobrist groups and Nationalists.
• Auguest 10th: Strikers shot at in Ivánovo-Voznesénsk; casualties.
• August 17-19th: Strikers in Petrograd protest at the deaths in Ivánovo-Voznesénsk.
• August 23rd: Reacting to war failures and a hostile Duma, the Tsar takes over as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, prorogues the Duma and moves to military headquarters at Mogilev. Central government begins to seize up.
1916
• January - December: Despite successes in the Brusilov offensive, the Russian war effort is still characterized by shortages, poor command, death and desertion. Away from the front, the conflict causes starvation, inflation and a torrent of refugees. Both soldiers and civilians blame the incompetence of the Tsar and his government.
• February 6: Duma reconvened.
• February 29th: After a month of strikes at the Putilov Factory, the government conscripts the workers and takes charge of production. Protest strikes follow.
• June 20: Duma prorogued.
• October: Troops from 181st Regiment help striking Russkii Renault workers fight against the Police.
• November 1st: Miliukov gives his 'Is this stupidity or treason?' speech in reconvened Duma.
• December 17/18th: Rasputin is killed by Prince Yusupov.
• December 30th: The Tsar is warned that his army won't support him against a revolution.
(The events of 1905 and 1917 will be covered in the other sections of the forum)
The Mid Nineteenth Century
• 1848-70: Alexander Herzen's ideas begin to blend Western Socialism with the traditional peasant communes of Russia.
• 1861: The Emancipation of the Serfs: peasants are freed from feudal controls and tied closely to their village communes.
• 1861 - 64: Disappointment at the emancipation leads to small amounts of physical rebellion and a surge in intellectual unrest; the Zemyla i volya (land and liberty) party is formed.
• 1864: The Zemstvo, local councils, are created to replace feudal courts and government; the nobility are generally in charge.
• 1866: Karakozov tries to kill Tsar Alexander II, prompting The White Terror.
• 1866 - 70: The White Terror, a period of intense anti-rebellious activity by the government.
• 1867- 1870's: The ideas of Revolutionary Populism (narodnichestvo) develop, based on an idealistic look at rural communes as collective, land sharing, power sharing groups. Believers are called narodniki.
The Late Nineteenth Century
• 1874: The Mad Summer, where thousands of young intellectuals flock unorganized to the countryside in order to teach socialism; peasant disinterest causes it to fail dismally and the socialists begin a turn to underground activity.
• 1876: A second Zemyla i volya group forms, but they split in 1879 over the issue of terror: the Cherny peredel denounce it, while the Narodnaya volya, want to use it to achieve their aims.
• 1881: Tsar Alexander II is killed by members of Narodnaya volya; the new tsar, Alexander III, begins a repressive, racist and xenophobic crackdown on the Russian people.
• 1883: The first Russian Marxist group is formed (in Switzerland): The Group for the Liberty of Labour.
• 1880-1900: Russia begins a period of swift industrialisation under Witte, creating a densely packed factory workforce living in poor conditions and doing dangerous jobs; this new population looks remarkably like Marx's proletariat and Russian Marxism grows around them. The new workers are politically aware, organising and striking.
• 1894: Death of Alexander III; Nicholas II succeeds as Tsar.
• 1897: A young radical is given a three year exile in Siberia for illegal workers activities; his name is Lenin.
• 1898: The First Congress of the Russian Socialist Democratic Labour Party (RSDRP) meets, an attempt to unite the many small Russian socialist/marxist groups. It takes place outside Russia and isn't very successful.
The Early Twentieh Century
• 1900: Socialist Revolutionary (SR) parties form, reflecting the aims of the Narodniki and the methods of the Narodnaya volya; Lenin is amongst a group that publishes Iskra (The Spark).
• 1901-5: An economic downturn creates discontent; the zemstvos begin to organise and form a coherent agenda; workers develop a strong strikers movement.
• 1902 - 7: The 'Years of the Red Cockerel', a period of rural unrest caused by anger at the injustices of the 1861 emancipation.
• 1902: The campaign for a national zemstov assembly begins; Lenin publishes What is to be Done?, a work with very strong views on party organisation.
• 1903: The Second RSDRP Congress meets abroad; this achieves little, but Lenin and a friend argue over organisation, creating a divide that forms two new sub groups: the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
• 1904: The Russo-Japanese war begins.
• 1904: 13 zemstovs organise a medical brigade for the war led by Prince Lvov, who persuades the Tsar to allow it; this is the first time zemstovs are allowed to unite nationally; Lvov becomes a hero.
• July 1904: Plehve, Minister of Interior and hardliner against reform, killed by SR's; public either indifferent or celebratory. Other opposition groups join campaign for national zemstov assembly.
• November 6-9 1904: The Zemstov Assembly: 103 representatives meeting with permission from the Minister of Interior; produces resolution on assembly and reforms, which is rejected by the Tsar.
• December 12 1904: Decrees expand the rights of zemstovs and ease censorship, but there is no assembly.
1905 covered in 1905 Revolution Thread
January 1906
• January 9-10: Vladivostok experiences an armed uprising.
• January 11: Rebels create the Vladivostok Republic.
• January 19: Vladivostok Republic overturned by Tsarist forces.
February 1906
• February 16: The Kadets condemn strikes, land seizures and the Moscow Uprising as they try to secure the new political scene against further revolution.
• February 18: New punishments for those seeking to undermine government offices and agencies by verbal or written 'inaccuracy'.
• February 20: Tsar announces the structure of the State Duma and State Council.
March 1906
• March 4: Provisional Rules guarantee rights of assembly and of association; this and the Duma allows political parties to legally exist in Russia; many form.
April 1906
• April: Stolypin becomes Minister of Interior.
• April 23: Fundamental Laws of the Empire published, including the creation of the State Duma and State Council; the former is composed of 500 delegates drawn from every Russian region and class. The Laws are cleverly written to meet the October Promises, but not diminish the Tsar's power.
• April 26: Provisional Laws abolish preliminary censorship.
• April 27: The First State Duma opens, boycotted by the left.
June 1906
• June 18: Hertsenstein, a Duma Deputy of the Kadet party, is killed by the Union of Russian People.
July 1906
• July 8: The first Duma is deemed too radical by the Tsar and is closed.
• July 10: Vybord Manifesto, when radicals - mainly Kadets - call for the people to snub the government via a tax and military boycott. The people don't and the 200 Duma signatories are tried; from this point the Kadets separate themselves from the views of 'the people'.
• July 17-20: Sveaborg Mutiny.
• July 19-29: Further mutiny in Kronstadt.
August 1906
• August 12: Fringe SR's bomb Stolypin's summer home, killing over 30 people - but not Stolypin.
• August 19: The government creates a special courts martial to deal with political incidents; over 60,000 are executed, imprisoned or exiled by the system.
September 1906
• September 15: The government orders its local branches to use 'any means' in maintaining public order, including aiding loyalist groups; political parties are threatened by the Tsar.
• September - November: Members of the St. Petersburg Soviet tried. Thanks to Trotsky's grandstanding, few are convicted, but he is exiled.
1907
• January 30: Union of Russian Peoples try to murder Witte.
• February 20: The Second State Duma opens, dominated by the left who cease their boycott.
• March 14: Iollos, a Duma Deputy of the Kadet party, is killed by the Union of Russian People.
• May 27: Union of Russian Peoples try to murder Witte again.
• 3 June: The Second Duma is also deemed too radical and closed; Stolypin alters the Duma voting system in favour of the wealthy and landed in a move branded his coup d'etat.
• July: Stolypin becomes Prime Minister.
• November 1: The Third Duma Opens. Mainly Octobrist, Nationalist and Rightist, it generally did as it was told. The failure of the Duma causes people to turn away from liberal or democratic groups in favour of radicals.
1911
• 1911: Stolypin is assassinated by a Socialist Revolutionary (who was also a Police agent) while attending an Opera; he was hated by the left and the right.
1912
• Two hundred striking workers shot during the Lena Goldfield Massacre; reaction to this sparks another year of unrest. The fourth state Duma is elected from a far broader political spectrum than the third as the Octobrist and Nationalist parties divide and collapse; the Duma and government are soon in heavy disagreement.
• 1912 - 14: Strikes begin to grow, with 9000 during the period; Bolshevik trade unions and slogans grow.
• 1912 - 1916: Rasputin, a monk and favourite of the Imperial family, accepts sexual favours for political influence; his carousel of government appointments creates great division.
1914
• June - July: General Strikes in St. Petersburg.
• July 19th: Germany declares war on Russia (WWI), causing a brief sense of patriotic union amongst the Russian nation and a downturn in striking.
• July 30th: The All Russian Zemstvo Union for the Relief of Sick and Wounded Soldiers is created with Lvov as president.
• August - November: Russia suffers heavy defeats and a large shortage of supplies, including food and munitions.
• August 18th: St. Petersburg is renamed Petrograd as 'Germanic' names are changed to sound more Russia, and hence more patriotic.
• November 5th: Bolshevik members of the Duma are arrested; they are later tried and exiled to Siberia.
1915
• February 19: Great Britain and France accept Russia's claims to Istanbul and other Turkish lands.
• June 5th: Strikers shot at in Kostromá; casualties.
• July 9th: The Great Retreat begins, as Russian forces pull back into Russia.
• August 9th: The Duma's bourgeois parties form the 'Progressive bloc' to push for better government and reform; includes the Kadets, Octobrist groups and Nationalists.
• Auguest 10th: Strikers shot at in Ivánovo-Voznesénsk; casualties.
• August 17-19th: Strikers in Petrograd protest at the deaths in Ivánovo-Voznesénsk.
• August 23rd: Reacting to war failures and a hostile Duma, the Tsar takes over as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, prorogues the Duma and moves to military headquarters at Mogilev. Central government begins to seize up.
1916
• January - December: Despite successes in the Brusilov offensive, the Russian war effort is still characterized by shortages, poor command, death and desertion. Away from the front, the conflict causes starvation, inflation and a torrent of refugees. Both soldiers and civilians blame the incompetence of the Tsar and his government.
• February 6: Duma reconvened.
• February 29th: After a month of strikes at the Putilov Factory, the government conscripts the workers and takes charge of production. Protest strikes follow.
• June 20: Duma prorogued.
• October: Troops from 181st Regiment help striking Russkii Renault workers fight against the Police.
• November 1st: Miliukov gives his 'Is this stupidity or treason?' speech in reconvened Duma.
• December 17/18th: Rasputin is killed by Prince Yusupov.
• December 30th: The Tsar is warned that his army won't support him against a revolution.