Section 1 Early societies

Timeline I (6 MYA TO 1 BCE)

From the Beginning of Time Writing and City Life

Writing and City Life

Section II Empires 

Timeline ii
(C. 100 BCE TO 1300 CE)

An Empire Across Three Continents- Roman Empire 

From 2nd century BC to 5th century AD, the towns of Europe and Middle East were ruled by the Roman Empire.

At its zenith, the Roman empire spread

1. in east up to Greece, Turkey, Syria, Mesopotamia and Persia;
2. in south up to include the Africa, North of the Sahara from Egypt to the Atlantic;
3. in north and west of Europe within its borders the Danube and the Rhine, and included Great Britain south of Scotland Hadrian’s Wall.

• As Rome grew in size and population, the rulers of Rome became very corrupt.
• Civil wars between groups waged, taxes increased, and inflation soared. To stem the forces of history, the empire was divided in two (East and West) by Diocletian.
• The Eastern Empire was able to thrive, but western was susceptible to invasion and ruin.
• This ruin came in the form of invasions of nomadic tribes (including Visigoths, Ostrogoths, Franks, Anglo-Saxons etc) from the North.
• The once great Roman empire vanished by the dawn of 5th century.
• In 8th century, there were serious attempts to re-establish the grandeur of the fallen Roman Empire.
• At that time, Roman Catholic Church was the only stable and unifying institution that survived since the old Roman Days.
• It was able to dominate the lifestyle of the day and claimed superiority over all political establishments.
• The Church started imposing and deposing the emperors and thus became superior to kings.
• A complex relation between Church and State was established which continued for almost one thousand years.

Some facts related to Roman Empire 

• Public baths were a striking feature of Roman urban life
• Water was a sacred element
• Nuclear families most
• The empire had a substantial economic infrastructure of harbours, mines, quarries, brickyards, olive oil factories, etc.
• Wheat, wine and olive-oil- from Spain, the Gallic provinces, North Africa, Egypt and, to a lesser extent, Italy, where conditions were best for these crops.
• Slavery was there
• Management of labour

The Central Islamic Lands

The Rise of Islam in Arabia-

• During 612-32- Prophet Muhammad
• 6th century Arab culture was largely confined to the Arabian peninsula and areas of southern Syria and Mesopotamia.
• Around 612- Muhammad declared himself to be the messenger (rasul) of God
• The Muslims soon faced considerable opposition from affluent
• Meccans who took offence to the rejection of their deities and found the new religion a threat to the status and prosperity of Mecca.
• In 622, Muhammad was forced to migrate with his followers to Medina.

Section III Changing Traditions 

(C. 1300 TO 1700)

Section IV- Towards Modernization

(C. 1700 TO 2000)

Industrial Revolution (IR) (1750 to 1860)

• Began in England and later on spread to Continental Europe and North America
• It was the Agricultural Revolution in England that eventually paved the way for IR

Why IR began in England only?

• Though Britain took part in many wars during the 1700s, none of these struggles occurred on British soil.
• Their military and political successes gave the British a positive attitude.
• Increased Good Labour Supply
• England was rich in coal, iron ore, waterways, resources from colonies (wool, cotton).
• Availability of Investment capital from wealthy landowners and merchants.
• Availability of Markets because colonies provided markets to sell finished goods.
• Support of the Government because political stability due to long surviving constitutional monarchy.
• There was no rigid class system and work ethic admired
• Steam Power available

Impact of Industrial Revolution

Economic Effects

• New inventions and developments
• Rapid Growth of Industry
• Increased production and high demand for raw materials
• Growth of trade -worldwide
• Population explosion
• Exploitation of resources
• Development of Banking and Finance System
• Advances in travel, transport and agriculture

Social Effects

• Long working Hours disturbed social fabric
• Population pressure on cities
• Poor city planning
• Expansion of middle class
• Working Problems for labour class
• Creation of new jobs and improvement in wages
• Technological progress

The Political Effects

• Enactment of Child Labour Laws
• Rise of reformers and social reform movements such as utilitarianism, utopianism, socialism and Marxism
• Rise of Trade Unions
• Reform bills

Rising Middle Class

• A growing wealthy class of industrialists, business owners, and overseers appeared.
• Men work, women stay home – new men and women stereotypes emerged.
• Hired domestic help to help with women’s domestic chores
• Boys went to school, girls prepared for marriage

Growth of Urban Poor

• Once small rural farmers, now urban poor.
• Dependent on factory work for livelihood
• No longer made or grew what families need
• Lost jobs as competition for factory jobs grew

Pathetic Working Conditions

• Labour worked for 10-14 hr. days for low wages
• Men, women and children worked
• Dangerous Conditions – unventilated rooms, cramped work spaces, heavy machinery, dust and filth, few breaks, severe punishments

Poor condition of Female Workers

• Worked in factories, mines, as domestic servants
• Mill girls – single girls worked in mill towns away from families
• Spent long hours away from children
• Housework after 12-14 hour work days
• Hazardous working conditions
• Paid 50% of male wages

Proliferation of Child Labour

• No longer worked along side parents
• Started as early as 6 yrs old
• Paid 10% of male wages
• Few breaks and dangerous work that resulted in deformed bodies, lost limbs, long-term illness, sever punishments

Urbanization

• 5 out of 10 English lived in the city
• Poor Housing – dark, poorly constructed, badly ventilated, cramped dwellings
• Unsanitary conditions – no garbage removal, in-door plumbing
• There was a spread of disease and increase in crimes.

Beginning of Labour Unions

• Labour Unions as group of workers formed to compel business owners to improve wages and working conditions.
• They used various tools to achieve their goals such as sit-ins (Stopped working but also refusing to leave), Walk-out, Strikes, Collective Bargaining and slow downs

Worldwide Impact of Industrialization

• Shift in the balance of power
• Increased competition among the Industrialized countries
• Rise of Global Inequality, widened gap between Industrialized and non-industrialized countries, which were later known as Third world.
• Less developed countries were seen as sources of raw material and markets for finished goods.
• The demand for raw material and look for markets led to exploitation of the colonies.
• This led to a large inequality between the industrialized West and the rest of the world.
• Thus, Colonialism and Imperialism were born out of the cycle of industrialization, the development of new markets around the world, and the need for resources to supply the factories of Europe.

American Revolution (1775 – 1783)

• Because of continuous migration of people from Europe to the New World.
• While the South America was colonized by Spain; the English and French established their colonies in North America.
• The conflict between the France and England got renewed in 1756 in Europe, in the form of Seven Years War (third Carnatic War in India was one of the theatres of this war in India).
• The war concluded with the signing of the 1763 Treaty of Paris (also called Peace of Paris/ Treaty of 1763).
• In these wars British had emerged as winners but they were deeply in debt and demanding more revenue from the colonies.
• By the mid of 18th century, the English had established their thirteen colonies along the Atlantic coast populated by European landless peasants, people seeking religious freedom and traders.
• Colonies were controlled through the governors, they enjoyed political freedom.
• However, the policies followed by the home government in Britain after the French and Indian wars resulted in the confrontation.
• This ultimately led to the American War of Independence at the end of which 13 colonies became independent.

Thirteen Colonies

• Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America founded between 1607 (Virginia) and 1733 (Georgia).
• These were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
• Each colony developed its own system of self-government.
• Residents of these colonies were mostly independent farmers, who owned their own land and voted for their local and provincial government.

Causes of American War of Independence

Policy of Mercantilism

• Followed by British Government
• This policy says that the colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country.
• The colonies were expected to furnish raw materials.

The unjust legislations

• A series of Navigation Acts were passed by the British Parliament to control the trade of the American colonies.
• These Acts insisted that all the goods of both exports and imports should be carried in ships owned by England.
• When Granville- Prime Minister of England
• The Proclamation of 1763 prohibited the colonists from purchasing lands beyond Appalachian Mountains.
• The Sugar Act of 1764 increased the duties on the sugar which affected the interests of the colonies.
• The Stamp Act of 1765 insisted on the use of British stamps in commercial and legal documents of the colonies.
• The Quartering Act made it compulsory that colonists should provide food and shelter to English troops.
• Colonies raised the slogan “No Taxation without Representation” thus insisting American representation in the English Parliament.
• Result- Stamp Act was repealed.

No fear of French

The end of the Seven Years War in 1763 and the transfer of Canada from France to England removed the French fear from the minds of the Americans.

The Townshend Laws

• Charles Townshend, the Finance Minister of England imposed fresh taxes on glass, paper, tea, paints, etc in 1767.
• The Americans protested it and boycotted the British goods.
• On 5th March 1770, five Americans were killed by the British soldiers at Boston during the protest. (Boston Massacre).
• Result- Townshend laws were repealed.

Major Events of American War of Independence

Boston Tea Party

• In 1773, a new Tea Act was passed imposing a tax on import of tea.
• It was a symbol to show that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies.
• A group Boston Tea Party of Americans dressed as Red Indians climbed on the ships and threw away the tea bundles into the sea at the Boston harbour.
• This event took place on 16th December 1773 and was known as Boston Tea Party.
•  In 1774- Intolerable Acts passed by British Government

The Philadelphia Congress

• In September 1774- 1st Continental Congress- Philadelphia- attended by the representatives of the twelve colonies except Georgia.
• This congress appealed to the British King to remove restrictions on industries and trade and not to impose any taxes without their consent.
• 2nd Continental Congress- May 1775- Philadelphia- all attended
• George Washington was made the Commander-in-Chief of the American army.  
• As a last attempt, an Olive Branch Petition was sent to the British king George III, who rejected it.

Declaration of Independence

• In January 1776, Thomas Paine came to America from England and issued a pamphlet “Common Sense”.
• On 4th July 1776, the American Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress.
• It was prepared by a committee of five led by Thomas Jefferson

“Life, Liberty and Pursuit of happiness”

The Key Battles

• The war started in 1775, when the first battle was fought between the British soldiers and the colonial militia at Lexington in Massachusetts. The British General, Gage won a victory at Bunker Hill.
•  In 1776 the British forces led by Sir William Howe defeated Washington in the battle of Long Island. Army of American colonies commanded by General Gates defeated British troops at Saratoga in October, 1777.
• The French troops under Lafayette came to the help of the American colonies.
• At last, the British troops under the command of General Cornwallis surrendered to Washington at Yorktown in 1781.
• The war came to an end by the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

Importance of the American War of Independence

Colonies became free and the Republic of the United States of America was established.

• 1st democratic government with a written constitution
• The Bill of Rights ensured FR to the citizens of the U.S.A.
• The American War of Independence was also called the American Revolution because it inspired the French Revolution.
• It was not only a war against England but against aristocracy and reactionary elements. It was also a fight against colonial domination.
• It introduced new political, social and economic set up in the United States of America.
• Democracy with separation of powers on the model suggested by French thinker Montesquieu was founded.
• Capitalism also took strong roots.

French Revolution (1789 –1799)

Introduced for the first time the idea of republicanism based on “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity”, which influenced the entire continent of Europe and also the world.

Causes of the French Revolution

Political Causes

• France was ruled by a dynasty called House of Bourbon, which firmly believed in Political absolutism and the Divine Right theory
• Louis XIV (1638 – 1715)- ruler from this House of Bourbon.
• He sought to eliminate the remnants of feudalism from France and, by compelling many members of the nobility to inhabit his lavish Palace of Versailles, succeeded in pacifying the aristocracy.
• Louis XIV consolidated a system of absolute monarchical rule in France that endured until the French Revolution.
• But his wars and his ways ruined the economy of France.
• His successors Louis XV and Louis XVI were weak administrators.
• Louis XVI (1754-1793) was the most incompetent ruler and his wife and queen, Marie Antoinette interfered too much into the administration.
• However, she always favoured and protected the interests of the French nobles.
•  She was opponent of the financial reforms

Social Causes

The French society was divided into the three estates.

• 1st Estate- clergy of the Roman Catholic Church; provided education and relief services to the poor and contributed about two percent of its income to the government; no political power
• 2nd Estate- rich nobles, much of whose wealth was in land; two percent of the population, they were owners of 20 percent of the land and paid almost no taxes.
• The majority of the clergy and the nobility scorned enlightenment ideas as radical notions that threatened their status and power as privileged persons.
• 3rd Estate- denied all privileges- Traders, lawyers, owners of industries, government servants, peasants and workers; While the nobles and the clergy were exempted from paying taxes, the masses paid all the taxes.

Economic Causes

• Financial condition critical- Louis XVI.
• The result was that the king tried to mobilize national income by selling important offices of the government.
• At last, the king appointed financial experts Turgot and Jacques Necker as Director-General of Finances.
• They tried to curtail royal expenditure and improve the income to the government.
• On their advice the queen Marie Antoinette removed them.
• Later, Calonne was appointed to look into the financial crisis. But he was not able to do anything but to levy fresh taxes.
• Therefore, Louis XVI was forced to convene the Estates General

Impact of the French Philosophers

The French intellectuals gave the motto “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” which became the watchwords of the revolution of 1789.

Inspiration from the American War of Independence

• The independence of the thirteen American colonies from England
• The French captain Lafayette with his soldiers returned from America after helping the colonies to secure their independence.
• Therefore, they decided to put an end to the despotic rule of the Bourbons.

Major Events of the French Revolution

Convening of the Estates-General

• The financial condition of France critical during the reign of Louis XVI.
• financial experts Turgot and Jacques Necker as Director-General of Finances.
• But their measures did not receive the support of the nobles.
• Marie Antoinette removed them.
• Later, Calonne was appointed to look into the financial crisis. But he was not able to do anything but to levy fresh taxes.
• Louis XVI was forced to convene the Estates General with an objective to impose further taxes upon the Third and Second Estate.
• The Second Estate forced him to call a meeting of the Estates-General—an assembly of representatives from all three estates—to get approval for the tax reform.

National Assembly

• Under the assembly’s medieval rules, each estate’s delegates met in a separate hall to vote, and each estate had one vote. The two privileged estates could always outvote the Third Estate.
• The Third Estate delegates insisted that all three estates must meet together and that each delegate have a vote.
• Will name it the National Assembly and will pass laws and reforms in the name of the French people.
• On 17th June 1789, the third Estate declared itself as the National Assembly. The king got alarmed and prevented them from entering the hall.
• But, the members of the National Assembly went to a nearby Tennis Court and took an oath to frame a new constitution. This is known as Tennis Court Oath.
• On 23rd June 1789, a special session of Estates General was held. The king declared the acts of the Third Estate as illegal.
• He also ordered that the three Estates should meet separately. But the third Estate refused to accept the king’s orders.
• Finally, Louis XVI submitted to the will of the third Estate, which represented the common people.
• Thus formation of National Assembly

Fall of the Bastille

• A large number of soldiers were brought to Versailles and Paris.
• Necker, was also dismissed. On hearing this, the mob of Paris became violent.
• They attacked the State prison called the Bastille, murdered the guards and freed the prisoners. The fall of the Bastille was regarded in France as a triumph of liberty.
• After the fall of the Bastille, the peasants rose against the nobles. Riots began against the aristocrats all over France. Nobles were attacked and their castles stormed.
• The nobles voluntarily surrendered their feudal rights and the privileges on 4th August 1789.
• Feudalism, serfdom and Class distinctions were abolished.
• The principle of equality was established.
• On 5th October, a large number of women went to the King’s palace at Versailles to make a petition.
• They were not satisfied with the reply of the queen and hence they brought with them the king, the queen and their son to Paris.

Work of the National Assembly (1789 – 1791)

• National Assembly styled itself the Constituent Assembly.
• Drew up the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
• The new constitution drafted by the Constituent Assembly provided for a limited monarchy to France.
• The titles of the nobles were abolished and Judiciary was remodelled.
• The method of torture was abolished.
• New central and local courts were established. Judges were to be elected.
• Drastic action was also taken against the church.
• Absolute religious toleration was proclaimed.
• The collection of tithes by the church was abolished. Then, measures were taken for the nationalization of church properties.
• After drafting the new constitution, the National Assembly dissolved itself in 1791.

The Split of National Assembly

• Despite the new government, old issues such as food shortages and government debt remained.
• Demand for more liberty, more equality, and more bread soon caused the Revolution’s leaders to turn against one another.
• The Legislative Assembly split into three general groups- Radicals, Moderates and Conservatives.
• Apart from the above three groups, there were two main more extreme groups viz. Emigres and the sans-culottes.
• The Emigres comprised the nobles and others who had fled France during the peasant uprisings.
• They wanted to undo the Revolution and restore the Old Regime.
• The sans-culottes- urban labourers, wage-earners and small shopkeepers.

Political Clubs

The political clubs sprang up, the most conspicuous were the Jacobian Club and Cordelier Club.

1. Jacobian Club- led by Robespierre, a radical democrat.
2. Cordelier Club- led by Danton

The Wars with Prussia and Austria

• As per the new constitution, the new Legislative Assembly met in 1791.
• To curtail the activities of the Nobles, the Legislative Assembly passed laws.
• The king did not approve of these laws and used his veto against them.
• When the revolution broke out many of the nobles (Emigres) managed to escape from France.
• They carried out propaganda against the revolution in France and tried to mobilize support from other countries. Austria and Prussia came forward to help them.
• King Leopold of Austria issued the famous Declaration of Pilnitz against the revolutionaries on 27th August 1791, whereby Austria and Prussia proposed that France put Louis back on the throne.
• The Legislative Assembly responded by declaring war on Austria in April 1792.
• Prussia later joined Austria in the war.
• Austria defeated the ill equipped revolutionary army.
• The wrath of the revolutionaries turned against the French king.
• On 10th August 1792 the mob attacked the King’s palace at Tuileries.
• The mob brutally massacred the guards and imprisoned Louis, Marie Antoinette, and their children in a stone tower.
• Elections were ordered for a National Convention to prepare another new constitution for the country.
• This was followed by the “September Massacres”.
• The Radicals at Paris led by Danton massacred 1500 suspected supporters of the French king.
• Then the French army defeated the Austrian army at Valmy.

The National Convention (1792 – 1795)

• Faced with the threat of the radicals, the members of the Legislative Assembly gave up the idea of a limited monarchy.
• They set aside the Constitution of 1791, declared the king deposed, and dissolved their assembly, calling for the election of a new legislature.
• After the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly, the National Convention met in 1792.
• It abolished monarchy and declared France as a republic.
• French army won a war against Austria and Prussia, thus now there was no danger from foreign.  
• Adult male citizens were granted the right to vote; women were not given the right to vote.
• The delegates reduced Louis XVI’s role from that of a king to that of a common citizen and prisoner.
• The king Louis XVI after a summary trail was found guilty of treason was executed by guillotine on 21st January 1793.
• Later on Maire Antoinette was also executed by guillotine.

The Terror grips France

• The National convention was controlled by the Jacobians who carry out the execution of the King.
• After the execution of the King and the Queen, the Great Britain, Holland, and Spain joined Prussia and Austria in an alliance known as the First Coalition in early 1793.
• The France was attacked from several sides and suffered a string of defeats. The Jacobin leaders took extreme steps to meet the new dangers.
• Apart from the foreign armies, the Jacobins faced threats from within the country from moderates, peasants, who were horrified by the beheading of the king, priests who would not accept government control and rival leaders who were power hungry. 
• The Jacobians had set up the Revolutionary Tribunal to deal with the moderates.
• It was the beginning of the Terror in France and was the final phase of the Revolution.
• It was also the darkest period of the Revolution.
• Riots broke out in many places like Lyons, Marseilles and other cities.
• In 1793, the first coalition was the revolutionary government.
• The Jacobians suspended the constitution and created the Committee of Public Safety with full powers to deal with the people causing the internal threats.
• Maximilien Robespierre- leader of this committee.
• As head of the committee, he decided who should be considered enemies of the republic.
• It was said that this committee often tried people in the morning and guillotined the same afternoon. 
• For one year, Robespierre governed France nearly as a dictator (Reign of Terror)
• The Reign of Terror put down all the riots staged by the royalists within the country.

End of Revolution

• With the fall of Robespierre the Reign of Terror gradually came to an end.
• The Revolutionary Tribunal was suspended and the functions of Committee of Public Safety were restricted.
• The Jacobian Club was closed.
• The National Convention at last took up its long neglected task of framing of a constitution for the French Republic.
• The executive was entrusted to a Directory, consisting of five members.
• The legislative power was entrusted to two houses called the Council of Five Hundred and the Council of the Ancients.  
• Napolean Bonapartee was then at Paris and he was entrusted with the task of defending the Convention against the Parisian mob.
• On October 26, 1795 the convention declared itself dissolved and the Directory took charge of the French government.

Results of the Revolution

• The French Revolution of 1789 inaugurated a new era in the history of the mankind.
• The ideas of “liberty, equality and fraternity” spread to other parts of the world.
• The Bourbon monarchy was abolished.
• The Revolution rejected tyranny, divine right, conservatism, and feudal vestiges associated with bourbon rule in France.
• At the same time it failed to establish a permanent Republic in France.
• The French Revolution, after a violent turn led to the emergence of a great dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Russian Revolution

• During the revolution of 1905, on Bloody Sunday, the Tsar’s guards fired upon peaceful protesters, killing hundreds.
• Concerned his authority might topple, the Tsar conceded to reforms, including the establishment of the Duma (legislative assembly)
• Things calmed down until early 1917, when the February Revolution resulted in the Tsar abdicating the throne and the installation of a leftist provisional government.  
• In October same year, Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the provisional government and established a communist in the October Revolution.
• Shortly afterwards, Vladimir Lenin moved to end Russian involvement in World War-I.
• On March 3, 1918 the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, formally ending Russia’s participation in the war.

Causes

Growing Discontent against Tsars

• Slow pace of Reforms under Tsar Alexander II. This Tsar was assassinated by revolutionaries in 1881. He was succeeded by Alexander III, who was completely anti-reforms.
• Alexander III clung to the principles of autocracy, orthodoxy, and nationality. He considered dangerous to all who spoke a different language then Russian and worshipped outside the Russian Orthodox Church.
• He imposed strict censorship codes on published materials and written documents, including private letters.
• His idea was to establish a uniform Russian culture so he oppressed other national groups in Russia. Russian was made official language and other minority languages such as Polish were banned from the Schools.
• Further, Jews were targeted for persecution. Jews could not buy land or live among other Russians.
• Universities set strict quotas for Jewish students.  Due to his policies, a wave of Pogroms broke out in many parts of Russia.
• Alexander III was succeeded by Tsar Nicholas II who stubbornly refused to surrender any of his power.

Industrial Revolution

• Despite of growth in the number of factories in Russia, the country lagged behind other European countries.
• To take the country forward, a programme was launched which included higher taxes and foreign investments, to finance the build-up of Russian industries.
• Russia one of the largest producers of steel
• World’s largest Railway line was launched in 1904 as Trans-Siberian Railway.
• Rapid industrialization stirred more discontent among the people of Russia.
• Growth of industrialization brought gruelling working conditions, poor wages, child labour and other such problems.
• The government outlawed the Trade Unions.
• Inequality

Mensheviks and Bolsheviks

• Various revolutionary movements grew in the Russian Society inspired the thoughts of Karl Marx.
• They had a belief that the industrial class of workers would overthrow the Tsar and then would form a dictatorship of the proletariat.

In 1903, the revolutionaries got split into two groups viz. Mensheviks and Bolsheviks.

1. Mensheviks wanted a broad base of popular support for revolution
2. Bolsheviks wanted a small number of committed revolutionaries who could sacrifice everything for a Radical change.

• Leader of Bolsheviks was Lenin.
• In the early 1900s, Lenin fled to Western Europe to avoid arrest by the Tsarist regime but he maintained contact with other Bolsheviks.

The Russo-Japanese War 1904

• It showed the Tsar’s weakness and paved the way for revolution.
• Russia and Japan both were imperialist powers.
• They both competed for control of Korea and Manchuria.
• The two nations signed a series of agreements over the territories, but Russia broke them.
• In retaliation, Japan attacked the Russians at Port Arthur, Manchuria, in February 1904.
• Though Russian soldiers and sailors went confidently to war, the Japanese defeated them.
• Defeat by a small country like Japan increased unrest in Russia.

Major Events

Bloody Sunday 1905

• On January 22, 1905, some 200,000 workers approached the Tsar’s Winter Palace in St. Petersburg with a petition asking for better working conditions, more individual freedom, and an elected national legislature.
• The Tsar Nicholas II was not present at the palace but his generals were there, who ordered the soldiers to fire on the crowd.
• This event was called the Bloody Sunday.
• The Tsar Nicholas II opposed reform but in October 1905, he reluctantly promised more freedom. He approved the creation of the Duma, Russia’s first parliament.  
• The first Duma met in May 1906.
• Its moderate leaders wanted Russia to become a constitutional monarchy like Britain.
• Hesitant to share his power, the Tsar dissolved the Duma after ten weeks.

Entry in World War-I

• In 1914, Nicholas II decided to drag Russia into World War I, despite the fact that Russia was unprepared for a war.
• In 1905, Nicholas shifted his headquarters to the War Front to encourage his soldiers.
• The real government back home came into the hands of his wife Tsarina Alexandra.
• She ignored the Tsar’s chief advisers and came under the influence of one mysterious Rasputin, a self proclaimed holy man.
• Rasputin claimed to have magical healing powers.
• Nicholas and Alexandra’s son suffered from haemophilia and Rasputin seemed to ease the boy’s symptoms.
• To show her gratitude, Alexandra allowed Rasputin to make key political decisions.
• Rasputin opposed reforms and obtained powerful positions for his close ones and spread corruption. He was assassinated in 1916.

March Revolution 1917

• In March 1917, women textile workers in Petrograd led a citywide strike.
• Thereafter, the riots flared up everywhere.
• Nearly 200,000 workers swarmed into the streets and government ordered to shoot the rioters. The soldiers initially obeyed the orders but soon sided with them. They fired at the commanding officers and joined with the rebels.
• The March revolution was a general uprising which forced Nocholas II to abdicate his throne.
• A year after, he was executed by the revolutionaries.
• The leaders of the Duma established a temporary government under Alexander Kerensky, who decided to continue with the war.
• The decision to continue with the war cost him support from army as well as civilians.

Return of Lenin – October Revolution

• Meanwhile Lenin returned from Germany after many years in exile.
• He reached Petrograd in April 1917.
• Along with Bolsheviks, he soon gained the control of Petrograd soviet, as well as the soviets in other major Russian cities.  
• Lenin’s slogan—“Peace, Land, and Bread”—got widespread appeal.
• During October, 1917 (November as per Gregorian Calendar), the Provincial Government was removed and replaced with a Bolshevik government in Russia which led to formation of USSR.
• This was the October revolution which got over in a matter of hours.
• Within days after the Bolshevik takeover, Lenin ordered that all farmland be distributed among the peasants.

Withdrawal from War

• Bolshevik government also decided to withdraw from the war. 
• In March 1918 Russia and Germany signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
• Via this treaty, Russia surrendered a large chunk of its territory to Germany and its allies.
• The humiliating terms of this treaty triggered widespread anger and objection to the policies of the Bolsheviks.

Russian Civil War

• The opponents of the Bolsheviks formed a White Army.
• From 1918 to 1920, civil war raged in Russia between the Red Army of Bolsheviks and White army.
• Several countries of West including United States sent military aid and forces to Russia to help the White Army.
• The civil war and the famine that followed claimed 15 million lives in three-year struggle and in the famine that followed.
• The Red Army emerged winner and crushed all opposition to Bolshevik rule.

The Measures taken by Lenin

Economic Reforms

• In March 1921, Lenin launched the New Economic Policy (NEP).
• In this policy, he temporarily put aside his plan for a state-controlled economy.  
• He resorted to a small-scale version of capitalism.
• The reforms under the NEP allowed peasants to sell their surplus crops instead of turning them over to the government. Individuals could buy and sell goods for profit.
• The government kept control of major industries, banks, and means of communication, but it let some small factories, businesses, and farms operate under private ownership.
• Lenin also tried to encourage foreign investment.

Political Reforms

• Russia was a conglomeration of many nationalities and this was seen as an obstacle to national unity by the Communists.
• Moreover, the Communist leaders also saw nationalism as a threat to unity and party loyalty.
• So, to check nationalism, Lenin organized Russia into several self-governing republics (Soviets) under the central government.
• In 1922, the Russia was named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), in honour of the councils that helped launch the Bolshevik Revolution. (New capital - Moscow)
• The Bolsheviks also renamed their party to Communist Party.
• In 1924, the Communists created a constitution based on socialist and democratic principles but the Communist Party held all the power.
• Thus, Lenin had established a dictatorship of the Communist Party, not “a dictatorship of the proletariat,” as Marx had promoted.  
• However, due to the new policies and peace that followed, USSR slowly recovered.
• By 1928, the country’s farms and factories were producing as much as they had before World War I.