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Vladimir Lenin
Person page: Vladimir Lenin →
Tag
(34)
1917
April
16
Lenin returns to Petrograd
On 16 April 1917 Lenin arrived at the Finland Station in Petrograd. He had crossed Germany with Berlin's consent in a carriage called "sealed".
July
16
The July Days in Petrograd
On 16–18 July 1917 soldiers, Kronstadt sailors and workers in Petrograd demanded "all power to the soviets". The rising collapsed and Lenin had to hide.
November
07
Key event
October Revolution
On 7 November 1917 the Bolsheviks seized Petrograd and overthrew the Provisional Government. The Winter Palace fell at night; the Soviet Congress took power.
08
The Council of People's Commissars is formed
On 8 November 1917 the Congress of Soviets passed the decrees on peace and land and set up a Bolshevik government, the Sovnarkom, under Lenin.
15
Bolsheviks take Moscow
On 15 November 1917, after a week of street fighting and the shelling of the Kremlin, the Moscow Committee of Public Safety gave in. Moscow fell to the soviets.
21
Bolsheviks propose an armistice
On 21 November 1917 Lenin's government told the high command to offer the enemy an armistice, and the Allied embassies got Trotsky's note. Dukhonin refused.
25
Elections to the Constituent Assembly
On 25 November 1917 Russia began electing the Constituent Assembly. The SRs won; the Bolsheviks took about a quarter of the vote and both capitals.
December
11
The Constituent Assembly fails to open
The Constituent Assembly was due to meet in Petrograd on 11 December 1917. A few dozen deputies came, and that evening Lenin outlawed the Kadets.
20
Creation of the Cheka
On 20 December 1917 Lenin's government created the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission to Combat Counter-Revolution and Sabotage, headed by Felix Dzerzhinsky.
1918
January
04
Recognition of Finnish independence
On 4 January 1918 VTsIK approved the Lenin government's recognition of Finland's independence. France, Sweden and Germany followed that day, then others.
05
Brest-Litovsk peace talks suspended
On 5 January 1918 Berlin announced that the Brest talks were broken off, as the Bolsheviks wanted them moved to Stockholm. Days later Trotsky came after all.
18
Opening of the Constituent Assembly
On 18 January 1918 the Constituent Assembly met in Petrograd. It elected Chernov chairman and rejected the declaration of the Bolsheviks, who walked out.
19
Key event
Dispersal of the Constituent Assembly
At dawn on 19 January 1918 the guard broke up the Constituent Assembly; that evening Soviet power dissolved it. Russia's first free parliament met only once.
23
Brest-Litovsk talks suspended again
On 23 January 1918 the last delegations left Brest. By radio the Bolsheviks accused the Central Powers of hiding their demands from their peoples.
28
Creation of the Red Army
On 28 January 1918 the Council of People's Commissars decided to create a volunteer Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in place of the disintegrating old army.
February
10
Neither war nor peace
On 10 February 1918 at Brest Trotsky said Russia was leaving the war and demobilising but would not sign an annexationist peace. The Germans were stunned.
14
Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar
In Soviet Russia Wednesday 31 January 1918 was followed by Thursday 14 February, as a Sovnarkom decree switched the country to the Gregorian calendar.
18
Key event
Operation Faustschlag begins
At noon on 18 February 1918 the armistice on the Eastern Front expired. The Germans advanced and that same day, almost without a fight, took Dvinsk and Lutsk.
19
Bolsheviks agree to peace
On the night of 18–19 February 1918 Lenin's government told Berlin by radio it would sign peace on the Brest terms. The Germans did not halt their offensive.
28
Peace talks resume
On 28 February 1918 a Soviet delegation under Sokolnikov reached Brest to sign peace on German terms. The Germans refused to halt their offensive.
March
01
Treaty between Red Finland and Soviet Russia
On 1 March 1918 in Petrograd Lenin's government and the Finnish Reds signed a treaty of friendship. Russia ceded its property in Finland and promised Petsamo.
12
Moscow becomes the capital of Russia
On 10–11 March 1918 Lenin's government secretly moved from Petrograd to Moscow, announcing it on 12 March. Moscow was the capital again after 200 years.
13
Chicherin and Trotsky
On 13 March 1918 Trotsky left the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs and took over military affairs. Soviet diplomacy passed to Georgy Chicherin.
14
Congress of Soviets ratifies the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
On 14 March 1918 the Fourth Extraordinary Congress of Soviets met in Moscow. Next day it approved the Brest treaty, and the Left SRs left Lenin's government.
April
02
Mirbach becomes ambassador in Moscow
On 2 April 1918 Count Wilhelm von Mirbach was appointed Germany's first representative to Lenin's government. He arrived in Moscow late in the month.
June
08
Bolsheviks demand the withdrawal of Entente troops
On 8 June 1918 the Murmansk soviet read General Poole a Lenin–Chicherin telegram ordering the Allies to leave Russia at once. The soviet preferred they stay.
18
Scuttling of the Black Sea Fleet
On 18 June 1918 at Novorossiysk sailors scuttled ships, including the dreadnought *Svobodnaya Rossiya*, rather than surrender them. The rest went to Sevastopol.
30
Murmansk soviet sides with the Entente
On 30 June 1918 the Murmansk soviet resolved to defy Moscow's orders to expel the Allies and invited the Entente to defend the region jointly against Germany.
July
06
Assassination of Mirbach
On 6 July 1918 the Left SRs Blumkin and Andreyev shot the German envoy Mirbach in Moscow. The killing was the signal for their failed uprising.
16
Key event
Murder of the imperial family
On the night of 16–17 July 1918 in Yekaterinburg the Bolsheviks murdered the former Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, their five children and four companions.
August
30
Key event
Assassination attempt on Lenin
On 30 August 1918 Lenin was gravely wounded in Moscow; that morning Uritsky, the Petrograd Cheka chief, was killed. The Bolsheviks answered with Red Terror.
September
05
Red Terror
On 5 September 1918 the Council of People's Commissars adopted the resolution "On the Red Terror". The Cheka could shoot "class enemies" or hold them in camps.
1919
March
04
Kolchak's spring offensive
On 4 March 1919 Gajda's Siberian Army attacked the Reds on the Kama. Kolchak's spring offensive brought the Whites close to the Volga in April.
July
03
Denikin's Moscow directive
On 3 July 1919, in newly taken Tsaritsyn, General Denikin issued a directive to the armies of South Russia: take Moscow, the "heart of Russia".