By: Bryan Beato

» During World War I, Tsarist Russia experienced famine and economic collapse. » The demoralized Russian Army suffered severe military setbacks, and many soldiers deserted the front lines. » The last Russian monarch, Tsar Nicholas II, ruled until 1917 and he was executed.

» The Soviet Union was established in December 1922 as the union of the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Transcaucasia. » The Bolshevik Party was led by Vladimir Lenin in the October Revolution, during the Russian Revolution. » World War I was the incentive for the Bolshevik Russian Revolution, which would inspire later Communist revolutions in countries as diverse as China and Cuba, and would lay the basis for the Cold War standoff between the Communist Soviet Union and the United States.

» Government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party, as the Bolsheviks called themselves beginning in March Because the Russian Provisional Government supported the war effort, it didn't last very long. » Many people shifted loyalties to the Bolsheviks, Lenin's pro-Communism party, which opposed the war.

» When the revolution struck, the Bolsheviks used this momentum to overthrow the Provisional Government. » Lenin had an armed group named the red guards who was the main strike force for the Bolsheviks. Lenin’s red guards went to the winter palace (former home the czar and later the provisional government’s headquarters) and took control of it. » True to his word Lenin took Russia out of the war

» Lenin and the Bolsheviks outlawed religion in their society. » The believed that everyone was to be equal and all have same necessities.

» Shortly after the Bolsheviks seized power during the Russian Revolution of 1917, they changed their name to the All Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1918 and were generally known as the Communist party after all that happened.

» Lenin endeavored to gain support by broadcasting slogans such as "Bread, Land, Peace and All Power to the Soviets." » When in the month of September elections took place, the Bolsheviks won a majority of the seats in the soviets in Petrograd, Moscow, and other cities.

» Yet in elections for the Russian Constituent Assembly in late November 1917, only a quarter of voters cast ballots for the Bolsheviks. » Lenin overturned the results and sent armed guards to prevent meetings of the democratic assembly. This made it virtually impossible for the Russian people to voice their concerns in a democratic way.

» This immediately led the Bolsheviks into a Civil War with the "Whites" (White Guard Volunteer Army) led by General Kornilov. » The Whites were a group of different factions including former officials, Cossacks, moderate socialists, nobles, and military leaders that wanted a return to monarchy or at least an end to the Bolshevik. » Other than their desire to take over the Bolsheviks the Whites weren't a much unified alliance. » This war raged for two years and saw the defeat of the White armies and the deaths of millions.