Cold War: Prelude to the Soviet Union in Tsarist Russia

Before we get into the USSR, we need to get into the Russian Empire a.k.a. Tsarist Empire, the nation which preceded the socialist revolution:

• The Russian Empire started on November 2nd, 1721. On this date, the Russian Senate gave the title of tsar (emperor) of all the Russia upon a man named Pyotr Alekseyevich or Peter the Great or Peter I. Tsars existed before this period, such as when Michael Romanov was elected tsar in 1613, but usually these tsars had power over individual Slavic principalities like the Grand Principality of Moscow instead of controlling all of Russia & tsars were considered the  patrimonial owner of the land instead of the true head of the state. The start of the Russian Empire changed all that. In theory, the Russian Emperor had unlimited power with no legal or economic defense against arbitrary use of power. However, many regions were autonomous with little control from the state such as Siberia and the Cossacks. Plus, the massive size of Russia and inadequacy of the tsarist administration at times limited the effect of this absolutist power. In 1721, Peter made the Russian Orthodox Church part of the state, combining church and state.

  

• The state religion of the Russian Empire was Orthodox Christianity. In fact, the Emperor was not allowed to ″profess any faith other than the Orthodox″ according to Article 62 of the Fundamental Laws Constitution of tsarist Russia. According to the 1897 census, 69.3% of the population was Russian Orthodox, with the rest being Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, and other Christian denominations. Also, Russian was the official language, though French was also spoken by high society.

• Even before the uprising that led to the creation of the USSR, there were revolutions that occurred against the tsarist regime. There was the urban uprisings from 1648 to 1650 that resulted in the exile of  Boris Ivanovich Morozov, the chief minister for Tsar Alexis. There was also the peasant rebellion that ran from 1670 to 1671 led by Cossack Stenka Razin. This rebellion actually led to the capture of several cities before Razin was captured and executed in Moscow.

  • The Russian Empire grew to be massive. By 1895, the empire was 8,800,000 square miles in area. It was the third-largest empire in history and is only surpassed in size by the British Empire and the Mongol empire.

    

• The end of the Russian Empire is considered to have happened in March of 1917. Many specifically look to March 8th of that year, when a number of factories in Petrograd went on strike and many workers began to take to the street. At the same time this was happening, many women began celebrating the international socialist anniversary of Women's Day: a holiday promoting women's rights and achievements that became sponsored by the United Nations after 1975. Eventually, demonstrations occurred at the capital and the emperor began to order the military governor to fire on the demonstrators. However, many soldiers refused to use their rifles and many of them joined the workers. Some police did fight the workers, leading to the start of a civil war in the form of the February Revolution (though the revolution technically happened from March 8 to March 16 of 1917). Socialist revolutionaries and groups like the Bolsheviks (Marxist socialists who would come to form the framework for the Soviet Union) battled the Russian monarchists supporting Emperor Nicholas II. This battle led to the end of the monarchy and the formation of a Provisional Government for the tsars and the Petrograd Soviet. These two sides would temporarily share Russia before another revolution that same year would lead to the creation of a Soviet Russia and a start of the Soviet Union...