RSFSR adopts its first constitution

The Council of People’s Commissars decreed the organization of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army. The force drew on volunteers and, increasingly, conscription and former imperial officers. Its...

The elected Constituent Assembly met in Petrograd (18 January Julian; 31 January Gregorian) after the Bolsheviks performed poorly in the national vote, particularly outside major cities. When it...

The Bolshevik government signed a harsh peace treaty with the Central Powers, ceding or relinquishing extensive western territories and populations. The treaty fulfilled the promise to end Russia’s...

The Seventh Party Congress renamed the Bolshevik organization the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). The change reflected the party’s claim to lead an international socialist transformation after...

The Soviet government transferred the capital from Petrograd to Moscow, citing military vulnerability and logistical concerns. The move shifted the state’s political center inland and placed Moscow at...

Nicholas II, his family and attendants were killed by Bolshevik authorities in Yekaterinburg as anti-Bolshevik forces approached. The killing ended the Romanov family’s immediate political claim but...

British-led Allied forces landed at Arkhangelsk, followed by intervention elsewhere in northern Russia. The operation aimed to reopen an Eastern Front and secure military supplies; it also supported...

After assassination attempts and attacks on Soviet officials, the government announced the Red Terror, authorizing mass arrests, executions and hostage-taking against designated political opponents....

Twenty-six Baku Commune leaders were executed near Krasnovodsk after the fall of the commune and their transfer into the custody of forces associated with the Transcaspian Government and British...

The armistice between the Allies and Germany ended the main fighting in Western Europe and removed the immediate military basis for the Brest-Litovsk settlement. Former imperial territories faced...