Key Events & Turning Points
This 1905 event saw peaceful protesters fired upon outside the Winter Palace and seriously damaged faith in Tsar Nicholas II.
Bloody Sunday
He returned to Russia in April 1917 and called for “Peace, Land and Bread” and “All Power to the Soviets.”
Vladimir Lenin
This ideology argued that class struggle would eventually lead to the overthrow of capitalism and a classless society.
Marxism
Lenin’s October 1917 decree abolished private ownership of landed estates and encouraged peasants to take control of land.
The Decree on Land
This 1950 Chinese law attacked arranged marriage, child marriage and polygamy and gave women greater rights in marriage and divorce.
The Marriage Law
This 1934–35 retreat helped Mao emerge as the dominant leader of the Chinese Communist Party.
The Long March
He proclaimed the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949.
Mao Zedong
Nationalism, democracy and people’s livelihood were the three central ideas associated with this Chinese revolutionary leader.
Sun Yixian’s Three Principles of the People
This Bolshevik organisation was established in December 1917 to identify and suppress opponents of the new regime.
The Cheka
This Bolshevik economic policy involved nationalisation, grain requisitioning and tight state control during the Civil War.
War Communism
This August 1917 crisis weakened Kerensky and helped the Bolsheviks gain greater support in the Petrograd Soviet.
The Kornilov affair
This Guomindang leader led the Northern Expedition and later retreated to Taiwan after defeat in 1949.
Jiang Jieshi / Chiang Kai-shek
This revolutionary ideology adapted Marxism to Russia and argued that a disciplined revolutionary party could lead the workers to power.
Marxism-Leninism
Mao believed political power “grows out of the barrel of a gun.” This military force became essential to Communist victory in China.
The Red Army or The People's Liberation Army (PLA)
Introduced in 1921, this policy restored some private trade and small-scale capitalism to revive the Russian economy.
The New Economic Policy (NEP)
In April 1927 Jiang Jieshi turned against his Communist allies in this violent attack that effectively ended the First United Front.
The Shanghai Massacre
As Commissar for War, he played a major role in organising and leading the Red Army during the Russian Civil War.
Leon Trotsky
This Russian political group believed a small, disciplined revolutionary party should lead the overthrow of the existing system.
The Bolsheviks
These two early-1950s campaigns targeted corruption in government and illegal practices among private business owners.
Sanfan & Wufan
Communes, backyard furnaces, inflated production figures and grain requisitioning contributed to catastrophic famine during this campaign.
The Great Leap Forward
Beginning in 1966, this movement mobilised young people to attack the Four Olds and people accused of opposing Mao.
The Cultural Revolution
He became Defence Minister in 1959, promoted Mao’s personality cult and was named Mao’s successor during the Cultural Revolution.
Lin Biao
Mao adapted Communist ideas to place greater importance on the revolutionary potential of this enormous Chinese social group.
Peasants
In both Russia and China, revolutionary governments strengthened their control by identifying enemies, mobilising supporters and using this against real or suspected opponents.
Repression or Terror or Mass campaigning
Teachers, intellectuals, officials and cultural figures were among the groups heavily persecuted during this Chinese movement from 1966.
The Cultural Revolution