June: sailors aboard the battleship Potemkin mutinied.

September: a general strike began and paralysed Russian industry. Many revolutionaries, like Lenin and Trotsky, returned from exile to join the revolution. Also, Workers´ councils were formed in towns, while in the countryside peasants took over their lands. 

October the 18th: The October Manifesto was published. There, the Tsar offered the people a Douma (elected parliament), the right to free speech and the right to form political parties. 

November: the Tsar announced further concessions and financial help for peasants. The opponents of the Tsar debated what to do next. While they were busy debating, the Tsar brought his best troops to western Russia to crush the revolt. Rebellions in the countryside were put down.

December 1905: leaders of the soviets were arrested and exiled to Siberia. This led to serious street fights in Moscow. 

March: the revolution had been crushed. No revolution would succeed as long as the army stayed loyal to the Tsar.

The first meeting of the Duma deputies happened in April of this year; they were hopeful that they would help to steer Russia on a new course. Unfortunately they were soon disappointed by the Tsar, who didn't take any serious notice of them. 

It also took much of this year to bring peasant unrest

May: Tsar introduced the Fundamental Laws (Agreed to the existence of the Duma, but they put many limitations, making it powerless) 

Living and working conditions remained appalling.

Profits being made by industry were going to the capitalists, or they were being paid back to banks in France, which loaned the money to pay for much of Russia's industrial growth. 

The economy took a downturn, causing unemployment and hunger

The Duma was becoming critical of the Tsar's ministers and policies, but they had no power to change them. 

The Tsar´s action was applauded. Everyone joined in the patriotic enthusiasm. 

Anti-government strikes and demonstrations were abandoned. 

The good feeling was very short because, as the war continued, the Tsar began to lose support of key sectors of Russia society. 

The army was enthusiastic, but they were badly led and treated by the aristocratic officers and they were also poorly supported by the industries. They were short on ammunition, rifles,shells,artillery and even boots. 

An alliance of Duma politicians had urged the Tsar to work with them in a more representative style of government that would unite the people. The Tsar dismissed the Duma a month later.

There was discontent in the cities. The workers got little in the way of extra wages. They had to cope with worse overcrowding than before the war. There were fuel and food shortages. Those two important things could not be transported to the city although there was enough quantity for the population. The rail network couldn't cope with the needs of the army, industry and the populations of the city. 

The middle class was very angry with the Tsar. By the end of the year, many of them set up their own medical organisations along the lines of the modern Red Cross, or joined war committees. These organizations were more effective than the government agencies. 

Industrialists could not fulfil their war contracts because of a shortage of raw materials.

The Council of the United Nobility was asking the Tsar to step down. 

The junior officers in the army had suffered devastating losses in the war. 

Many of the leading aristocrats were appalled by the influence of Rasputin over the government of Russia. There were rumors of an affair between the Tsar's wife and Rasputin. 

Ministers were dismissed and then replaced. 

December: a group of aristocrats murdered Rasputin.

February: strikes spread. They were supported and even joined by members of the army. The Tsar's best troops had died on the battlefields. 

March the 7th: workers at the Putilov steelworks in Petrograd went on strike.

 From 7 to 10 March: number of striking workers rose to 250,000. Industry came to a standstill.

The Duma set up a Provisional Committee to take over the government. 

On 12 March: the Tsar ordered his army to put down the revolt, but they refused. On the same day, revolutionaries began taking control of food supplies to the city. They set up soldiers´ committees. 

On 15 March: the Tsar issued a statement that he was abdicating. 

A Provisional Government was created, whose idea was to then stand down and allow free elections to take place to elect a new Constituent Assembly. This was not the only possible government. The Petrograd Soviet had the support of workers in key industries. During the crisis months of spring, both governments worked together. 

Lenin, a Bolshevik, immediately returned from his exile in Europe. When he arrived, he urged the people to support the Bolsheviks in a second revolution. People started supporting the Bolsheviks quickly.

July: Bolsheviks led protests against the war turned into rebellion. However, when there was evidence given by Kerensky that Lenin had been helped by the Germans, his support for the rebellion fell. Lenin, in disguise, flew to Finland. Kerensky used troops to crush the rebellion and took over the government. 

The upper and middle class expected Kerensky to restore order. 

September: the army leader Kornilov marched his troops towards Moscow, intending to get rid of the Bolsheviks and the Provisional Government, and restore order. Kerensky´s troops were not enough to get rid of the army. Kornilov won.

October: Kerensky's government was doomed. 

September: there were Bolshevik majorities in the Petrograd and Moscow soviets, and in most of Russia's other majorities towns and cities. 

October: Lenin thought it was time for the Bolsheviks to seize power.

During the night of 6 November, the Red Guards took control of post offices, bridges and the State Bank. 

On 7 November, Bolsheviks were in control of most of Petrograd. On the evening of the same day, the Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace and arrested the Ministers of the Provisional Government. 

On 8 November, an announcement was made, which told people that the Provisional Government had been overthrown. 

Lenin immediately set up the Council of People's Commissars, which issued its first decree on 8 November. 

The peasants were given the Tsar´s and Church´s land, the factories and the industry were in charge of the workers and the Bolsheviks had the power to deal with their opponents.

Lenin had also promised free elections to the new Constituent Assembly.