Russia

=== Revolution and civil war ===
{{main|Russian Revolution|Russian Civil War|Dissolution of the Russian Empire}}
[[File:Russian Imperial Family 1913.jpg|thumb|left|Emperor [[Nicholas II of Russia]] and the [[House of Romanov|Romanovs]] were [[Execution of the Romanov family|executed]] by the Bolsheviks in 1918.]]
In 1914, [[Russian entry into World War I|Russia entered World War&nbsp;I]] in response to [[Austria-Hungary]]'s declaration of war on Russia's ally [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Williamson|first=Samuel R. Jr.|author-link=Samuel R. Williamson Jr. |title=The Origins of World War I |jstor=204825 |doi=10.2307/204825 |journal=[[The Journal of Interdisciplinary History]] |year=1988 |publisher=The [[MIT Press]] |volume=18 |number=4 |pages=795–818}}</ref> and fought across multiple fronts while isolated from its [[Triple Entente]] allies.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Triple Alliance and Triple Entente, 1902–1914 |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |jstor=1836520 |doi-access=free |doi=10.2307/1836520 |volume=29 |number=3 |pages=449–473 |date=April 1924 |last1=Schmitt |first1=Bernadotte E. |author1-link=Bernadotte Everly Schmitt }}</ref> In 1916, the [[Brusilov Offensive]] of the Imperial Russian Army almost completely destroyed the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schindler |first=John |year=2003 |title=Steamrollered in Galicia: The Austro-Hungarian Army and the Brusilov Offensive, 1916. |journal=[[War in History]] |volume=10 |number=1 |pages=27–59 |doi=10.1191/0968344503wh260oa |jstor=26061940 |s2cid=143618581}}</ref> However, the already-existing public distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of war, [[World War I casualties|high casualties]], and rumors of corruption and treason. All this formed the climate for the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917, carried out in two major acts.<ref name="Curtis-1998-5">{{cite web |last=Curtis |first=Glenn E. |url=http://countrystudies.us/russia/8.htm |title=Russia – Revolutions and Civil War |year=1998 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Federal Research Division of the [[Library of Congress]] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814182853/https://countrystudies.us/russia/8.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In early 1917, [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] was [[February Revolution|forced to abdicate]]; he and his family were imprisoned and [[Shooting of the Romanov family|later executed]] during the [[Russian Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Walsh |first=Edmund |author-link=Edmund A. Walsh |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1928/03/the-last-days-of-the-romanovs/303877/ |title=The Last Days of the Romanovs |work=[[The Atlantic]] |date=March 1928 |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330124604/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1928/03/the-last-days-of-the-romanovs/303877/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The monarchy was replaced by a shaky coalition of political parties that declared itself the [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mosse |first=W. E. |title=Interlude: The Russian Provisional Government 1917 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |jstor=149631 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=15 |number=4 |pages=408–419 |date=April 1964}}</ref> and proclaimed the [[Russian Republic]]. On {{OldStyleDateNY|19 January|6 January}}, 1918, the [[Russian Constituent Assembly]] declared Russia a democratic federal republic (thus ratifying the Provisional Government's decision). The next day the Constituent Assembly was dissolved by the [[All-Russian Central Executive Committee]].<ref name="Curtis-1998-5" />

An alternative socialist establishment co-existed, the [[Petrograd Soviet]], wielding power through the democratically elected councils of workers and peasants, called ''[[Soviet (council)|soviets]]''. The rule of the new authorities only aggravated the crisis in the country instead of resolving it, and eventually, the [[October Revolution]], led by [[Bolshevik]] leader [[Vladimir Lenin]], overthrew the Provisional Government and gave full governing power to the soviets, leading to the creation of the world's first [[socialist state]].<ref name="Curtis-1998-5"/> The [[Russian Civil War]] broke out between the [[anti-communist]] [[White movement]] and the Bolsheviks with its [[Red Army]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Figes |first=Orlando |author-link=Orlando Figes |title=The Red Army and Mass Mobilization during the Russian Civil War 1918–1920 |jstor=650938 |journal=[[Past & Present (journal)|Past & Present]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=168–211 |date=November 1990 |volume=129 |number=190|doi=10.1093/past/129.1.168 }}</ref> In the aftermath of signing the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] that concluded hostilities with the [[Central Powers]] of [[World War I|World War&nbsp;I]]; Bolshevist Russia surrendered most of its western territories, which hosted 34% of its population, 54% of its industries, 32% of its agricultural land, and roughly 90% of its coal mines.<ref>{{cite web |last=Figes |first=Orlando |author-link=Orlando Figes |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/russian-revolution-history-lenin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415111202/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/russian-revolution-history-lenin |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 April 2021 |title=From Tsar to U.S.S.R.: Russia's Chaotic Year of Revolution |work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |date=25 October 2017 |access-date=27 November 2021 }}</ref>
[[File:Vladimir_Lenin_Speech_in_May_1920.jpg|thumb|[[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Leon Trotsky]] during a 1920 speech in Moscow]]
The [[Allies of World War I|Allied powers]] launched an unsuccessful [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|military intervention]] in support of anti-communist forces.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carley |first=Michael Jabara |date=November 1989 |jstor=40106089 |title=Allied Intervention and the Russian Civil War, 1917–1922 |journal=[[The International History Review]] |volume=11 |number=4 |pages=689–700 |doi=10.1080/07075332.1989.9640530 }}</ref> In the meantime, both the Bolsheviks and White movement carried out campaigns of deportations and executions against each other, known respectively as the [[Red Terror]] and [[White Terror (Russia)|White Terror]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222175025/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 February 2021 |title=How the Red Terror set a macabre course for the Soviet Union |work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |first=Erin |last=Blakemore |date=2 September 2020 |access-date=26 June 2021}}</ref> By the end of the violent civil war, Russia's economy and infrastructure were heavily damaged, and as many as 10 million perished during the war, mostly civilians.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Civil-War/Foreign-intervention#ref283723 |title=Russian Civil War – Casualties and consequences of the war |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330124604/https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Civil-War/Foreign-intervention#ref283723 |url-status=live }}</ref> Millions became [[White émigré]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schaufuss |first=Tatiana |title=The White Russian Refugees |journal=The Annals of the [[American Academy of Political and Social Science]] |date=May 1939 |volume=203 |pages=45–54 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |doi=10.1177/000271623920300106 |jstor=1021884|s2cid=143704019 }}</ref> and the [[Russian famine of 1921–1922]] claimed up to five&nbsp;million victims.<ref>{{cite web |last=Haller |first=Francis |url=https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/other/5rfhjy.htm |title=Famine in Russia: the hidden horrors of 1921 |work=[[Le Temps]] |publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]] |date=8 December 2003 |access-date=26 July 2021 |archive-date=14 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314134441/https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/other/5rfhjy.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>