Russian Republic

State · 1917–1919 CE · at its largest around 1917 CE

For a few heady months after the tsar fell, Russia was briefly one of the freest countries in Europe, with free speech and universal suffrage, while still fighting the First World War. The Provisional Government's failure to end the war or deliver land opened the way for Lenin's Bolsheviks.

On its lands while it lasted

Köneürgenç (c. 1512–1919 CE): Capital of Khanate of Khiva (1512–1919).
Vladimir Lenin (1870 CE – 1924 CE): Russian revolutionary who led the Bolsheviks to power in 1917 and headed the Soviet government until his death. He founded Marxism–Leninism.
Joseph Stalin (1878 CE – 1953 CE): Georgian-born dictator of the Soviet Union from the late 1920s until his death. He drove forced industrialisation and collectivisation, led the country to victory in World War II, and oversaw mass repression.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 CE – 1938 CE): Founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, who led the War of Independence and carried out sweeping secularizing and westernizing reforms.
Mao Zedong (1893 CE – 1976 CE): Communist revolutionary who founded the People's Republic of China and led it until his death.
Zhou Enlai (1898 CE – 1976 CE): First premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from 1949 until his death.
Deng Xiaoping (1904 CE – 1997 CE): Paramount leader of China from 1978 who launched market reforms and opening to the world.
Kim Il Sung (1912 CE – 1994 CE): Founding leader of North Korea from 1948 until his death.
Armenian genocide (1915–1917 CE): During World War I the Ottoman government carried out mass killings and deportations of Armenians, killing an estimated 600,000 to 1.5 million; most historians call it genocide, which Turkey disputes.
October Revolution (1917 CE): In November 1917 (October in the old calendar) Lenin's Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government in Petrograd, storming the Winter Palace and creating the first communist state.
Russian Revolution (1917–1923 CE): The February Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd ended the rule of the tsars, and the October Revolution brought Lenin’s Bolsheviks to power. After a civil war they founded the Soviet Union in 1922.
Russian Civil War (1917–1922 CE): A war between the Bolshevik Red Army and a range of White and other opponents that followed the October Revolution. The Bolsheviks won and founded the Soviet Union in 1922.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (1918 CE): Signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers, the treaty took Russia out of the First World War at the cost of vast territories, including Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic lands.
Tallinn (c. 1919 CE): Capital of Estonia (1919–1939), Republic of Estonia (1992–today).
March 1st Movement (1919 CE): Nationwide protests for Korean independence from Japanese rule, violently suppressed.