Founding of Communism
In 1914, Russia entered World War 1 as an empire, although the nation had an inefficient economy and a corrupt government. Russia lost most of its foreign supplies and income when the Baltic and Black seas were captured by Axis forces. The war had a horrific effect on the Russian population, with massive casualties, inflation and food shortage within a year of Russians entering the war. Between 1915 and early 1917, strikes by the working classes were common, and by April Tsar Nicholas II had abdicated. A power vacuum erupted, and Russia withdrew from the conflict with Germany. In November 1917, soviets took control of the country. Once the First World War was over, other Allied powers backed the anti-communist movement. However, they were unsuccessful, and in 1922 the USSR was born, a union which was to last almost seventy years.
