# The Red Terror (1918)

URL: https://history-russia.com/timeline/1918-the-red-terror
Categories: main-event

After an assassination attempt on Lenin and the killing of Petrograd Cheka chief Moisei Uritsky in August 1918, the Soviet government officially proclaimed the Red Terror. Thousands of hostages and suspected enemies were shot. The White forces also carried out mass reprisals. The Red Terror made mass violence a tool of the Soviet state.

## Why it matters
The Red Terror made mass violence a tool of the Soviet state.

Ruler at the time: [Vladimir Lenin](https://history-russia.com/rulers/vladimir-lenin)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Red Terror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Terror)
- [Wikipedia — Russian Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — The Red Terror](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=The+Red+Terror)
- [Wikipedia — Timeline of Russian history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Russian_history)