Modern Russian history begins in 1917, when Russia's disastrous performance in the First Great War allowed the Bolsheviks to seize power. But not for long: in 1918 the White Armies succeeded to liberate Russia step by step from communist rule, and in 1919 the czar's fourteen-year-old son ascended the throne. He was nothing more but a puppet, however; real power remained tightly in the hands of the White generals. After his premature death in 1934 the throne remained vacant.