Russian Revolution of 1917

Follow the story · Four stages

1. 01

   Background

   Autocratic rule, land hunger, labor conflict, national tensions, and the unfinished changes after 1905 had weakened the imperial order. The First World War multiplied military losses, inflation, food and fuel shortages, transport failures, and distrust of Tsar Nicholas II's government, while soldiers and civilians bore the costs.

   • Autocratic rule, land hunger, labor conflict, national tensions, and the unfinished changes after 1905 had weakened the imperial order.
   • The First World War multiplied military losses, inflation, food and fuel shortages, transport failures, and distrust of Tsar Nicholas II's government, while soldiers and civilians bore the costs.
   • Core event: The two revolutionary crises of 1917 that overthrew the Russian monarchy in February and brought the Bolsheviks to power in October, using the Gregorian calendar.

   
2. 02

   Course

   Bread protests and strikes in Petrograd grew into mass demonstrations and a garrison mutiny in February; Nicholas II abdicated, and a Provisional Government shared unstable authority with workers' and soldiers' soviets. The government continued the war and delayed land reform. In October the Bolsheviks, whose support had grown around demands for peace, land, and soviet power, organized an armed transfer of power in Petrograd and displaced the Provisional Government.

   • Bread protests and strikes in Petrograd grew into mass demonstrations and a garrison mutiny in February; Nicholas II abdicated, and a Provisional Government shared unstable authority with workers' and soldiers' soviets.
   • The government continued the war and delayed land reform.
   • In October the Bolsheviks, whose support had grown around demands for peace, land, and soviet power, organized an armed transfer of power in Petrograd and displaced the Provisional Government.

   
3. 03

   Outcome

   The new government issued decrees on peace and land and began withdrawing Russia from the war. It dispersed the elected Constituent Assembly in January 1918, while resistance to Bolshevik rule, national independence movements, foreign intervention, and competing armies developed into civil war. Thus 1917 ended monarchy but did not immediately settle the form or territorial reach of the new state.

   • The new government issued decrees on peace and land and began withdrawing Russia from the war.
   • It dispersed the elected Constituent Assembly in January 1918, while resistance to Bolshevik rule, national independence movements, foreign intervention, and competing armies developed into civil war.
   • Thus 1917 ended monarchy but did not immediately settle the form or territorial reach of the new state.

   
4. 04

   Historical significance

   The revolutions transformed the First World War and opened the path to the Soviet state, while inspiring socialist and anticolonial movements and provoking powerful opposition worldwide. Treating February and October as one seamless event hides competing popular projects, the Provisional Government, soviets, women workers, soldiers, peasants, and non-Russian peoples who acted for different goals.

   • The revolutions transformed the First World War and opened the path to the Soviet state, while inspiring socialist and anticolonial movements and provoking powerful opposition worldwide.
   • Treating February and October as one seamless event hides competing popular projects, the Provisional Government, soviets, women workers, soldiers, peasants, and non-Russian peoples who acted for different goals.
   • Immediate consequence: The new government issued decrees on peace and land and began withdrawing Russia from the war. It dispersed the elected Constituent Assembly in January 1918, while resistance to Bolshevik rule, national independence movements, foreign intervention, and competing armies developed into civil war. Thus 1917 ended monarchy but did not immediately settle the form or territorial reach of the new state.