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The Bolsheviks Come to Power: The Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd, by Alexander Rabinowitch (NY, 1976) The Russian Revolution 1917, by Rex Wade (Cambridge, 2005) The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917-1923, Vol. 3 (History of Soviet Russia), by Edward Hallett Carr (New York, 1985)
- Overview
- World War I and the decline of the Russian Empire
Corruption and inefficiency were widespread in the imperial government, and ethnic minorities were eager to escape Russian domination. Peasants, workers, and soldiers finally rose up after the enormous and largely pointless slaughter of World War I destroyed Russia’s economy as well as its prestige as a European power.
Russian Revolution of 1905
Learn about the uprising that laid the foundation for the 1917 revolution.
World War I
Learn about World War I, an important catalyst for the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Why is it called the October Revolution if it took place in November?
Centuries of virtually unchecked Russian expansion in Asia ended with an embarrassing defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–05). This military reverse shattered Russia’s dreams of establishing hegemony over the whole of Asia, but it also contributed to a wave of domestic unrest. The Revolution of 1905 compelled Nicholas II to issue the October Manifesto, which ostensibly transformed Russia from an unlimited autocracy into a constitutional monarchy. The tsar’s reactionary policies, including the occasional dissolution of the Duma, or Russian parliament, the chief fruit of the 1905 revolution, had spread dissatisfaction even to moderate elements of the nobility. The Russian Empire’s many ethnic minorities grew increasingly restive under Russian domination.
Despite some reforms that followed the Russo-Japanese War, the Russian army in 1914 was ill-equipped to fight a major war, and neither the political nor the military leadership was up to the standard required. Nevertheless the army fought bravely in World War I, and both soldiers and junior officers showed remarkable qualities. The Russian invasion of East Prussia in August 1914 was defeated by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff at Tannenberg, but it required the Germans to send reinforcements from the Western Front and so saved France from defeat and made possible the victory on the Marne. The campaigns of 1915 and 1916 on the Eastern Front brought terrible casualties to the Russian forces, which at times did not even have sufficient rifles. As late as July 1916, however, the Russian army was capable of making a successful offensive under Gen. Aleksey Brusilov in Volhynia and Bukovina.
Britannica Quiz
Plots and Revolutions Quiz
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment in the larger Russian Revolution of 1917–1923. It was the second revolutionary change of ...
Apr 3, 2020 · A timeline chronology of the events of the Russian Revolution of 1917 which saw an end to the Tsarist system and the creation of the Soviet Union.
Feb 25, 2011 · The Bolshevik-led Russian Revolution of 1917, in overthrowing Tsar Nicholas II, ended over 300 years of autocratic tsarist rule. The Russian Revolution lasted from March 8, 1917, to June 16, 1923. Primary causes of the Revolution included peasant, worker, and military dissatisfaction with corruption and inefficiency within the czarist regime ...
- Robert Longley
The Bolshevik Revolution was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917, following the February Revolution that led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. This upheaval led to the end of the Provisional Government and initiated the establishment of the Soviet Union.
Along with the French Revolution of 1789, the Russian Revolution is one of the most studied, analysed and interpreted of all revolutions. The events in Russia between 1905 and 1924 have drawn the attention of thousands of historians and millions of students. These events shaped not just the future of Russia, but the future of Europe and the world.
