Context
The Russian Revolution emerged from decades of mounting social, economic, and political tensions within the Tsarist autocracy. By the early 20th century, Russia remained largely feudal and agrarian while other European powers industrialized rapidly. The catastrophic defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905) exposed the regime’s military weakness and triggered the 1905 Revolution, forcing Tsar Nicholas II to establish the Duma parliament. However, these limited reforms failed to address fundamental problems: widespread peasant poverty, industrial worker exploitation, and the autocracy’s resistance to meaningful democratization.
World War I proved the final catalyst for revolutionary upheaval. Russia’s entry into the conflict in 1914 initially generated patriotic unity, but devastating military defeats, massive casualties, and economic collapse rapidly eroded public support. By 1916, Russia had lost approximately 1.7 million soldiers, with millions more wounded or captured. Food shortages plagued major cities, inflation soared, and military morale collapsed. The Tsar’s decision to personally command the army left Tsarina Alexandra and the controversial mystic Rasputin effectively governing, further damaging the monarchy’s credibility among both elites and masses.
Revolutionary organizations, though weakened by decades of repression and exile, began reorganizing as conditions deteriorated. The Social Revolutionary Party advocated peasant-based socialism, while the Social Democrats split into moderate Mensheviks and radical Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin. Lenin’s April Theses, calling for immediate withdrawal from the war and transfer of power to workers’ and peasants’ councils (soviets), initially seemed extreme even to fellow revolutionaries. However, the Provisional Government’s decision to continue the unpopular war created opportunities for more radical solutions.
The Revolution
The February Revolution began spontaneously on March 8, 1917 (February 23 by the old Russian calendar) when bread riots in Petrograd escalated into general strikes and military mutinies. Within days, the Tsarist government collapsed as soldiers joined demonstrators rather than suppressing them. Nicholas II abdicated on March 15, ending three centuries of Romanov rule. Power initially transferred to a Provisional Government led by liberal politicians, but this body shared authority uneasily with the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies, creating an unstable “dual power” arrangement.
The Provisional Government, headed successively by Prince Georgy Lvov and Alexander Kerensky, attempted to establish parliamentary democracy while continuing the war effort. This decision proved fatal to their legitimacy. Lenin’s return from exile in April, facilitated by German authorities hoping to destabilize Russia, transformed the political landscape. His slogan “Peace, Land, Bread” resonated powerfully with war-weary soldiers, land-hungry peasants, and starving urban workers. The Bolsheviks, initially a small minority, gained support by promising immediate solutions to Russia’s crises.
The October Revolution (November 7-8 by the Western calendar) unfolded as a carefully planned Bolshevik coup rather than a mass uprising. Lenin and Leon Trotsky, chairman of the Petrograd Soviet’s Military Revolutionary Committee, coordinated the seizure of key points throughout the capital. Bolshevik forces encountered minimal resistance; the assault on the Winter Palace, seat of the Provisional Government, involved fewer than a dozen casualties. The revolution’s success in Petrograd enabled Bolshevik forces to gradually extend control throughout the former Russian Empire, though this process required years of civil war.
Consequences
The immediate aftermath witnessed the Bolsheviks’ consolidation of power through increasingly authoritarian measures. Lenin’s government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March 1918, ending Russian participation in World War I at enormous territorial cost. The treaty ceded Ukraine, the Baltic provinces, Finland, and Poland—approximately one-third of the empire’s European territory and population. Domestically, the Bolsheviks dissolved the democratically elected Constituent Assembly in January 1918 when it produced a non-Bolshevik majority, effectively ending hopes for pluralistic democracy.
The Russian Civil War (1918-1922) devastated the country as Bolshevik “Red” forces fought various “White” armies, regional separatists, and foreign interventionist forces. The conflict’s brutality exceeded even World War I’s carnage, with both sides employing terror tactics against military and civilian populations. The Bolsheviks’ victory resulted partly from their control of industrial centers and unified command structure, while White forces remained politically divided and geographically scattered. The war’s conclusion enabled the establishment of the Soviet Union in 1922, with Lenin’s Communist Party exercising unchallenged authority.
The revolution’s global impact proved profound and lasting. The creation of the world’s first socialist state inspired communist movements worldwide while terrifying capitalist governments and conservative forces. The ideological divide between communism and capitalism would dominate international relations throughout the 20th century, culminating in the Cold War. The Soviet model influenced revolutionary movements across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, while Western nations developed new strategies to contain communist expansion. The revolution also demonstrated how modern warfare’s pressures could destroy even centuries-old autocratic systems, foreshadowing similar collapses following both world wars.
Key Developments
- 1914: Russia enters World War I, initially generating patriotic support for Tsar Nicholas II
- 1915: Series of devastating military defeats undermine confidence in Tsarist leadership
- 1916: Economic collapse intensifies with severe food shortages and inflation in major cities
- December 1916: Assassination of Rasputin reflects growing elite opposition to the monarchy
- March 8, 1917: Bread riots begin in Petrograd, escalating into general strikes and demonstrations
- March 12, 1917: Military units join protesters rather than suppressing demonstrations
- March 15, 1917: Tsar Nicholas II abdicates, ending Romanov dynasty and establishing Provisional Government
- April 16, 1917: Lenin returns from exile and announces radical April Theses
- July 1917: Failed military offensive further undermines Provisional Government’s authority
- September 1917: General Lavr Kornilov’s attempted coup weakens moderate forces
- November 7-8, 1917: Bolsheviks seize power in October Revolution with minimal resistance
- January 1918: Bolsheviks dissolve Constituent Assembly after losing democratic elections
- March 1918: Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ends Russian participation in World War I
- 1918-1922: Russian Civil War devastates country with millions of casualties
- December 1922: Formation of Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under Communist Party rule