Russian Revolution
In summary
The Russian Revolution (1917-1922) ended tsarist rule and brought the Bolsheviks to power in Russia. It unfolded in two stages: the February Revolution of 1917, triggered by strikes, famine and military defeats in the First World War, which forced Nicholas II to abdicate, and the October Revolution, in which Lenin and the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and seized power. A bloody civil war followed between the Red Army and the White Army, marked by famine, political terror and foreign intervention. The Bolshevik victory led, in 1922, to the founding of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the first communist state in history, whose influence shaped the entire 20th century.
What you need to know
At the start of the 20th century, the Russian Empire was an autocratic state ruled by Tsar Nicholas II, marked by deep social inequality, industrial backwardness compared with Western Europe, and the absence of political representation for most of the population. The failed revolution of 1905, brutally suppressed, had already revealed the regime's fragility. Russia's entry into the First World War in 1914 worsened the situation: successive military defeats, food shortages and economic collapse exasperated the population, while millions of soldiers deserted the front.
In February 1917 (March in the Gregorian calendar), strikes and demonstrations broke out in Petrograd demanding bread and an end to the war. The movement quickly turned into an uprising: the capital's garrison mutinied and joined the protesters. Losing control of the situation, Nicholas II abdicated on 2 March 1917 (15 March Gregorian), ending more than three centuries of Romanov rule. A provisional government, first led by liberals and then by the moderate socialist Alexander Kerensky, was installed but struggled to meet popular expectations, particularly on peace and land reform.
The dual power that emerged between the provisional government and the soviets, councils of workers and soldiers won over to revolutionary ideas, favoured the rise of the Bolsheviks. Having returned from exile, Vladimir Lenin called for all power to be transferred to the soviets. On the night of 24-25 October 1917 (6-7 November Gregorian), Bolshevik Red Guards seized the strategic points of Petrograd and stormed the Winter Palace, seat of the provisional government, which collapsed with almost no resistance. The Second Congress of Soviets ratified the seizure of power and adopted the first Bolshevik decrees, notably on peace and land.
The Bolshevik seizure of power triggered a civil war that tore Russia apart from 1918 to 1922, pitting the Red Army, organised by Leon Trotsky, against the counter-revolutionary forces of the White Army, backed by several foreign powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan). This conflict was accompanied by a policy of terror carried out by the Cheka, the Bolshevik political police, as well as a devastating famine that killed several million people. Despite their opponents' initial superiority, the Bolsheviks managed to unify their forces and prevail militarily across the country.
The Bolshevik victory led, on 30 December 1922, to the proclamation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the first state officially to declare itself communist. The Russian Revolution radically transformed the country's society, economy and institutions, and exerted a considerable influence on revolutionary movements and international power relations throughout the 20th century, until the dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica, article « Russian Revolution of 1917 »
- Nicolas Werth, Histoire de l'Union soviétique, Presses universitaires de France
- Orlando Figes, La Révolution russe, 1891-1924 : la tragédie d'un peuple
- Marc Ferro, La Révolution de 1917, Albin Michel
Key Events
Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power in Petrograd, overthrowing the provisional government and triggering a civil war that transforms Russia into the world's first communist state.
The Union Treaty creates the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, uniting Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Transcaucasia in a communist federal state that will become a world superpower.