Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution was a series of revolutions in the Russian Empire during 1917. The events destroyed the Tsarist autocracy, and helped to create the Soviet Union.

The first revolution was on 8 March 1917, but in Russia it was recorded as 28 February 1917. This happened because Russia still used the Julian calendar instead of the Gregorian calendar, which is what we use for measuring dates today. After the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to step down and was replaced with a socialist provisional government. This government was meant to rule for a short time until the country became stable again.

The second revolution, the October Revolution, was in October of the Julian calendar. Communist Bolsheviks replaced the provisional government, and created the Soviet Union. The royal family was put under house arrest, but later shot and killed. The term Red October is used to describe the events of this month.

Background Of The Revolution

During the 1890s, improvements in Russian industry put more jobs in cities. This made the cities larger as people moved there. The workers in the cities, with increasing levels of education, began to develop an interest in politics and the creation of political parties in order to try and change their lives for the better. The conditions that they lived and worked in were horrible. Poor people from other parts of the Russian Empire, like Poland and Ukraine, also created their own parties to try and stop the Russians oppressing them.

This added to the people's anger, and after the Tsar's guards fired at a peaceful protest of workers, a rebellion began. It did not really change anything, but it meant that Nicholas promised to create an elected Parliament, or Duma.

The Duma was elected for the first time in March 1906. However, there were both left-wing and right-wing opponents to it, including socialists and people who were very loyal to the Tsar. There were also arguments over whether or not to take power from the Tsar and give it to more ordinary people. Nicholas eventually stopped the Duma three times, and because that meant they could not say anything against Nicholas, people became angry.

In 1914, Russia joined World War I. At first, people thought this was a good decision, and the country was united by patriotism. But there were huge problems with supplies, and by 1915 many soldiers were being sent to fight without any guns. Communication was bad, and Army officers argued a lot. That meant that they did not make plans well. The soldiers became unhappy, and over 3,000,000 Russians died. St. Petersburg was also renamed to Petrograd by the tsar in 1914 because he thought St. Petersburg sounds too German, especially for a capital.

In 1915, the Tsar took personal control of the Russian Army, and moved to the Army headquarters. This was a mistake. Not only did he not improve the situation, he began to be blamed for it. The fact that he was not near the government also meant that his wife Queen Alexandra was left in charge. Whenever the Duma tried to warn her that the people were angry, she would say they were lying, so she would ignore them. She even ignored a report by the secret police, the Okhrana, which said that a revolution might happen if things did not get better for ordinary people.

The February Revolution

The first revolution began with a series of strikes in early February 1917. People in food queues in Petrograd, began a demonstration. They were joined by thousands of women, who left the fabrics factories where they worked. The strike spread through the capital. By February 25, most of St. Petersburg's factories had to close.

On the evening of February 25, Nicholas II sent the chief of the army in Petrograd a telegram. It told him to use his soldiers to stop the strikes. The army chief did that, but the soldiers joined the workers instead of stopping them. The police also joined them. The government's power collapsed.

On March 15, Nicholas abdicated. The control of Russia was given to a socialist provisional (temporary) government.

Conditions from February to October

After the February Revolution, the Provisional Government was challenged by a large group of workers in St. Petersburg - the Petrograd Soviet. The Government leader, Alexander Kerensky, tried to improve things by allowing freedom of speech and letting political prisoners go, but people were becoming more unhappy. There was not enough food. Wages went down. The national debt grew to 10 million rubles.

Vladimir Lenin arrived in Petrograd in April 1917. He was a Communist while the provisional government was Socialist. He had been exiled to Switzerland by the Tsar, but the Provisional Government had allowed him to come back. He began to lead a Communist group called the Bolsheviks.

In July, the Bolsheviks spent four days demonstrating against the Government. The military attacked them. Lenin was forced to escape to Finland until August, when the Bolsheviks were asked to help defend the government against a takeover by the army. The result of this was that their reputation improved. The government gave them weapons.

The Provisional Government's reputation kept getting worse as time went on. The Bolsheviks' reputation got better because they refused to work with them until both sides could compromise.

October Revolution

On October 10, the Bolshevik's Central Committee voted to start a revolution. One began in Estonia on October 23. Another started in St. Petersburg two days later. This time the revolution was mostly peaceful. The Bolsheviks' Red Army took over many government buildings without a fight - only two people were killed. It ended with the takeover of the Tsar's old Winter Palace on the morning of October 26, when the Provisional Government was arrested.

The Soviets took power and formed a Congress (a new Government) which began on October 25. Some members who were not Bolsheviks walked out during its first few meetings, but this made little difference to its decisions. The people who left were taunted by Leon Trotsky on their way out. He told them to go "where you belong... the dustbin of history!" All parties who opposed the Bolsheviks were eventually broken up, and their leaders were arrested.

The Congress began to get rid of private property. This meant that all land and money was to be owned by the people, and control of factories was given to their workers.

The Aftermath

Several countries that had been in the Russian Empire before the Revolution, such as Estonia and the Ukraine, had been asking for independence since February. As the new government formed they declared independence, and were allowed it.

In Russia, the revolution was severely challenged by countries that were not Communist and by the invading White Armies. In July 1918, countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and France sent more than 15 armies to fight the Bolsheviks. The ex-Tsar and his family were shot to stop them from being freed by the White Armies. In order to win the war, Lenin began a plan to divert food and supplies to the Communist Army. The plan worked. The Bolsheviks won the war, but the lack of food meant that between 3 and 10 million people died of hunger.

The Third Russian Revolution was an anarchist revolution against the Bolsheviks and the White Army. It lasted from 1918 to 1922.

Some European countries recognized the Soviet Union as a proper country in the early 1920s. The United States refused to until 1933.