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Russian Revolutions of 1917
February and October 1917· Event· Europe
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Two revolutions in 1917: the first toppled the tsar, the second put Lenin's Bolsheviks in power.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
War defeats, food shortages and inflation drove strikes and mutinies in Petrograd (St Petersburg). In February 1917 (March by the Western calendar), soldiers joined the protesters and Tsar Nicholas II abdicated. A Provisional Government kept fighting the war, while workers' and soldiers' councils (soviets) competed for power. Vladimir Lenin, returned from exile with German help, promised 'peace, land and bread'. In October (November) the Bolsheviks seized Petrograd with little bloodshed and soon sought peace with Germany.
Why it matters
They created the world's first communist state, took Russia out of the war in 1918, and set the stage for the Russian Civil War and, later, the Cold War.
How we know
Government decrees, newspapers, diaries, eyewitness accounts such as John Reed's Ten Days That Shook the World, and imperial and Soviet archives opened more fully after 1991.
Still debated
Historians debate whether October was a popular revolution or a coup by a small party, and how much German money mattered to the Bolsheviks.
Connections (3)
▸Russo-Japanese War sparked the 1905 revolution, a prelude to Russian Revolutions of 1917Mostly agreed
The connection
Defeat by Japan humiliated the tsar's government and, with economic hardship, set off the 1905 revolution: strikes, mutinies such as on the battleship Potemkin, and the first workers' councils (soviets). Nicholas II survived by granting a parliament, the Duma, but kept most power. Lenin later called 1905 the 'dress rehearsal' for 1917.
When and how
Russia, from Bloody Sunday in St Petersburg in January 1905 to 1907; defeats at Mukden and Tsushima that year deepened the crisis.
How sure are we?
The timing is well documented: Bloody Sunday came weeks after Port Arthur fell. Historians agree defeat fed 1905, though the unrest had deeper roots.
Debates and open questions
How directly 1905 led to 1917 is debated; the tsarist system might have survived without the strain of World War I.
▸Russian Revolutions of 1917 took Russia out of World War IWell documented
The connection
The Bolsheviks had promised peace. After seizing power they signed an armistice in December 1917 and then the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918, giving up Poland, the Baltic lands, Finland and Ukraine. Germany moved dozens of divisions west for its spring 1918 offensive, its last chance to win before American troops arrived in force.
When and how
Brest-Litovsk (now Brest, Belarus), signed March 3, 1918, between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers.
How we know
The armistice and treaty texts and German troop-transfer records are fully documented.
Debates and open questions
Whether Germany could have won by moving more troops west, instead of occupying vast eastern lands, is debated.
▸Russian Revolutions of 1917 led to Russian Civil WarWell documented
The connection
The October seizure of power, the closing of the elected Constituent Assembly in January 1918, and the harsh Brest-Litovsk peace convinced many Russians the Bolsheviks had to be fought. Officers, liberals, rival socialists and minority nations rose against them, and foreign powers intervened. Lenin's regime answered with the Red Army and the Cheka secret police.
When and how
Across the former Russian Empire from late 1917; the Constituent Assembly was dispersed in Petrograd on January 19, 1918.
How we know
Bolshevik decrees, White leaders' memoirs and foreign intervention records trace the war directly to the October seizure and its aftermath.
Debates and open questions
Whether civil war was inevitable, or the Bolsheviks' refusal to share power provoked it, is debated.