The Russian revolutions of 1917

Military failures, shortages, and casualties undermined Russia’s monarchy during the First World War. Strikes and demonstrations expanded in Petrograd early in 1917, and some soldiers joined rather than repressing them. Nicholas II abdicated. A Provisional Government attempted to administer the state, while councils of workers and soldiers also exercised influence. Peace, land, and food became urgent demands within a political situation containing competing centres of authority.

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The government continued the war and did not resolve land demands rapidly. Lenin returned and encouraged the Bolsheviks to campaign for soviet power. Support grew in factories and military units, while the Kornilov affair further weakened government. Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd in October under the calendar then used in Russia, corresponding to November in the Gregorian calendar. Decrees on peace and land accompanied the creation of new governing institutions.

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Withdrawal from the world war was followed by civil war involving Red and White forces, other movements, and foreign intervention. Requisition, economic breakdown, and violence altered everyday life. The New Economic Policy restored some market activity in 1921, and the Soviet Union formed in 1922. Party-state institutions increasingly restricted competing political claims. Events in Russia also influenced socialist, colonial, and anti-communist movements, carrying disputes about land and authority into international politics.

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