The Russian Revolutions of 1917 in Ten Steps

 

Third Anniversary Poster, "Down with Capitalism, Long Live the Dictatorship of the Proletariat!"

Telegram to the Tsar

Position serious. Anarchy in the capital. Government paralyzed. Arrangements for transport, supply, and fuel in complete disorder. General discontent increasing. Disorderly street firing. Part of troops firing on each other. Essential to trust someone who holds confidence of the nation with formation of a new government. There must be no delay. I pray God that in this hour responsibility will not fall on the wearer of the Crown.

Rodzianko, President of the Duma, 

26 February (11 March) 1917

1. January–February: Riots, Workers Strikes, Soldiers' Mutiny Trigger the February Revolution.

2. March: Tsar Nicholas II Abdicates.

3. March: Provisional Government Formed.

4. April: Lenin Returns from Switzerland and Publishes His April Theses.

5. June: Kerensky (Second Brusilov) Offensive Fails.

The war, it turned out, was an exam, and the tsarist government failed that exam again and again in the eyes of its citizens. Repeated efforts to alter the situation, from the very bottom to the very top of society, came to naught. The only real question was when and how the forces of opposition would finally get stronger than the forces of tsarist rule. What is astonishing in this regard is not that the tsarist government collapsed in 1917, but that it survived  1915.  

                                                                                    Joshua Sanborn, Imperial Apocalypse  

6. July: Armed Demonstrations of Workers and Sailors in Petrograd. Lenin Flees. Kerensky Becomes Premier.

7. August: Kornilov Mutiny Suppressed.

8. September: Bolsheviks Gain Control of Petrograd Soviet.

9. October: Lenin Returns. Bolsheviks Seize Power, Arrest Members of the Provisional Government—the October Revolution.

10. October: Lenin Issues Decrees Calling for the Abolition of Private Ownership and an Immediate Ceasefire.