The Russian Revolution and the Bolshevik Seizure of Power
Lenin decides it is now or never, and the Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace before dawn.
Quick facts
- Tsar abdicates
- March 1917
- Bolsheviks take Winter Palace
- 7 November 1917 (25 October, old calendar)
- Leader
- Vladimir Lenin
What happened
Russia was convulsed by revolution twice in 1917. The February Revolution forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate and installed a Provisional Government, but that government's decision to keep fighting the war alongside continued food shortages and mutinies eroded its support through the year. Vladimir Lenin, still in exile in Finland, judged this was the moment for a proletarian revolution; Bolshevik Red Guards militia seized the Winter Palace, seat of the Provisional Government, on 7 November 1917 (25 October by Russia's old calendar), and Lenin's government moved immediately to withdraw Russia from the war.
Why it matters
The revolution removed Russia, one of the Allies' largest armies, from the eastern theater and let Germany shift huge forces west for a final gamble in 1918. It also created the world's first Communist state, a consequence of the war that would shape international politics for the rest of the century.
How we know
World History Encyclopedia dates the Winter Palace's fall precisely and quotes Lenin's own private reasoning for acting when he did, drawing on published Bolshevik-era correspondence and later historical scholarship, including work by Alan Wood and Antony Beevor.
Sources
- World History Encyclopedia. Bolshevik Revolution · Reputable sourceworldhistory.org · The domain "worldhistory.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Imperial War Museums. The Russian February Revolution · Reputable sourceiwm.org.uk · The domain "iwm.org.uk" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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Related timelines
- The Cold War → · How the state Lenin founded became a Cold War superpower