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Russia 1917

1917–1918 · 17 articles · about 105 min of reading

In March 1917 the Petrograd garrison mutinied, the Tsar renounced the throne and power passed to the Provisional Government, which had to share it with the soviets. The failed Kerensky Offensive and the Kornilov affair undermined that government, and the biggest winners were the Bolsheviks, who seized power in November. Lenin concluded an armistice with the Central Powers, and after a German offensive accepted at Brest a peace dictated by force. The war in the east was over, and Germany could move divisions to the west. The series runs from the February Revolution through the July Days, the Kornilov affair and the Bolshevik coup to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion, one of the turning points of the civil war.

1917

  1. 0112 March 1917EventKey moment6 minFebruary RevolutionThe starting point of the series: the garrison's mutiny ends tsarist rule in the capital, and in the Tauride Palace the "dual power" of Duma and Soviet is born, shaping the months ahead.On 12 March 1917 the Petrograd garrison joined the strikers. Tsarist rule in the capital collapsed; a Duma Committee and a Soviet arose in the Tauride Palace.
  2. 0215 March 1917EventKey moment6 minAbdication of Nicholas IIThe end of the monarchy: the Tsar is brought to abdicate not by revolutionaries but by his own generals, convinced that only this will master the revolution and keep the war going.Late on 15 March 1917 at Pskov Nicholas II gave up the throne for himself and his son in favour of his brother Michael. The next day Michael declined the crown.
  3. 0316 April 1917Event5 minLenin returns to PetrogradLenin enters the stage: the Germans carry him across their territory, hoping that this implacable opponent of the war will weaken Russia from within.On 16 April 1917 Lenin arrived at the Finland Station in Petrograd. He had crossed Germany with Berlin's consent in a carriage called "sealed".
  4. 041–16 July 1917BattleKey moment10 minKerensky OffensiveThe Russian army's last offensive was meant to strengthen revolutionary Russia, and became instead one of the nails in the coffin of the Provisional Government.The last Russian offensive of the war. In July 1917 the South-Western Front broke through at Zborów and Stanisławów, but the attack soon petered out.
  5. 0516 July 1917Event8 minThe July Days in PetrogradThe armed rising in the capital ends in defeat for the Bolsheviks, but Lenin draws the lesson that power must be taken by an armed rising.On 16–18 July 1917 soldiers, Kronstadt sailors and workers in Petrograd demanded "all power to the soviets". The rising collapsed and Lenin had to hide.
  6. 0624 July 1917Event3 minFall of Tarnopol and StanislauThe summer offensive ends in defeat: the army retreats in disorder, and with Tarnopol and Stanislau all the gains of the Brusilov and Kerensky offensives are lost.On 24 July 1917 the Austrians entered Stanislau, and on the morning of 25 July the Germans entered Tarnopol. Retreating Russian soldiers looted both towns.
  7. 071–5 September 1917Battle8 minBattle of RigaThe fall of Riga raises fears in Petrograd of a German march on the capital, and a few days later the quarrel between Kornilov and Kerensky turns into the Kornilov affair.On 1–5 September 1917 Hutier's German Eighth Army crossed the Daugava at Ikšķile, took Riga and forced the Russian Twelfth Army back, but failed to encircle it.
  8. 088 September 1917EventKey moment6 minKornilov affairA turning point of the revolution: Kerensky takes the message brought from Mogilev for an ultimatum, sees a conspiracy and dismisses the commander-in-chief during the night.On 8 September 1917 Vladimir Lvov passed General Kornilov's "demands" to Kerensky, who took them for a coup and that night dismissed the commander-in-chief.
  9. 0914 September 1917Event4 minCollapse of the Kornilov affairThe Bolsheviks gain most from the defence of the capital against Kornilov, and the Red Guard keeps the weapons issued for the fight.On 13 September 1917 General Krymov shot himself in Petrograd; next day General Alekseyev arrested Kornilov in Mogilev. The revolt collapsed without a fight.
  10. 107 November 1917EventKey moment7 minOctober RevolutionThe Bolshevik coup: the Petrograd Soviet's units take the key points of the capital almost without a fight, and their committee announces that the Provisional Government is overthrown.On 7 November 1917 the Bolsheviks seized Petrograd and overthrew the Provisional Government. The Winter Palace fell at night; the Soviet Congress took power.
  11. 118 November 1917Event5 minThe Council of People's Commissars is formedThe new regime gets Lenin's government and the Decree on Peace, which he takes seriously: the road from the Smolny leads straight to the talks at Brest-Litovsk.On 8 November 1917 the Congress of Soviets passed the decrees on peace and land and set up a Bolshevik government, the Sovnarkom, under Lenin.
  12. 1215 December 1917EventKey moment6 minArmistice of Brest-LitovskThe Eastern Front falls silent, and for the Germans the armistice is a great strategic victory: they can move divisions to the West before the spring offensive.On 15 December 1917 at Brest-Litovsk Soviet Russia and the Central Powers signed an armistice from the Baltic to the Black Sea, taking Russia out of the war.

1918

  1. 1319 January 1918EventKey moment5 minDispersal of the Constituent AssemblyThe Bolsheviks disperse the Constituent Assembly that Russia had awaited since the fall of tsarism, and the hope of a democratic end to the revolution dies.At dawn on 19 January 1918 the guard broke up the Constituent Assembly; that evening Soviet power dissolved it. Russia's first free parliament met only once.
  2. 149 February 1918EventKey moment6 minPeace of Brest-Litovsk with UkraineThe Central Powers make peace with Ukraine, and the next day Trotsky declares that Russia is ending the war but will not sign a peace on German terms.On 9 February 1918 the Central Powers made peace with the Ukrainian People's Republic at Brest. For grain they promised it Chełm Land, angering the Poles.
  3. 1518 February – 3 March 1918BattleKey moment10 minOperation FaustschlagGermany's answer: it ends the armistice and advances east, the Russian army barely resists, and failed negotiations turn into a dictated peace.On 18 February – 3 March 1918 Germany, later joined by Austria-Hungary, took Livonia, Estonia, Belarus and part of Ukraine almost unopposed. Lenin made peace.
  4. 163 March 1918EventKey moment6 minTreaty of Brest-LitovskThe end of the war in the east: after Trotsky's "neither war nor peace" and the German offensive, Russia leaves the war on terms dictated to it by force.On 3 March 1918 Soviet Russia signed peace with the Central Powers at Brest. It lost Poland, Lithuania, Courland, Livonia, Estonia, Finland and Ukraine.
  5. 1725 May 1918Event6 minRevolt of the Czechoslovak LegionThe epilogue: the Czechoslovaks, who only wanted to leave Russia, keep their weapons, and their revolt becomes one of the turning points of the civil war.On 25 May 1918 Trotsky ordered the Czechoslovaks travelling on the Trans-Siberian to Vladivostok disarmed. The legionaries took up arms and seized stations.