Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin had died in 1924, and in the ensuing power struggle the Georgian Joseph Stalin came to the fore as the General Secretary and the de facto leader of Soviet Russia. 

What was Stalin’s Five Year Plan?

Between 1928 and 1932, Stalin’s Five Year Plan was targeted at collectivizing agriculture and developing heavy industry. This was the first of four so-called plans, which took place in 1928-32, 1933-37, 1938-42 and 1946-53.

After a period of relative economic liberalism Stalin decided that a wholesale restructuring of the economy was needed, claiming that unless the Soviets caught up with the capitalist western powers they would be destroyed.

Stalin famously stated: ”We are fifty or a hundred years behind the advanced countries. We must make up this gap in ten years. Either we do it or they will crush us.”

The requisition of grains from wealthy peasants (kulaks) during the forced collectivization in Timashyovsky District, Kuban Soviet Union. 1933. Image credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Credit: Credited to U. Druzhelubov. The date of death is impossible to determine therefore PMA is not known., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Mechanisation and collectivisation

Stalin’s first Five Year Plan involved the mechanisation and collectivisation of agriculture in a bid to make it more efficient. It also involved the opening of huge new industrial centres in previously uninhabited areas rich in natural resources, such as Magnitogorsk, built near huge iron and steel reserves east of the Ural Mountains.

Economic activity was pushed in the direction of heavy industries, which lead to a 350 percent increase in output, in a bid to prepare Russia for an industrialised war. The first Five Year Plan also had a revolutionary effect on society, as millions left the farms to pursue new lives in the cities.

The human cost

Despite these successes, Stalin’s Five Year Plan was not an unqualified success. In addition to mechanisation and collectivisation, key features of the first Five Year Plan included the disastrous impact it had on human lives. Aside from the terrible conditions in the new factories, where unskilled workers had little idea of how to operate machines, the collectivisation of agriculture was ruinous.

Political prisoners eating lunch in the Minlag ‘special camp’ coal mine. In ‘special camps’ prisoners had to wear prison garb with personal numbers. Image credit: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Image Credit: Kauno IX forto muziejus / Kaunas 9th Fort Museum, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Millions died in the subsequent famine and peasant disturbances. An entire social class of wealthier peasants – the Kulaks, who had accumulated more land, livestock, or wealth than their fellow peasants — were accused of sabotaging the progress of the Plan. Consequently they were either massacred or imprisoned in Gulags, which were forced labour camps, so that the state could exploit their land for collectivisation.

As many of the deaths were in non-Russian areas such as Ukraine, the Five Year Plan created lasting divisions between Russians and non-Russians.

The policies also played a role in causing the Holodomor, a mass famine in the Ukraine, and Soviet inactivity in response to the catastrophe has lead to a recent re-categorisation of events as a genocide against the Ukrainian people.

World War Two

In World War Two, the tensions caused by the first Five Year Plan proved consequential. Ukrainians, for example, who were subject to its disastrous effects were more willing to collaborate with the Nazis against the USSR.

The first Five Year Plan actually lasted 4 years, as it supposedly met all of its objectives earlier than expected. On the other hand, this can be ascribed to Russian propaganda efforts. Nevertheless, the first plan and those that followed, which continued the general objectives of the first while also emphasising the production of military hardware, were critical in preparing Russia for an industrialised war.

It seems unlikely that Russia could have resisted Nazi invasion without the immense industrialisation program that had been undertaken in the years prior. However, the vast cost in human life of the Five Year Plans and the invasion of Russia itself remain a dark stain on the history of the 20th century.

So who exactly were these men, and what did they do for the USSR?

1. Vladimir Lenin (1917-1924)

Lenin was a revolutionary socialist: exiled under Tsar Nicholas II for his political beliefs, he returned following the February Revolution of 1917 and played a major role in the October Revolution the same year.

His political ideology was centred on Marxism (communism), but he believed Russia could never make such a dramatic departure from centuries of autocratic rule by the tsars. Instead, he advocated for a period of socialism, a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’, to transition from one political state to the next.

The 1917 revolutions were far from a complete victory however, and the next few years saw Russia engulfed in a bitter civil war. Lenin had assumed that there would be widespread support amongst the working classes for Bolshevism – and whilst there was support, it was not as much as he had hoped for. It took 3 years for the White Army to be defeated.

In 1920, Lenin also introduced his divisive New Economic Plan (NEP): described as a retreat by some, NEP was a kind of state-run capitalism, designed to get Russia’s economy back on its feet following a disastrous five years of war and famine.

A photograph of Lenin by Pavel Zhukov, taken in 1920. It was widely disseminated as publicity material across Russia. Image credit: Public Domain.

By the second half of 1921, Lenin was seriously ill. His incapacitation gave his rival Stalin a chance to build up a power base. Despite attempts to dictate his successor (Lenin advocated for Stalin’s removal, replacing him with his ally Trotsky), Stalin’s influence and ability to portray himself as close to Lenin won out.

Lenin suffered a stroke in March 1923, and died in January 1924. His body was embalmed, and is still on display in a mausoleum in Red Square today. Although he showed little care for the immense suffering inflicted on the Russian people during the revolution, civil war and beyond, Lenin is credited with being one of the most important – and often revered – men in Russian history.

2. Joseph Stalin (1924-1953)

Stalin was born in Georgia in 1878: his real name is Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, but he adopted the name ‘Stalin’ which literally means ‘man of steel’. Stalin began to read Marx’s works and join local socialist groups when he was at seminary school.

After joining the Bolsheviks, Stalin met Lenin for the first time in 1905, and quickly began to climb the ranks within the Bolshevik party. In 1913, he was exiled to Siberia for 4 years, returning just in time to play a part in the revolutions of 1917.

During Lenin’s premiership, Stalin consolidated his position as a senior party official, although his relationship with Lenin was far from perfect. The two clashed over questions of ethno-nationalism and foreign trade.

Stalin quickly assumed power on Lenin’s death: as General Secretary of the party, he was in prime position to do so. He ensured those loyal to him were dispersed through his new administration and across the country in order maintain his position of power.

A new ideology, ‘Socialism in One Country’ was adopted by the party, and in 1928, the first of Stalin’s Five Year Plans was announced. This basically amounted to rapid industrialisation (Stalin was concerned about threats from the West) and collectivisation of farming: this was met with opposition, and resulted in the deaths of millions, both through famine and targeting purges of kulaks (land-owning peasants).

A cultural revolution followed, as conservative social policies were implemented and old ‘elite’ culture was bulldozed, in favour of culture for the masses. By the 1930s, Stalin had begun a period known as ‘The Great Terror’, where any potential opposition was quashed in a brutal series of purges.

After initially signing pacts with Stalin, Hitler turned on his former ally and invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. Despite heavy casualties (including famously the Siege of Leningrad), Soviet forces held out, engaging the Wehrmacht in a war of attrition that they were not fully prepared for. The Soviets began launching attacks of their own on weakened German forces, and pushed back into Poland, and eventually, Germany itself.

Stalin’s later years in power were characterized by increasingly hostile relationships with the West, and growing paranoia at home. He died of a stroke in 1953.

3. Georgy Malenkov (March-September 1953)

Malenkov’s inclusion in this list is divisive: he was de facto leader of the Soviet Union for the 6 months following Stalin’s death. With links to Lenin, Malenkov had been one of Stalin’s favourites, playing a major roles in the purges and the development of Soviet missiles during the Second World War.

When Stalin died, Malenkov was his (initially) unchallenged successor. It did not long for the rest of the Politburo members to challenge this, and he was forced to resigned as head of the party apparatus although allowed to remain as premier.

The front page of Pravda announced the severity of Stalin’s stroke – a day before his eventual death. Image credit: Public Domain.

Khrushchev mounted a serious leadership challenge, and following a brief power struggle, Malenkov was forced to resign as premier. Following a failed coup in 1957, he was briefly exiled to Kazakhstan and returned to Moscow once this was over, living the rest of his life out quietly.

4. Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1964)

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev was born in western Russia in 1897: he worked his way up the party hierarchy following his role as a political commissar during the Russian Civil War. A supporter of Stalin’s purges, he was dispatched to govern the Ukrainian USSR, where he enthusiastically continued purges.

^{Following the end of the Second World War (known as the Great Patriotic War in Russia), Stalin recalled him from Ukraine to Moscow as one of his most trusted advisors. Khrushchev was involved in a power struggle with Malenkov after Stalin’s death in 1953, emerging victorious as the First (General) Secretary of the Communist Party.} 

He is perhaps most famous for his ‘Secret Speech’ in 1956, in which he denounced Stalin’s policies and announced a relaxation of the repressive Stalinist regime, including permitting foreign travel and tacitly acknowledging the West’s more desirable living standards. Whilst this rhetoric was welcomed by many, Khrushchev’s policies were not in fact that effective, and the Soviet Union struggled to keep up with the West.

Khrushchev also backed the development of the Soviet space programme, which in turn helped to lead to some of the most tense periods of the Cold War, including the Cuban Missile Crisis. For the majority of his time in office, Khrushchev enjoyed popular support, thanks to victories including the Suez Crisis, Syrian Crisis and the launching of Sputnik.

However, his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis, combined with his ineffective domestic policies, led members of the party to turn against him. Khrushchev was deposed in October 1964 – pensioned off generously, he died of natural causes in 1971.

5. Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982)

Brezhnev had the second longest term as General Secretary of the Communist Party (18 years): whilst he brought stability, the Soviet economy also seriously stagnated during his tenure.

Becoming a member of the Politburo in 1957, Brezhnev ousted Khrushchev in 1964 and took over his position as Secretary of the Communist Party – a role which was tantamount to leader. Keen to minimise dissent in the party, Brezhnev was a natural conservative and encouraged decisions to be made unanimously rather than dictating them.

Colourised photo of Leonid Brezhnev. Image credit: Public Domain.

However, this conservatism also manifested in an opposition to reform, and lack of progress. Living standards and technologies in the USSR began to lag dramatically behind those in the West. Despite a massive arms build-up and an increased global presence, frustrations grew within the Soviet Union.

Corruption also proved to be a major problem, and there was little done by Brezhnev’s regime to combat this. Brezhnev suffered a major stroke in 1975, and effectively became a puppet leader: decisions were made by other senior politicians, including his eventual successor, Andropov. He died in 1982.

6. Yuri Andropov (1982-1984)

Andropov was born in 1914 and his early life is relatively obscure: he gave away a variety of stories about the year and place of his birth and his parentage.

Named Chairman of the KGB (the USSR’s national security agency) in 1967, Andropov wasted no time on cracking down on dissent and ‘undesirables’. Following Brezhnev’s stroke in 1975, Andropov was heavily involved in policymaking, alongside Gromyko (Foreign Minister) and Grechko / Ustinov (successive Defence Ministers).

In 1982, Andropov formally succeeded Brezhnev as General Secretary of the Soviet Union: he was totally incapable of reinvigorating or saving the increasingly worrying state of the Soviet economy, and further escalated Cold War tensions with the US.

Andropov died in February 1984, 15 months after formally being appointed leader. Whilst his time in office is relatively unremarkable, he did begin to streamline the party system, investigating corruption and inefficiency. Some see his legacy as the generation of reformers who emerged in the years following his death.

7. Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985)

Chernenko held the role of General Secretary for 15 months: many see Chernenko’s election as a symbolic return to policies of the Brezhnev era, and he did little to ease hostilities with the US, going as far as to boycott the 1984 Olympics.

For most of his premiership his health was seriously failing and he left little tangible mark on the Soviet Union, dying from chronic emphysema (he had smoked from the age of 9) in March 1985.

8. Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991)

Gorbachev was born in 1931, and grew up under Stalin’s rule. He joined the Communist party and went to study in Moscow. After Stalin’s death, he became an advocate of the de-Stalinization proposed by Khrushchev.

As a result, he rose through the ranks of the party, eventually joining the Politburo in 1979.

Gorbachev was elected General Secretary (de facto premier) in 1985 and he promised reform: he is most well known for two of his policies – glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring).

Glasnost meant relaxing rules surrounding press regulation and restrictions on freedom of speech, whilst perestroika involved the decentralisation of government, the relaxation of rules on political dissent and an increased openness with the West. Gorbachev and Reagan worked together to limit nuclear armament and effectively end the Cold War.

Perestroika as a policy undermined the idea of a one-party state, and increasingly nationalistic sentiments from countries within the Soviet Union became problematic. Faced with dissent from both within and outside the party, and attacked in several coups, the Soviet Union eventually dissolved, and Gorbachev resigned his office in 1991.

Whilst he may have been the last leader of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev’s legacy is mixed. Some view his regime as a total failure, whilst others admire his commitment to peace, curtailing human rights abuses and his role in ending the Cold War.

History of The Winter Palace

The Winter Palace was built in 1732, and continual improvements and revisions were made during the 18th and 19th century. In 1837, the palace was severely damaged by fire which destroyed nearly all the palace interiors, but was immediately rebuilt within one year on orders from Tsar Nicholas. The palace was constructed on a monumental scale, intended to reflect the might and power of Imperial Russia. From the palace, the Tsar ruled over 8,600,000 square miles (almost a sixth of the earth’s landmass) and over 125 million subjects by the end of the 19th century.

Several architects participated in designing the Winter Palace, most notably Bartolomeo Rastrelli in the Elizabethan Baroque style. The palace’s principal facade is 215 metres long and 30 metres high, and covers an area of 233,345 square metres. (It has been calculated that the palace contains 1,886 doors, 1,945 windows, 1,500 rooms and 117 staircases!)

Alexander II was the last of the Tsars to genuinely use the Winter Palace as a main residence. After his assassination in 1881, it was clear that the palace was too large to be properly secured. Alexander III and Nicholas II consequently both set up their family residences at suburban palaces, yet the Winter Palace remained in use for official ceremonies and receptions.

In 1905, the Winter Palace bore witness to the Bloody Sunday massacre where thousands of striking workers marched towards the palace in peaceful protest and were met by troops with orders to fire at will. Although Tsar Nicholas II wasn’t responsible, this event marked the beginning of the end for the Imperial family.

The official opening of the first Duma took place at the Winter Palace in 1906, and Nicholas II returned to the palace to accept the salute of troops departing for war in 1914. However, after Nicholas II’s abdication and the February Revolution of 1917, the palace operated briefly as the seat of the Provisional Government. In October that year, Bolshevik-led revolutionary forces besieged and then stormed the palace – an iconic moment in the Russian Revolution and formation of the Soviet state that was to rule Russia for most of the 20th century.

The Winter Palace today

The palace dominates Palace Square and the south embankment of the Neva River and plays a central political, symbolic and cultural role in Russia. (The palace is adjacent to the site of Peter the Great’s original Winter Palace, built in 1708, which is now the site of the Hermitage Theatre.)

In 1917, the Winter Palace and its precincts were declared part of the now world-famous State Hermitage Museum.

Getting to The Winter Palace

It’s hard to miss the Winter Palace and the Hermitage if you’re in St Petersburg. The nearest metro stop is Admiralteyskaya, a 5 minute walk away.

However, in 1917, this previously autocratic nation undertook a bold and world-altering change: revolution. Overthrowing the tsar and hundreds of years of strict tradition, the new Soviet regime that emerged sought to restructure society in new and radical ways, including for women.

Over the next 70 years in the Soviet Union (1922-1991), women found themselves with greater opportunities for autonomy and independence. Yet while Soviet doctrine promoted equality, this was not always the reality. So, what was life really like for women in the USSR?

The Russian Revolution

In 1917, the tsarist regime was toppled in Russia during the February Revolution, with a Provisional Government established in its place. Women feature in the story of this historic event from (quite literally) day one, as a key catalyst of this first revolution was International Women’s Day on 8 March (23 Feb in the old Russian calendar).

Tens of thousands of women flooded the streets of Petrograd, protesting the hardships they had endured and wielding banners that read “feed the children of the defenders of the motherland” and called for “bread and peace“. By the afternoon they were joined by striking factory workers across the city, until over 150,000 occupied the Russian capital. The following week, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated.

International Women’s Day march in Petrograd, 1917

Image Credit: Public domain

The new Provisional Government granted women the vote and afforded them equal rights in civil service. At this time, record numbers of women joined the army, with combat units made up entirely of women emerging from May 1917.

Bolshevik ideology

In October 1917, the Communist Bolsheviks seized power in Russia during the October Revolution, once again stirring the country into a political furor. After a fierce civil war, in 1922 the victorious Bolsheviks formed the Soviet Union (USSR), led by Vladimir Lenin and later Joseph Stalin.

Bolshevik rhetoric sought to restructure the concept of family, and most pertinently afford men and women equal rights and social standing.

Under the Bolsheviks, divorce and abortion laws were liberalised, homosexuality was decriminalised, cohabitation between men and women was permitted, marital rape was made illegal and abortion was legalised. For them, women no longer merely fulfilled the role of the silent, fertile and obedient housewife.

The new Soviet regime also sought the contributions of women in the workplace. Women were seen, at least in theory, as vital for the creation of a single class of workers and peasants, and their previous roles as housewives were considered a hinderance to Soviet progress.

Lenin himself propagated this, stating, “[The woman] continues to be a domestic slave, because petty housework crushes, strangles, stultifies and degrades her, chains her to the kitchen and the nursery, and she wastes her labour on barbarously unproductive, petty, nerve-racking, stultifying and crushing drudgery.”

Female revolutionaries

Among the Bolsheviks were a number of female revolutionaries who worked tirelessly to enact feminist policies and create women’s organisations within the country’s political sphere. Inessa Armand was key in this early movement. A staunch Bolshevik and close friend (or possible lover) of Lenin’s, Armand would grow to become one of the most powerful women in Moscow.

She became head of the Moscow Economic Council, an executive member of the Moscow Soviet, and the director of the Zhenotdel. Established alongside fellow female revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai, the Zhenotdel was a department of the Communist Party that fought for female equality throughout the Soviet Union.

Inessa Armand (left) and Alexandra Kollontai (right)

Image Credit: Public domain

Alongside a host of other powerful women, Armand and Kollontai lent an invaluable female presence to the communist cause and personally pushed a number of its pro-feminist policies.

The labour force

For thousands of women across the USSR, access to the workforce had an undeniable impact, and between 1923 and 1930 the number of women in work more than doubled.

This included highly skilled jobs, with many encouraged to become doctors, journalists, scientists and lawyers – positions that women in the West would not have access to for years. In the later Cold War years, Soviet women often led global achievements, such as cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.

Laborious work was also promoted for women, who became farmers, construction workers and truck drivers – all particularly vital in helping Russia’s recovery through years of economic hardship and famine.

Enrolment in the armed forces also continued to rise, and by 1920 about 50,000 to 70,000 women had joined the Red Army, making up 2% of the overall force. World War Two also saw the rise of all-female regiments such as the Night Witches, a highly effective bomber squad whose call-to-arms stated they were “seeking women who wanted to be combat pilots just like the men”.

Soviet propaganda poster, “Women, Go into Cooperatives”, 1918

Image Credit: Ignaty Nivinsky via Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain

Domestic life

While women were now permitted to a host of new jobs within the Soviet Union, this freedom was a double-edged sword. Domestic work was still viewed as a female enterprise, meaning wives would engage in backbreaking work all day and return home to yet more work in the form of cooking, cleaning and childcare.

Their position in society also never truly reached equality with men, as they were preferred for certain jobs, such as agricultural roles, and mostly barred from the highest positions of power.

Further, the move towards women’s rights became somewhat stunted in Stalinist Russia. In theory, women remained equal, as stated in Stalin’s 1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union: “Women in the USSR are accorded equal rights with men in all spheres of economic, state, cultural, social, and political life.”

However, in practice, Stalin’s pro-natal policies once again outlawed abortion and made divorce difficult to attain, with many women’s institutions, including the Zhenodtel, shut down as the Communist Party believed their work was done. Women were once again positioned as ‘heroines of the home’ with an undeniable social responsibility to raise children, and during World War Two were expected to exemplify the ‘motherland’ and patriotism.

Though the Soviet Union revoked Stalin’s 1936 laws following his death in 1953, this shift in attitudes had a long-lasting impact.

The fall of the USSR

Through the mid-1980s, Soviet women began to adopt more Westernised feminist views focused on individuality and democracy, and began to demand greater rights. Many hoped that during the Soviet reforms of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (reconstruction), Mikhail Gorbachev’s adoption of more liberal policies may open the USSR up to a more democratic form of government.

Often cited as a chief cause of the fall of the USSR, these liberal reforms restructured Russia into a more patriarchal and neo-traditional society, however. A blatant example came in the congressional elections of June 1989, which were arguably more free than ever before. Where previous quotas had been in place for female representation in government, this 1989 election saw their numbers halved, pushing women further out of the sphere of influence.

But an undeniable success of glasnost and perestroika was the ability for women to establish political and societal support networks of their own. Women’s councils were introduced in the workplace to help represent their female workers, independent women’s organisations began appearing, and the powerful slogan “democracy without women is not democracy” emerged as the banner of a new age of Russian feminism.

Ultimately, the Bolsheviks won the war. But by the time war communism came to an end 2 years after its conception, the policy had caused Russia’s industrial output to plummet, the collapse of the ruble and millions of famine-related deaths. It was replaced with the New Economic Policy in 1921.

But how exactly did war communism work, and what were its aims? Here’s the history of war communism during the Russian Civil War.

The aims of war communism are debated

War communism included the following policies:

• Nationalization of all industries and the introduction of strict centralised management
• State control of foreign trade
• Strict discipline for workers, with strikes forbidden
• Obligatory labour duty by non-working classes (“militarisation of labour”, including an early version of the Gulag)
• Prodrazvyorstka – requisition of agricultural surplus (in excess of an absolute minimum) from peasants for centralised distribution among the remaining population
• Rationing of food and most commodities, with centralised distribution in urban centres
• Private enterprise banned
• Military-style control of the railways

Though these measures may appear coherent, the government implemented them during a time of civil war, with the result being that the policies were often poorly-coordinated, if at all. Large areas of Russia were outside of Bolshevik control, while poor communications from Moscow meant that even those loyal to the government often had to act individually.

Distributing fuel rations on 5 January 1921.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Many have argued that war communism didn’t represent an actual economic policy, and instead was a set of measures intended to win the civil war.

Indeed, though war communism proved successful in achieving its primary purpose – aiding the Red Army in halting the advance of the White Army, and reclaiming most of the territory of the former Russian Empire – the economic strength of Russia in all areas fell below the 1914 level. War communism turned into a disaster.

Famine was widespread

Peasant farmers knew that any excess crops would be seized by the state, so grew only for themselves. People in the countryside refused to co-operate in giving food for the war effort, while bad harvests compounded the hardships that the war caused. Malnutrition and disease were common.

‘Famine’ by Ivan Vladimirov (1870-1947).

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The result was that industrial cities were starved of food, and workers started moving to the countryside to grow their own food, which further decreased the possibility of barter of industrial goods for food and worsened the plight of the remaining urban population.

Between 1918 and 1920, Petrograd lost 70% of its population, while Moscow lost over 50% and the number working in factories and mines dropped by 50%. In total, in those 2 years, Russia lost 33% of its urban population to the countryside.

Moreover, most countryside lands were used for the growth of food at the time, meaning crops such as cotton and flax weren’t favoured. Without the necessary supply, factories in urban centres were deprived of basic manufacturing commodities.

In all, food requisitioning combined with the effects of seven years of war and a severe drought contributed to a devastating famine that caused a staggering 3-10 million deaths.

Strikes and rebellions broke out

Worker and peasant strikes and rebellions broke out across the country. The Kronstadt Rebellion of March 1921 particularly startled Lenin, who regarded the sailors there as the ‘reddest of the reds’. These uprisings were of further concern since they were led by opportunist leftists, which created competition with the Bolsheviks.

Suppression of the Kronstadt mutiny. Soldiers of the Red Army attack the island fortress of Kronstadt on the ice of the Gulf of Finland.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

In February 1921, the Communist Party’s secret police, the Cheka, reported 118 peasant uprisings. In spite of these protests, the Russian government actually suffered relatively few effective or potentially disruptive uprisings while implementing its policy of war communism.

A black market emerged

The ruble collapsed, meaning that barter increasingly replaced money as a medium of exchange, and 90% of wages were paid with goods rather than money. A black market emerged, in spite of the threat of martial law against profiteering.

Though also illegal, private trade became commonplace, and more people were engaged in it than during any other time in Russia’s history. Above board, by 1920 the average worker had a productivity rate that was around 44% less than the 1913 figure.

The strangulation on goods and money was exacerbated by a disastrous rail system, which, by the end of 1918, meant that it was difficult to transport anything of value across Russia.

Attitudes towards the government differed

Within urban areas, many were convinced that their leaders were right and the collective failure of the system was the fault of the White Army. It was also easy to blame international capitalists, since no foreign country was prepared to trade with a Bolshevik-run Russia, and between 1918 and November 1920, the Allies formally blockaded Russia.

Many in Bolshevik territories were genuinely keen to see a Bolshevik civil war victory, so were prepared to do whatever was necessary to avoid a White Army victory.

A Bolshevik requisitioning brigade on 6 January 1921.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Bolsheviks were also able to blame a lot of Russia’s troubles on the Whites as they controlled the areas which would have supplied the factories with produce. The Urals, which normally provided Petrograd and Tula with coal and iron, were cut off from Bolshevik Russia from spring 1918 to November 1919.

Similarly, oil fields were in the hands of the Whites, while the Bolsheviks’ Red Army took the majority of supplies in their fight against them.

Lenin put a stop to war communism

While the civil war raged, the harshness of war communism was, in the eyes of Russia’s rulers, justifiable. When it had finished, there was no such justification, and a government claiming to represent the people now found itself on the verge of being overthrown by the workers it purported to serve.

The crisis undermined widespread loyalty to the government: Lenin needed to take decisive action. In February 1921, Lenin replaced war communism with his New Economic Policy, which he characterised as comprising of “a free market and capitalism, both subject to state control”.

The incentive to produce for money was re-introduced, and the horrors of years of war communism were consigned to history.

But Lenin’s communist regime faced opposition from various groups, including capitalists, those loyal to the former tsardom and European forces opposed to communism. These disparate groups united under the banner of the White Army, and soon Russia was embroiled in Civil War.

Ultimately, Lenin’s Red Army quelled the dissent and won the war, paving the way for the founding of the Soviet Union and the rise of communism around the globe.

Here are 10 facts about the Russian Civil War.

1. It stemmed from the Russian Revolution

After the February Revolution of 1917, a provisional government was formed in Russia, followed shortly after by the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Several months later, during the October Revolution, communist revolutionaries known as Bolsheviks revolted against the provisional government and installed Vladimir Lenin as the leader of the world’s first communist state.

Though Lenin made peace with Germany and withdrew Russia from World War One, the Bolsheviks faced opposition from counter-revolutionaries, those loyal to the former tsar and European forces hoping to stifle the spread of communism. Civil war engulfed Russia.

2. It was fought between the Red and White armies

Lenin’s Bolshevik forces were known as the Red Army, while their enemies became known as the White Army.

The Bolsheviks, crucially, held power over the central area of Russia between Petrograd (formerly St Petersburg) and Moscow. Their forces were made up of Russians committed to communism, hundreds of thousands of conscripted peasants and some former tsarist soldiers and officers who had, controversially, been enlisted by Leon Trotsky into the Red Army due to their military experience.

Soldiers gathered in the square of the Winter Palace, many of whom previously supported the Provisional Government, swear allegiance to the Bolsheviks. 1917.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The White Armies, on the other hand, were made up of diverse forces, tentatively allied against the Bolsheviks. These forces included officers and armies loyal to the tsar, capitalists, regional counter-revolutionary groups and foreign forces hoping to stifle the spread of communism or simply put an end to the conflict.

3. The Bolsheviks executed thousands of political opponents

Lenin’s leadership of the Bolsheviks demonstrated a similar ruthlessness. To stamp out political opposition after the October Revolution, the Bolsheviks banned all political parties and shut down any counter-revolutionary news outlets.

The Bolsheviks also introduced a fearsome secret police force known as the Cheka, which was used to quell dissent and to execute swathes of political opponents to the Bolshevik regime. This violent political suppression became known as the ‘Red terror’, which took place throughout the Russian Civil War and saw the execution of tens of thousands of suspected anti-Bolshevik sympathisers.

4. The Whites suffered from fractured leadership

The Whites possessed a number of advantages: their troops covered vast portions of Russia, they were led by experienced military officers and they had the fluctuating support of Allied European forces such as France and Britain.

But the Whites were at times fractured by the command of disparate leaders spread out across vast regions, with Admiral Kolchack in the northeast, Anton Denikin and later General Wrangel in the south and Nikolai Yudenich in the west. Though Denikin and Yudenich united under Kolchak’s authority, they struggled to coordinate their armies across great distances and frequently fought as independent units rather than a coherent whole.

5. Foreign intervention didn’t turn the tide of the war

After the October Revolution, the Whites were backed to varying degrees by Britain, France and the US. Allied support primarily came in the form of supplies and financial support rather than active troops, though some Allied troops did participate in the conflict (200,000 men or so).

Ultimately, foreign intervention in the conflict was inconclusive. When World War One ended, Germany was no longer perceived as a threat so Britain, France and the USA stopped supplying Russia. They themselves were also depleted by 1918 and less keen to inject resources into the foreign war, even despite their resistance to Lenin’s communist government.

By 1919, most foreign troops and backing had been withdrawn from Russia. But the Bolsheviks continued to publish propaganda against the Whites, suggesting foreign powers were encroaching into Russia.

6. Propaganda was a vital part of the Bolsheviks’ strategy

During the Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks implemented an extensive propaganda campaign. To encourage enlistment, they printed posters undermining the cowardice of men not fighting.

By publishing leaflets, airing propaganda films and influencing the press, they turned public opinion against the Whites and consolidated their own power and the promise of communism.

7. The conflict played out across Siberia, Ukraine, Central Asia and the Far East

The Red Army acquired victory by toppling the disparate White forces on several fronts. In Ukraine in 1919, the Reds defeated the White Armed Forces of South Russia. Up in Siberia, Admiral Kolchak’s men were beaten in 1919.

The following year, in 1920, the Reds drove General Wrangel’s forces out of Crimea. Lesser battles and upheavals continued for years, as Whites and regional military groups pushed back against the Bolsheviks in Central Asia and the Far East.

A Red Army soldier facing execution by White Army forces during the Russian Civil War. 1918-1922.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

8. The Romanovs were executed during the conflict

After the Bolshevik revolution, the former tsar Nicholas II and his family were exiled from St Petersburg, first to Tobolsk and later to Yekaterinburg.

In July 1918, Lenin and the Bolsheviks received word that the Czech Legion, an experienced military force who revolted against the Bolsheviks, was closing in on Yekaterinburg. Fearing the Czechs could capture the Romanovs and install them as the figureheads of an anti-Bolshevik movement, the Reds ordered the executions of Nicholas and his family.

On 16-17 July 1918, the Romanov family – Nicholas, his wife and his children – were taken into the basement of their exile home and shot or bayoneted to death.

9. The Bolsheviks won the war

Despite the breadth of resistance to the Bolshevik regime, the Reds ultimately won the Russian Civil War. By 1921, they had defeated most of their enemies, though sporadic fighting continued until 1923 in the Far East and even into the 1930s in Central Asia.

On 30 December 1922, the Soviet Union was created, paving the way for the growth of communism across the globe in the 20th century and the rise of a new world power.

10. It’s thought that more than 9 million people died

The Russian Civil War is remembered as one of the costliest civil wars in history. Estimates vary, but some sources posit that around 10 million people were killed during the conflict, including roughly 1.5 million military personnel and 8 million civilians. These deaths were caused by armed conflict, political executions, disease and famine.

But what happened to those they swept away? The Russian aristocracy, headed up by the Romanov tsars, had ruled the country for nearly 500 years, but now they found themselves classified as ‘former people’. Their lives were wrenched from under them and their futures became deeply uncertain. On 17 July 1918, former tsar Nicholas II and his family were executed in the basement of a Yekaterinburg house.

But why did the Bolsheviks execute the exiled, imprisoned imperial family? And what exactly happened on that fateful day in 1918? Here’s the story of the Romanov family’s demise.

After the Russian Revolution

The Romanovs were one of the primary targets of the revolution as the blame for much of Russia’s suffering could be laid at their feet, directly or indirectly. After Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, the first plan was to send him and his family into exile: Britain was the original choice, but the idea of the exiled Russian royal family arriving on British shores was met with outrage by many politicians of the day, and even the King, George V, who was Nicholas’ cousin, was uneasy about the arrangement.

Instead, the former royal family were kept under house arrest, initially at their palace in Tsarskoye Selo, on the outskirts of St Petersburg. They were permitted servants, luxurious foods and daily walks in the grounds, and in many respects, the lifestyles of the tsar, tsarina and their children remained largely unchanged.

However, this could not last forever. Russia’s political situation was still turbulent, and the Provisional Government was far from secure. When rioting erupted in the newly renamed Petrograd, it became apparent that the comfortable arrangements of the royal family were not secure enough for the liking of the Bolsheviks.

Alexander Kerensky, the new Prime Minister, decided to send the Romanovs further away from the major cities, deep into Siberia. After over a week of travelling by railway and boat, Nicholas and his family reached Tobolsk on 19 August 1917, where they would remain for 9 months.

The Russian Civil War

By the autumn of 1917, Russia was engulfed in civil war. Bolshevik rule was far from universally accepted and as factions and rivalries developed, civil war broke out. It was loosely divided along the lines of the Bolshevik Red Army and its opponents, the White Army, who were made up of a variety of factions. Foreign powers quickly found themselves involved, in part out of a desire to stem the revolutionary fervour, with many backing the Whites, who advocated for the return of the monarchy.

The Whites launched significant offensives and proved themselves to have the potential to be of great danger to the revolution. Many of these offensives were initially aimed at reinstalling the Romanovs, meaning they became figureheads for the Whites. Nicholas and Alexandra certainly believed that help was at hand and that they would be rescued by their royal relatives or loyal Russian people in the not-too-distant future. Little did they know that this was looking less and less likely.

Instead, the Bolsheviks had loose plans to bring the Romanovs back to Moscow for a show trial. By the spring of 1918, conditions were growing steadily worse for the family as they endured captivity in exile. In April 1918, plans changed once more, and the family was moved to Yekaterinburg.

Tsar Nicholas II and his daughters Olga, Anastasia and Tatiana in the winter of 1917 on the roof of their house in Tobolsk.

Image Credit: Romanov Collection, General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University / Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

The House of Special Purpose

Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg – often referred to as the ‘House of Special Purpose’ – was the Romanov family’s final home. There, they were subject to stricter conditions than ever before, with guards specifically instructed to be indifferent towards their charges.

Back in Moscow and Petrograd, Lenin and the Bolsheviks feared their situation might be deteriorating: the last thing they needed was unrest, or to lose their prized prisoners. With a trial looking less and less likely (and it becoming increasingly difficult to transport the family across such large distances), and Czech forces encroaching on Yekaterinburg, orders were sent that the family should be executed.

In the early hours of the morning of 17 July 1918, the family and their servants were woken and told they were going to be moved for their own safety as forces were approaching the city. They were hustled into the basement: a firing squad entered shortly after, and the family were told that they were to be executed on the orders of the Ural Soviet of Workers’ Deputies.

There is little doubt that the entire family was murdered in the room: some of the Grand Duchesses survived the first hail of bullets as they had kilos of diamonds and precious stones sewn into their dresses which deflected some of the first bullets. They were killed with bayonets, before their bodies were taken to nearby woodland and burned, drenched in acid and buried in a disused mine shaft.

The cellar of Ipatiev House, where the family was murdered. The damage to the walls was done by investigators looking for bullets.

Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

A haunting decision

The Bolsheviks were quick to announce that the family had been executed, stating Tsar Nicholas was “guilty of countless, bloody, violent acts against the Russian people” and that he needed to be removed prior to the arrival of encroaching counter-revolutionary forces who wanted to release him.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the news dominated the media across Europe. Instead of getting rid of a potential threat or distraction, the Bolsheviks’ announcement diverted attention away from military campaigns and successes and towards the execution of the former royal family.

The precise circumstances of the deaths and the burial site of the bodies was a source of contention, and the newly-formed Soviet government began to change their statement, covering up the murders and even going as far as to announce in 1922 that the family were not dead. These oscillating statements helped fuel the belief that the family may have still been alive, although these rumours were later widely dispelled.

It wasn’t just Nicholas and his direct family who were murdered in this period. Assorted Romanov cousins and relatives were rounded up and executed by the Bolsheviks in their anti-monarchy drive. It took years for their remains to be uncovered, and many have since been rehabilitated by the Russian government and church.

Defining features of icebreakers included thick hulls, wide and usual bow shapes and powerful engines. They would work by forcing the bow of the ship through the ice, breaking or crushing it. If the bow was unable to break through the ice, many icebreakers could also mount the ice and crush it beneath the hull of the ship. It was with the icebreaker Agulhas II that the Endurance22 expedition was able to locate Sir Ernest Shackleton’s lost ship.

To ensure economic prosperity and to have a military advantage in the icy Arctic waters, Russia needed to build the best and most durable icebreakers in the world. As such, Russia led the way in the development and construction of icebreakers. Here are 5 of the most famous Russian icebreaker ships in history.

1) Pilot (1864)

Pilot was a Russian icebreaker built in 1864 and is considered to be the first true icebreaker. She was originally a tug boat that had been converted into an icebreaker by having its bow altered. Pilot‘s new bow had been based on the designs of the historic koch ships (wooden Pomor ships that had been used around the White Sea since the 15th century). Once the conversion was finished, Pilot was used in the navigation of the Gulf of Finland, part of the Baltic Sea.

Pilot‘s ability to continue to operate during the colder months led to her design being purchased by Germany, which hoped to build ships that would be able to break through the ice in the port of Hamburg and other parts of the country. Her design would influence many other icebreakers throughout Europe.

2) Yermak (1898)

The icebreaker Yermak (also known as Ermack) assisting the battleship Apraxin in the ice.

Image Credit: Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons

Another contender for the world’s first true icebreaker is the Russian Yermak (also known as Ermack). She was built in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1897-1898 for the Russian Imperial Navy (due to the superiority of British shipbuilding and lack of adequate yards in Russia, many Russian icebreakers were built in Britain). Under the supervision of Vice-Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov, the design of Yermak was based on that of Pilot. Her superior strength and power meant that Yermak could break through ice up to 2m thick.

Yermak had a varied career that included setting up the first radio communication link in Russia, helping to rescue other ships that had become trapped in the ice and serving in World War One and World War Two. She saw action after the Battle of Hanko in 1941, which she supported the evacuation of Soviet soldiers out of Finland.

Yermak was retired in 1964, making her one of the longest-serving icebreakers in the world. She was important to the people of Russia and had a monument dedicated to her in 1965.

3) Lenin (1917)

One of the most famous icebreakers in history was the Russian Lenin, formally St. Alexander Nevsky. Following her construction at the Armstrong Whitworth yard in Newcastle, she was launched during the midst of World War One. The timing of her launch, shortly after the February Revolution in 1917, meant that she was immediately acquisitioned by the British Royal Navy and commissioned as HMS Alexander, serving in the North Russia campaign.

In 1921, Lenin was given back to Russia, now the Soviet Union. When she was ordered by the Russian Imperial Navy her name was to be St. Alexander Nevsky in honour of Alexander Nevsky, a key figure in Russian royal history. At the request of the Soviet government, and to represent the political change of Russia, she was named Lenin.

Lenin supported convoys through the Arctic Siberian waters, helped establish the Northern Sea Route (opening global trade for Russia) and served in World War Two. She was scrapped in 1977.

[programmes id=”5177885″]

4) Lenin (1957)

Another Russian vessel named Lenin was launched in 1957, and it was the world’s first nuclear-powered icebreaker. Nuclear power in shipping was an important step in maritime engineering. It meant that ships that were required to be at sea for prolonged periods of time or operated in extreme climates could do so without worrying about refuelling.

Lenin had a remarkable career clearing ice for cargo ships along the treacherous north Russian coast. Her service, and the dedication of her crew, led to the Lenin being awarded the Order of Lenin, the highest civilian decoration for services to the state. Today, she is a museum ship in Murmansk.

Postcard of NS Lenin, 1959. These icebreakers were a source of pride in Russia and could often be found on postcards and stamps.

Image Credit: Postal authorities of the Soviet Union, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

5) Baikal (1896)

A slightly different icebreaker, Baikal was built in 1896 in Newcastle upon Tyne to operate as a ferry on Lake Baikal, linking the eastern and western portions of the Trans-Siberian Railroad. When the Civil War broke out in Russia in 1917, Baikal was used by the Red Army and equipped with machine guns.

In 1918 Baikal was damaged during the Battle of Lake Baikal, a naval battle between Czechoslovakia and Russia during the Russian Civil War. This brought an end to her career as she was subsequently dismantled in 1926. It is believed that parts of the ship are still at the bottom of the lake.

Read more about the discovery of Endurance. Explore the history of Shackleton and the Age of Exploration. Visit the official Endurance22 website.

After 1917, Russia’s new leaders had plenty of ideas about radically reforming Russia’s economy in a very short period of time. Lenin’s mass electrification project utterly transformed Russia in the early 1920s and signalled the start of radical economic change in the country.

As Russia entered the 1930s, its path towards economic modernisation was steered by Joseph Stalin, the General Secretary of the Communist Party. Through a series of ‘Five Year Plans’ and at a huge human cost, he transformed Russia into a 20th-century powerhouse, putting the country once again at the forefront of global politics. Here’s how Stalin transformed Russia’s economy.

Under the tsars

Russia had long been an autocracy, subject to absolute rule by the tsar. Bound by a strict social hierarchy, serfs (peasants of feudal Russian) had been owned by their masters, forced to work the lands and receiving nothing in return. Serfdom had been abolished in 1861, but many Russians continued to live in conditions which were little better.

The economy was predominantly agricultural, with limited heavy industry. The introduction of railways in the mid 19th century, and their expansion right up until 1915, looked promising, but ultimately they did little to transform or change the economy.

After the outbreak of World War One in 1914, the limited nature of Russia’s economy became all too apparent. With millions conscripted to fight, there were massive food shortages as no one could work the land. The railways were slow, meaning food took long periods of time to reach the starving cities. Russia did not experience the wartime economic boost to industry other, more developed countries felt. Conditions became increasingly dire for many people.

Lenin and the revolution

The Bolsheviks, leaders of the 1917 Russian Revolution, promised the people of Russia equality, opportunity and better living conditions. But Lenin was not a miracle worker. Russia was engulfed in civil war for several more years, and things would get worse before they got better.

However, the advent of electrification across Russia made the development of heavy industry possible and transformed the lives of millions of people. Eschewing capitalism, the state assumed control of the means of production, exchange and communication, with the aim of completing the process of collectivisation in the near future.

However, ‘War Communism’ and ‘New Economic Policy’ (NEP) were not truly communist in nature: they both involved a certain degree of capitalism and pandering to the free market. For many, they did not go far enough and Lenin found himself clashing with those who wanted more radical reform.

Stalin’s first Five Year Plan

Joseph Stalin seized power in 1924 following Lenin’s death, and announced the advent of his first Five Year Plan in 1928. The idea was to transform the new Soviet Russia into a major industrial powerhouse in a virtually unprecedented period of time. To do this, he would need to implement large-scale social and cultural reforms too.

Newly collectivised farms, controlled by the state, transformed the lifestyle and existence of peasant farmers: as a result, peasants resisted the reforms much of the time. The programme also saw the infamous ‘dekulakisation‘ of the countryside, where kulaks (land-owning peasants) were dubbed class enemies and rounded up to be arrested, deported or executed at the hands of the state.

A parade in the Soviet Union under the banners “We will liquidate the kulaks as a class” and “All to the struggle against the wreckers of agriculture”. Sometime between 1929 and 1934.

Image Credit: Courtesy of Lewis H. Siegelbaum and Andrej K. Sokolov / GNU Free Documentation Licence via Wikimedia Commons.

However, whilst the collectivised farming system proved to be more productive in the long run (farms were required to sell their grain to the state at a fixed price), its immediate consequences were dire. Famine began to stalk the land: millions died during the plan, and millions more found themselves snapped up to jobs in the fast-developing industrial sector. Those peasants still farming often tried to squirrel away grain for their own use rather than reporting it and handing it over to the state as they should have done.

The first Five Year Plan could be considered a success in that, according to Soviet statistics at least, it met its targets: Stalin’s major propaganda campaigns had seen industrial output increase exponentially. The widespread famine and starvation had claimed the lives of millions, but at least in Stalin’s eyes, this was a price worth paying for Russia to become the second most industrialised nation in the world.

Subsequent Five Year Plans

Five Year Plans became a standard feature of Soviet economic development and before 1940, they proved relatively successful. Throughout the 1930s, as it became clear war was on the horizon, heavy industry was built up further. Benefitting from natural resources like coal, iron ore, natural gas and gold, the Soviet Union became one of the world’s largest exporters of these commodities.

Russia’s biggest tractor factory, Chelyabinsk, in the late 1930s.

Image Credit: Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.

Railways were improved and expanded, and the introduction of childcare freed more women up to do their patriotic duty and contribute to the economy. Incentives were offered for meeting quotas and targets, and punishments were an ongoing threat for those who failed in their mission. Everyone was expected to pull their weight, and for the most part, they did.

By the time the Soviet Union entered World War Two, it was an advanced industrial economy. In under 20 years, Stalin had utterly transformed the essence of the nation, albeit at the high cost of famine, conflict and social upheaval.

The devastation of war

For all of the advancements of the 1920s and 1930s, World War Two ruined much of Russia’s economic progress. The Red Army suffered the loss of millions of soldiers and millions more died of hunger or disease. Farms, livestock and equipment had been ravaged by the advances of the German army, 25 million people had been made homeless and around 40% of the railways had been destroyed.

The high casualties meant that there was a labour shortage after the war, and despite being one of the victorious powers, the Soviet Union struggled to negotiate terms for a loan for Soviet reconstruction. This, in part, was driven by American fears over the potential power and ability of the Soviet Union should they return to the levels of industrial output they were reached pre-war.

Despite receiving reparations from Germany and other Eastern European countries, and then subsequently linking these countries to the Soviet Union economically through Comecon, Stalin never returned the dynamism and record-breaking achievements of the 1930s Russian economy to the Soviet Union.

1. There were actually two Russian Revolutions in 1917

The February Revolution (8 – 16 March) overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and installed a Provisional Government. This was itself overthrown by the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution (7 – 8 November).

2. The dates of the Revolutions are slightly confusing

Although these revolutions occurred in March and November, they are referred to as the February and October Revolutions respectively because Russia was still using the old-style Julian Calendar.

3. Severe Russian losses in World War One contributed heavily to growing dissent in 1917

Russian military blundering had led to combatant losses in the millions, while hundreds of thousands of civilians had died or been displaced due to the effects of the war. Meanwhile, economic hardship was mounting at home.

4. 12 March was the decisive day of the February Revolution in 1917

Unrest had been building in Petrograd throughout March. On 12 March, the Volinsky Regiment mutinied and by nightfall 60,000 soldiers had joined the Revolution.

This revolution was one of the most spontaneous, unorganised and leaderless mass revolts in history.

5. Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on 15 March

His abdication marked the end of over 300 years of Romanov rule over Russia.

6. The Provisional Government continued the war with Germany with devastating consequences

During the Summer of 1917 the new Minister for War, Alexander Kerensky, attempted a large-scale Russian attack called the July Offensive. It was a military catastrophe that destabilised an already unpopular government, sparking unrest and domestic demands to end the war.

Russian infantry practising manoeuvres some time before 1914, date not recorded. Credit: Balcer~commonswiki / Commons.

7. The October Revolution of 1917 was spearheaded by the Bolshevik Party

The Bolsheviks considered themselves the leaders of the revolutionary working class of Russia.

8. The principal figures in the October Revolution were Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky

Lenin had formed the Bolshevik organisation back in 1912 and had been in exile until just before the October Revolution. Meanwhile Trotsky was a member of the Bolshevik Central Committee.

A painting of Vladimir Lenin in exile.

9. The October Revolution was a prepared and organised coup d’etat

Seeing the anarchy that engulfed Russia following the February Revolution, the Bolsheviks had started making detailed preparations for an uprising long before it occurred (in complete contrast to the first revolution). On October 25 Lenin and Trotsky’s followers seized many strategic points in Petrograd.

10. The Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd on 7 November

Formerly a residence of the Tsar, in November 1917 the Winter Palace was the headquarters of the Provisional Government. Although there was some resistance, the storming was almost bloodless.

The Winter Palace today. Credit: Alex ‘Florstein’ Fedorov / Commons.

11. The October Revolution established the permanent dictatorship of the Bolsheviks…

Following the overthrow of the Provisional Government, Lenin’s new state was called the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

12. …but this was not accepted by everyone

Civil War broke out in Russia in late 1917 after the Bolshevik Revolution. It was fought between those supporting Lenin and his Bolsheviks, ‘the Red Army’, and a conglomeration of anti-Bolshevik groups: ‘the White Army’.

Bolshevik forces advance during the Russian Civil War.

13. The Russian Civil War was one of the bloodiest conflicts in history

Having suffered greatly in World War One, Russia was engulfed another hugely destructive conflict. At least 5 million people died as the result of fighting, famine and disease. It lasted until 1922, and some anti Bolshevik rebellions were not extinguished until the 1930s.

14. The Romanovs were assassinated in 1918

The former Russian royal family were held under held under house arrest in Yekaterinburg. On the night of 16-17 July 1918, the former Tsar, his wife, their five children and others who had accompanied them in their imprisonment were executed. The execution allegedly happened at Lenin’s own request.

15. Lenin died shortly after the Bolshevik victory

The Red Army won the Russian Civil War, but the Communist leader died after a series of strokes on 21 January 1924. One of the most influential people of the 20th century, his body was put on show in a mausoleum in the centre of Moscow, and the Communist Party developed a personality cult around their former leader.

16. Josef Stalin won the ensuing power struggle for party leadership

Stalin was General Secretary of the Central Committee and used his office to outmanoeuvre his political opponents during the 1920s. By 1929 his main rival and former Red Army leader Leon Trotsky was forced into exile, and Stalin became de facto dictator of the Soviet Union.

17. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegory of the Russian Revolution

In Orwell’s novella (published in 1945), the animals of Manor Farm unite against their drunken master Mr Jones. The pigs, as the most intelligent animals, assume command of the revolution, but their leader Old Major (Lenin) dies.

Two pigs, Snowball (Trotsky) and Napoleon (Stalin) battle for political control of the farm. Eventually, Napoleon is victorious, with Snowball being forced into exile. However, many of the ideas which drove the revolution are extinguished, and the farm returns to a mode of autocracy as it was at the beginning, with the pigs assuming the previous role of the humans.