01
ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ КОНТЕКСТHistorical introduction
There were two distinct 1917 revolutions: the collapse of the monarchy in February and the Bolshevik seizure of power in October. The subsequent civil war and coercion cannot be reduced to the biographies of Nicholas II, Lenin or Trotsky.
02
ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ КОНТЕКСТImperial crisis and 1905 · 1905–1916
Military defeats, repression, demands for reform and war eroded the legitimacy of the Romanov system.
04
ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ КОНТЕКСТFebruary and October 1917 · 1917
The monarchy fell in February; competing institutions and wartime breakdown were followed by Bolshevik seizure of power in October.
06
ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ КОНТЕКСТCivil war, coercion and exile · 1918–1922
Civil war brought competing armed movements, foreign intervention, repression, hunger and dislocation across the former empire.
08
ИСТОРИЧЕСКИЙ КОНТЕКСТWhat followed · after 1922
The establishment of the Soviet state did not end conflict over revolutionary memory or the nature of the new regime. This epilogue is context only; Soviet history continues in other journeys.