The Russian Revolution: KS3 History Explained

In 1917, two revolutions in quick succession swept away the three-hundred-year-old Romanov dynasty, ended Russia's involvement in the First World War, and brought the Bolsheviks to power under Vladimir Lenin. The Russian Revolution reshaped world politics for the rest of the twentieth century and remains one of the most debated events in modern history.

What was Russia like under Tsar Nicholas II?

Russia in the early twentieth century was ruled as an autocracy — the Tsar held absolute power and was answerable to no parliament or constitution. Most Russians were peasants living in extreme poverty, while a tiny aristocratic elite owned vast estates. Industrial workers in cities such as St Petersburg and Moscow laboured for long hours in dangerous conditions for very low wages.

Tsar Nicholas II was widely regarded, even by contemporaries, as ill-suited to rule. He was shy, indecisive, and deeply resistant to political reform. He and his wife Alexandra fell under the influence of Grigori Rasputin, a self-proclaimed holy man, which further damaged the royal family's reputation among the aristocracy and the public alike.

How did the First World War destabilise Russia?

When Russia entered the First World War in 1914, it suffered catastrophic military losses. By 1917, roughly 1.7 million Russian soldiers had been killed. Poorly equipped troops were sometimes sent to the front without rifles. Food shortages in cities became acute as the transport network prioritised military supplies over civilian goods.

Nicholas compounded his own difficulties by taking personal command of the army in 1915, meaning that every subsequent military defeat was publicly associated with the Tsar himself. Back in Petrograd (as St Petersburg had been renamed), Rasputin's influence over the government bred resentment and ridicule. Russia was fraying from within.

What happened in the February Revolution of 1917?

In February 1917 (March in the modern calendar — Russia still used the Julian calendar at the time), bread riots broke out in Petrograd. When Nicholas ordered the army to suppress the crowds, many soldiers refused or joined the protesters. The Duma (parliament) formed a Provisional Government, and on 2 March 1917 Nicholas II abdicated, ending the Romanov dynasty.

The February Revolution was not planned or led by any single revolutionary party. It was a spontaneous collapse driven by hunger, war-weariness, and three centuries of accumulated resentment at autocratic rule.

Why did the Provisional Government fail?

The Provisional Government made a fatal decision: it chose to continue the war. This instantly lost it mass popular support, since the overwhelming desire of soldiers and workers was for peace. The Government's authority was also undermined by the Petrograd Soviet — a council of workers' and soldiers' representatives that issued its own orders and competed for loyalty from the same population.

Lenin, exiled in Switzerland, returned to Russia in April 1917 in a sealed train allowed through Germany (the Germans calculated, correctly, that he would hasten Russia's exit from the war). He published his April Theses, demanding that the Bolsheviks take power and promising "Peace, Land, Bread" — a slogan that captured exactly what most Russians wanted. The Provisional Government offered none of these things.

How did the Bolsheviks seize power in October 1917?

On the night of 25–26 October 1917 (7–8 November in the modern calendar), Bolshevik Red Guards and soldiers loyal to the Petrograd Soviet seized key buildings across Petrograd — railways stations, telephone exchanges, the State Bank — and arrested the Provisional Government in the Winter Palace. The event was largely bloodless. Lenin announced that power had passed to the Soviets.

The October Revolution — more a coup than a mass uprising — succeeded because the Provisional Government had lost almost all popular support. The Bolsheviks were disciplined, well organised, and had a clear, simple message. Historians debate how spontaneous or planned the seizure really was.

What were the immediate consequences of Bolshevik rule?

Lenin moved rapidly to consolidate power:

Year | Event | Significance
1917 | Decree on Peace announced | Russia sought armistice with Germany
1918 | Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed | Russia surrendered huge territories to Germany to exit the war
1918–1921 | Russian Civil War | Bolshevik "Red Army" fought anti-Bolshevik "White Army" and foreign interventions
1921 | New Economic Policy (NEP) introduced | Limited market economy restored after economic collapse
1922 | USSR formally established | Union of Soviet Socialist Republics declared, Lenin as head of state

The Civil War was extraordinarily brutal. An estimated 7–12 million people died from fighting, famine, and disease between 1918 and 1921. In July 1918, the Tsar and his entire family were executed by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg to prevent any "White" force from rallying around the royal family.

How do historians interpret the Russian Revolution?

The Russian Revolution is one of history's most contested events. Different perspectives illuminate different aspects:

Soviet and Marxist historians once portrayed the October Revolution as the inevitable triumph of the working class over capitalism — a progressive force in history. Liberal historians such as Richard Pipes emphasise the Bolsheviks' use of terror, arguing the revolution was a minority coup that imposed a totalitarian state on an unwilling population. Social historians like Sheila Fitzpatrick focus on ordinary people's experiences, arguing that many workers and peasants genuinely supported Bolshevik goals in 1917, even if they later suffered under Stalinist repression.

A good KS3 historian weighs these perspectives rather than accepting any single narrative as the whole truth — and asks what evidence each interpretation rests on.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between the February and October Revolutions?

The February Revolution (March 1917 in the modern calendar) was a largely spontaneous uprising that overthrew Tsar Nicholas II and ended the monarchy; it was driven by bread shortages, war-weariness, and mass protest rather than by a single organised party. The October Revolution (November 1917) was a planned Bolshevik seizure of power from the Provisional Government that had replaced the Tsar. The February Revolution created the opportunity; the October Revolution determined who would fill the power vacuum.

Who were the Bolsheviks and what did they believe?

The Bolsheviks were a faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party led by Vladimir Lenin. They believed in Marxism — the idea that capitalism exploited the working class and that a socialist revolution led by a disciplined party would create a classless society. "Bolshevik" means "majority" in Russian (a name adopted after a narrow party vote in 1903), though the Bolsheviks were in fact a minority political force in Russia until 1917. Their rivals, the Mensheviks, favoured a broader, more gradual approach to revolution.

Why did Lenin promise "Peace, Land, Bread"?

"Peace, Land, Bread" was a deliberately simple slogan that addressed the three most urgent needs of ordinary Russians in 1917. "Peace" promised an end to the devastating First World War. "Land" appealed to the peasant majority who worked land owned by aristocrats and wanted it redistributed. "Bread" spoke directly to the urban food shortages that had sparked the February Revolution. The Provisional Government had failed to deliver any of these three things, giving the Bolsheviks a powerful contrast.

What were the long-term consequences of the Russian Revolution?

The revolution led to the creation of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1922, which became the world's first communist state and a global superpower. Under Joseph Stalin (Lenin's successor from the mid-1920s), the USSR industrialised rapidly but at enormous human cost — the collectivisation of agriculture caused a famine that killed millions. The ideological rivalry between the communist USSR and the capitalist West fuelled the Cold War (1947–1991), shaping global politics for four decades. Russia's revolutionary legacy continues to be debated by historians and politicians today.

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