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The Russian Revolution In Pictures

 

 

 

 - June, 2014, Memolition

 

 

 

The Russian Revolution that led to the formation of the Soviet Union is a long story of relatively fast social change in a short amount of time. Because Russia was still using the Julian calendar at the time, they are known as the February and October Revolutions. Following the Bolshevik uprising in November, a four-year civil war would break out between the communist Red Army and the conglomeration of loosely affiliated anti-Bolsheviks, ending with the cementing of the Communist state and the formal founding of the USSR.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tsarevich Alexei and Tsar Nicholas II sawing wood in 1917. Nicholas was worth $900 million when he was killed in 1917, making the struggles of his people to feed and heat their families all the more

 

 

 

 

Grigori Rasputin was a controversial healer who gained favor with Tsarina Alexandra when he was able to stop the young heir Alexei’s hemophilic bleeding episodes. The public quickly lost confidence

 

 

 

 

Tsar Nicholas II is served lunch by a muzhik during World War I. Russian involvement in World War I was the final straw for the public, as the already terrible toll of the new era of combat was

 

 

 

 

Source: Libcom

 

 

 

 

Fed-up with social and political stagnation, workers strike en masse. With the war going badly for Russia and the shortage of bread and coal, the door was wide open for revolution.

 

 

 

 

Soldiers are called in to quell the riots by force, but refuse to shoot on the crowds. With massive economic losses due to nationwide strikes and dwindling political support, Nicholas II abdicates

 

 

 

 

The statue of Alexander III is destroyed by celebrators following Nicholas II’s abdication

 

 

 

 

The statue of Alexander III is destroyed by celebrators following Nicholas II’s abdication

 

 

 

 

Though Tsarist rule had been toppled, a feckless Provisional Government headed by Prime Minister Georgy Lvov was established to maintain order as the country settled down

 

 

 

 

A dissident from young age, Vladimir Lenin had been exiled by the imperial government and wrote socialist newsletters that were smuggled back into Russia. When the Tsar was dethroned, Lenin returned 

 

 

 

 

Lenin and the Marxist Bolsheviks formed the Petrograd Soviet, a council of laborers, to oppose the Provisional Government. The two governments ruled in tandem, with only cursory recognition of one 

 

 

 

 

Alexander Kerensky continues the war effort with a new offensive strategy. Though it would initially appear successful, the offensive would be handedly dismantled by the Central Powers and would be

 

 

 

 

Promises of gender equality are part of a last-ditch effort by the Provisional Government to drum up support for the war. By the time the civil war would erupt, women would be fighting for all armies

 

 

 

 

With the Kerensky Offensive a complete disaster, troops became deeply embittered and many deserted or mutinied. Many soldiers joined with Lenin for his anti-war message, and Germany even financed his

 

 

 

 

With the Provisional Government lacking allies and the momentum entirely behind the Bolsheviks, the people stormed the Winter Palace where Provisional Government members were meeting. 

 

 

 

 

Russian and German troops celebrate at the news of the Brest-Litovsk Treaty. The Treaty was negotiated by newly appointed Leon Trotsky, who would become integral in the formation of the Soviet Union.

 

 

 

 

Though the civil war was only just beginning, the new Communist authority gave land to all peasants, declaring Russia a republic. Many believed that the oppressive yoke under which Russia had