What Was The Russian Revolution?

The Russian Revolution was a highly significant political uprising in 1917 which saw the centuries-old Tsarist ruling autocracy replaced with the Soviet power under the control of the Bolshevik Party.  This eventually led to the establishment of the communist Soviet Union, which grew in to a global superpower after World War Two and lasted until breaking up in 1991.  

The Revolution had two parts, both in 1917: first, the February Revolution which abolished the autocracy of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and sought to establish a liberal republic in its place; and then the October Revolution where the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government (Duma), seizing control of the Capital St Petersburg.

The revolution had its origins in resentment towards the Tsarist autocracy and its corrupt government; the social backwardness of Russia which meant few opportunities for advancement for peasants and industrial workers; and the economic hardship in Russia at that time, with its inflation and food shortages.  The heavy losses Russia was suffering at the time in World War One also diminished the popularity of Tsar Nicholas II.  So the conditions were there for the Bolsheviks to take power though their communist force, 'The Red Army', would immediately have to fight a civil war for five years with anti-communist forces, 'The Whites', before, victorious, they were able to establish the Soviet Union in 1922.

The Russian revolution was a scary and unpredictable uprising. People of the upper classes and those with high educational status were suspect, much as in the French and other revolutions. People who owned land were suspect and either sent to gulags or siberian concentration camps, or they were murdered. People turned on each other, turning people in for treason, or disloyalty to the communist dogma. People we arrested on trumped up charges and many died in prison under torture or neglect. The revolution had a ripple affect as Russia is so large. Tiny uprising would start here and there with little provocation. It was a barely controlled mob rule. Many of the participants didn't even understand the concepts and ideology of communism. All the palaces and homes of the elite and Royal society were confiscated for the State, the owners imprisoned or escaped to other countries.