October Revolution

The Bolshevik-led uprising in Petrograd in October 1917 that overthrew Russia’s Provisional Government and established Bolshevik rule.

Military Revolutionary Committee: A Petrograd Soviet body formed in October 1917 to coordinate defense and direct armed forces in the capital. It organized the garrison and supplied the uprising with an operational command.
February Revolution: The 1917 revolution that ended the Russian monarchy and led to the formation of a Provisional Government. It created the unstable dual-power arrangement the Bolsheviks later overturned.
Vladimir Lenin: A Russian revolutionary and Bolshevik leader who led the party during the 1917 revolutions. His return to Petrograd and insistence on taking power pushed the party toward insurrection.
Russian Civil War: A multilateral war fought in the former Russian Empire from 1917 to 1922 after the revolutions and collapse of imperial rule. Opposition to Bolshevik rule widened into a civil war that secured their control.
Bolshevik: A member or supporter of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party faction led by Vladimir Lenin. The faction’s organization and political program distinguished the seizure from a spontaneous mass revolt.
Petrograd Soviet: A council of workers’ and soldiers’ deputies that became a major political authority in Petrograd in 1917. Its authority and support among soldiers gave the Bolsheviks leverage over the capital.
Russian Provisional Government: A temporary Russian government formed after the February Revolution to govern until a constituent assembly could be elected. Its decision to continue the war and delay land reform eroded its support before October.
Leon Trotsky: A Russian revolutionary who chaired the Petrograd Soviet and helped direct the Bolshevik seizure of power. He coordinated the Military Revolutionary Committee and defended the uprising’s timing.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: The 1918 treaty by which Soviet Russia withdrew from the First World War at severe territorial cost. It fulfilled the Bolshevik promise of peace while provoking fierce domestic opposition.
Menshevik: A member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party faction that opposed the Bolsheviks’ centralized revolutionary strategy. Mensheviks rejected the Bolsheviks’ seizure of power and favored broader socialist political arrangements.

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