The October Revolution of 1917.
Prerequisites of the revolution.
The main prerequisites for the October Revolution were the dual power after the February Revolution, the lack of opportunities for the Provisional Government to keep the situation under control and conduct any internal policy.
This led to an increase in extreme left wing sentiments in society and the strengthening of nationalist forces on the outskirts of the country.
Under these conditions, the actions of the Bolsheviks, who put forward the popular slogans "Peace to the peoples", "Land to the peasants", "Factories to the workers", allowed them to win a majority in the Soviets of Petrograd and Moscow by the end of August and beginning of September 1917.
Realizing that in the confrontation between the Soviets and the Provisional Government, the power will remain with the one who uses weapons against competitors, the Bolsheviks began preparing for the forceful removal of the Kerensky cabinet.
It was planned to do this before the opening of the II All Russian Congress of Soviets, which it was proposed to put before the fait accompli that "people with weapons" were on the side of the Bolsheviks and the "parliamentary" political struggle in the country was over.
The course of the revolution.
In 1917, Lenin and many other revolutionaries were in emigration, in neutral Switzerland.
The authorities of Germany, Austria, great Britain refused to allow Lenin to pass through their country to Russia - thus, they were locked in Switzerland.
Unexpectedly, permission was given by all the countries through which Lenin should travel in transit, and already in April he arrived in Russia, like Trotsky from America.
On October 25, at 21: 45, a blank shot from the Aurora's bow gun gave the signal to storm the Winter Palace.
Armed workers, soldiers of the Petrograd garrison and sailors of the Baltic Fleet, led by Vladimir Antonov Ovseenko, occupied the Winter Palace and arrested the Provisional Government.
There was no significant resistance to the attackers.
The Congress that opened the next day, at which the Bolsheviks together with the left Srs owned the majority, approved the overthrow of the Provisional Government, proclaimed itself the only legitimate authority in Russia, adopted Decrees on peace and on land, formed a government — the Council of People's Commissars headed by Lenin.
Four days later, on October 29, there was an uprising of junkers, which was suppressed with the use of artillery and armored cars.
After the suppression of the resistance of forces loyal to the Provisional Government in Petrograd and Moscow, the Bolsheviks managed to quickly establish control over the main industrial centers of Russia and begin eliminating potential political competitors.
The Cadet Party was outlawed, a number of their leaders were arrested, and the opposition press was banned.
Nevertheless, the elections to the Constituent Assembly were held on November 12, 1917, but the Bolsheviks received only about a quarter of the votes, losing to the Social Revolutionaries.
The Constituent Assembly (Petrograd, January 5, 1918) refused to recognize the power of the Bolshevik Soviets, declared the decisions of the II All Russian Congress of Soviets illegal and on the same day was dissolved by the guards led by the anarchist Sailor Zheleznyak, who demanded to stop the meeting, because "The guard was tired".
The results of the revolution.
The Bolsheviks managed to quickly establish control over the armed forces, most of the large industrial centers on the territory of the former Russian Empire not occupied by German troops.
Almost immediately after the revolution, their own governments were proclaimed on the outskirts of the country, which did not recognize the power of the Bolshevik soviets, but by the spring of 1918, almost all of them were liquidated.
In March, a peace treaty was signed with Germany, which the Entente countries refused to recognize.
They brought troops into the territory of Russia and announced the support of all anti Bolshevik forces.
This led to the transition of the confrontation between the Bolsheviks and the opposition to a new level — a full scale civil war began in the country.
On the side of the Bolsheviks were the workers of Petrograd, Moscow and other industrial centers, the small land peasants of the densely populated Chernozem region and Central Russia.
One of the decisive moments that led to the victory of the Bolsheviks in the civil war was the wide participation in the civil war on the side of the Bolsheviks of the best and most gifted former officers of the tsarist army[1], which was caused by their patriotic moods in conditions when representatives of many foreign countries acted on the side of anti Bolshevik forces with a broad front.
This, as well as the lack of a unified leadership and constructive goals of the White Movement, led to the defeat of all anti Bolshevik forces during the war and the suppression of a number of peasant uprisings caused by disappointment in the agrarian policy of the Soviet country.
In 1922, the Soviet Union was established in most of the territory of the former Russian Empire.
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