On 25 October 1917 by the Julian calendar then in use in Russia (7 November by the Gregorian calendar), Bolshevik Red Guards and allied units, directed by Vladimir Lenin and organised through Leon Trotsky's Military Revolutionary Committee, seized the Winter Palace and other key points in Petrograd, deposing the Provisional Government that had governed since the February Revolution earlier that year. The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets, meeting the same night, ratified the new Bolshevik government under Lenin. The seizure of power was swift and comparatively bloodless in Petrograd itself, but it opened the Russian Civil War that followed and established the Soviet state.
Facts
Event Date7 November 1917 by the Gregorian calendar now in use; 25 October 1917 by the Julian calendar in use in Russia at the time, which gives the event its name. LocationPetrograd (now Saint Petersburg), Russia 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. Russian Revolution (Britannica)
Encyclopaedia BritannicaQuote
Encyclopaedia Britannica account of the 1917 Russian Revolution, covering the October seizure of power.
October Revolution (Wikipedia)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikimedia FoundationLead section, opening paragraphQuote, Lead section, opening paragraph
The October Revolution was the second of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was led by Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks as part of the broader Russian Revolution of 1917-1923.
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