The Russian Revolutions of 1917
17 Dec 1916 O.S. – 3 Mar 191886 items
revolutionrussiaFrom the last tsar to a separate peace
Russia had two revolutions in 1917. In February eight days of strikes and mutiny in Petrograd ended three centuries of Romanov rule. A Provisional Government of liberals, then of coalitions led by Alexander Kerensky, shared power with the soviets of workers and soldiers. In October the Bolsheviks took the capital in a night. This timeline runs from Rasputin’s murder in December 1916 to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918.
Two calendars
Russia still kept the Julian calendar, 13 days behind the West. Every Russian date here is entered as the sources write it, in the Old Style, and the app shows its Gregorian equivalent. So the “October” Revolution of 25 October appears as 7 November, and the February Revolution falls in March. Swiss, Finnish, American and German dates are New Style. The Bolsheviks switched in 1918: 31 January was followed by 14 February.
How to read it
Zoom in on 23–27 February and 24–26 October to follow them hour by hour. Times are
UTC: Petrograd clocks ran two hours ahead in winter and three in summer time, so the notes give the local time too.Bands show the phases: the February Revolution, dual power, the Provisional Government’s five cabinets, the July Days, the Kornilov affair and the October insurrection.
Filter by
bolsheviks,soviets,government,uprisingorwarto follow one thread.
All around me is treason, cowardice and deceit. — Nicholas II, diary, 2 March 1917
Items
Rasputin murdered
Strike on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday
- ≈ 1 month, 13 days
Lockout at the Putilov works
Nicholas leaves for Stavka
International Women’s Day strike
General strike in Petrograd
The tsar orders the disorders stopped
Troops fire on Znamenskaya Square
The Volynsky Regiment mutinies
The Duma forms a Provisional Committee
Petrograd Soviet meets
Order No. 1
The imperial train halts at Pskov
Provisional Government formed
Nicholas II abdicates
Grand Duke Michael declines the throne
Women march for the vote
The victims of February are buried
The United States enters the war
Lenin arrives at the Finland Station
The April Theses
The Milyukov note
April Crisis: the Finland Regiment marches
Chernov seized by the crowd
Troops take the Kshesinskaya mansion
Kerensky heads the government
Lenin goes into hiding
The Women’s Battalion of Death goes into action
Kornilov made commander-in-chief
Riga falls
Kerensky dismisses Kornilov
General Krymov shoots himself
Kornilov arrested at Stavka
Russia proclaimed a republic
Trotsky elected chairman of the Petrograd Soviet
The Central Committee votes for insurrection
The Military Revolutionary Committee is set up
Kamenev and Zinoviev go public
Cadets raid the Bolshevik press
Lenin reaches the Smolny
Bridges, stations and the telegraph taken
“To the Citizens of Russia!”
Kerensky drives out to find troops
Lenin speaks to the Petrograd Soviet
The Aurora fires a blank
Second Congress of Soviets opens
Peter and Paul’s guns open fire
The Winter Palace taken
The Congress proclaims Soviet power
Decree on Peace
Decree on Land
Battle of Pulkovo Heights
Ukraine proclaims a people’s republic
Red dead buried at the Kremlin wall
Constituent Assembly elections
Stavka taken; General Dukhonin killed
Finland declares independence
Armistice at Brest-Litovsk
The Cheka is founded
The Volunteer Army gathers on the Don
“The guard is tired”
The Constituent Assembly dissolved
Bread Peace with Ukraine
“Neither war nor peace”
Russia switches to the Gregorian calendar
The Germans take Pskov
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk