Bolsheviks Seize Power: Russia's Revolution Erupts
Bolshevik Red Guards occupied key positions throughout Petrograd on the night of October 25, 1917 (November 7 on the Gregorian calendar), seizing telegraph offices, bridges, and the State Bank before storming the Winter Palace. The Provisional Government collapsed with barely a fight: the famous 'storming' was largely unopposed. Kerensky had already fled. Lenin declared Soviet power that night at the Second Congress of Soviets. The Bolsheviks immediately issued decrees on peace and land redistribution. When the democratically elected Constituent Assembly met in January 1918 and refused to rubber-stamp Bolshevik decrees, Lenin dissolved it after a single day. Russia's brief experiment with democracy lasted 13 hours. A civil war between Reds and Whites followed, lasting until 1922 and killing millions.
October 25, 1917
109 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on October 25
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