State · 1917–1922
Russian Revolution
Winter Palace, Petrograd (St Petersburg)
Amid military defeats and bread shortages in World War I, the February Revolution of 1917 forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate on 15 March (New Style) and ended the monarchy. On 7 November (25 October, Old Style) Vladimir Lenin's Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd, storming the Winter Palace, seat of the Provisional Government; after victory in the Russian Civil War they founded the Soviet Union on 30 December 1922.
Why it mattered
Lenin's government created the world's first constitutionally communist state, and the Soviet Union's rivalry with the West shaped much of the 20th century.
Related
- The world in 1914: The World Goes to War chapter
- World War I previous moment · 1914–1918
- The 1918 influenza pandemic next moment · 1918–1920