Revolution

Defeat in war encourages revolution. In 1905, Russia was defeated by Japan, and revolution broke out across the country. It failed and was put down brutally everywhere, but it was a warning.

Nicholas became Czar of Russia on the death of his father, Alexander, in 1894. His reign began badly when more than a thousand people died in a crowd stampede during his coronation. Nicholas never managed to cope with the changing world of modern technology and ideas. He was a quiet man who valued his family but had trouble being an inspiring figurehead.

The situation was complicated by the fact that his son suffered from hemophilia, a disorder that prevented his blood from clotting, meaning that the slightest injury could kill him.

When war broke out in 1914, Nicholas took charge of the army but neglected domestic matters, and his country slid gradually into chaos, then revolution.

In 1917, Russia had not been defeated, but things were not going well. Huge areas of the country were occupied by the enemy, the army was poorly equipped and badly led, and a harsh winter and food shortages made life intolerable. In March, food riots broke out in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), and soldiers refused to fire on the rioters. When Czar Nicholas II, the Russian monarch, attempted to return to his capital, he was prevented by soldiers and railway workers. The Russian generals advised the Czar to abdicate, and the monarchy in Russia came to an end.

Councils of workers and soldiers, “soviets”, became very powerful, and a Provisional Government was set up. No one talked about stopping the war—the Czar was blamed for all the problems—and the other Allies welcomed the revolution. Russia would become a democracy.

Everyone was happy, except Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. He was the leader of a small revolutionary party that believed that all governments needed to be overthrown and that revolution had to spread throughout the world.

Czar Nicholas II

Like many revolutionaries, Ulyanov used a code name, Lenin. When the Czar abdicated, Lenin was desperate to lead a more extreme revolution than the Provisional Government wanted, but there was a problem. Lenin was living in exile in neutral Switzerland. To get home to Petrograd, Lenin would have to cross a war-torn continent.

Lenin

Vladimir llyich Ulyanov was born in 1870, the son of a successful official. His older brother was hanged as a revolutionary in 1887. Lenin followed in his brother’s footsteps to become a revolutionary agitator. He adopted the political philosophies of Karl Marx and gradually rose to prominence in the Russian revolutionary movement. Though there were other strong leaders in the Bolshevik faction of the Russian communists, such as Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, Lenin was the unquestioned leader at the time of the 1917 uprising. After his death in 1924, Stalin seized the leadership of the Soviet Union in a power struggle and ruled the country until his death in 1953.

The one country prepared to help Lenin return home was Russia’s enemy, Germany. The Germans thought that Lenin would stir up trouble in Russia and weaken its resolve to fight. Their plan succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

In secret, Lenin and some of his companions boarded a sealed train. As it crossed Germany, they were not allowed to leave their carriage. After a detour through Scandinavia, Lenin arrived in Petrograd on April 16. Courtesy of his country’s enemies, Lenin was now in a position to take power and stamp his name on world history.