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Follow Russia month by month from the February Revolution and Red October through the Civil War and the Red Terror to the birth of the Soviet Union.

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Revolution & Civil War · 1917-1922
1917 · Революция

Revolution & Civil War

From the fall of the monarchy in the February Revolution and Lenin's return through the Bolshevik seizure of power in October, the peace of Brest-Litovsk, the execution of the Romanovs, the Red Terror, and the great Civil War of Reds against Whites, to the victory of the Bolsheviks, the famine of 1921, and the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922. Slide month by month through the five years that overthrew an empire and built a new kind of state.

March 1917
February Revolution
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March 1917

February Revolution
  • Political

    The fall of the monarchy

    Bread riots and a soldiers' mutiny in Petrograd force Nicholas II to abdicate, ending Romanov rule. A Provisional Government forms alongside the Petrograd Soviet.

19 milestones
Full Chronicle

Revolution & Civil War

From the fall of the monarchy in the February Revolution and Lenin's return through the Bolshevik seizure of power in October, the peace of Brest-Litovsk, the execution of the Romanovs, the Red Terror, and the great Civil War of Reds against Whites, to the victory of the Bolsheviks, the famine of 1921, and the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922. Slide month by month through the five years that overthrew an empire and built a new kind of state.

  1. February Revolution

    • The fall of the monarchy

      Bread riots and a soldiers' mutiny in Petrograd force Nicholas II to abdicate, ending Romanov rule. A Provisional Government forms alongside the Petrograd Soviet.

  2. Lenin Returns

    • Lenin's return and the April Theses

      Transported from Swiss exile in a sealed train through Germany, Lenin arrives at the Finland Station and demands 'all power to the soviets' and an end to the war.

  3. The July Days

    • The July Days and Kerensky's rise

      A premature armed rising by soldiers and workers in Petrograd collapses; the Bolsheviks are suppressed and Lenin flees to Finland, while Alexander Kerensky becomes prime minister.

  4. The Kornilov Affair

    • The Kornilov Affair

      General Lavr Kornilov marches on Petrograd in what Kerensky denounces as a coup attempt; to stop him, the government arms the Bolshevik Red Guards.

  5. October Revolution

    • The Bolsheviks seize power

      On the night of 7-8 November (25-26 October Old Style), Red Guards and sailors storm the Winter Palace, overthrow the Provisional Government, and proclaim soviet rule.

  6. The New Regime

    • The Cheka and an armistice

      The Bolsheviks establish the Cheka secret police under Felix Dzerzhinsky and open armistice talks with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk.

  7. One-Party State

    • The Constituent Assembly is dissolved

      After the Bolsheviks lose the national election to the Socialist Revolutionaries, armed sailors shut down the Constituent Assembly after a single day.

  8. Exit from the War

    • The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk

      Russia signs a harsh peace with Germany, surrendering Ukraine, the Baltic lands, and Poland; the capital is moved from Petrograd to Moscow.

  9. Civil War Erupts

    • The Czechoslovak Legion and War Communism

      A revolt by the Czechoslovak Legion along the Trans-Siberian Railway sparks open civil war, as the Bolsheviks impose War Communism to feed the cities and the Red Army.

  10. Death of the Romanovs

    • The execution of the imperial family

      As White forces approach, Nicholas II, his wife, their five children, and their servants are shot in a cellar in Yekaterinburg.

  11. The Red Terror

    • The Red Terror is unleashed

      After an assassination attempt wounds Lenin, the Bolsheviks proclaim a campaign of mass arrests, hostage-taking, and executions against 'class enemies'.

  12. World Revolution

    • Kolchak's offensive and the founding of the Comintern

      Admiral Kolchak, 'Supreme Ruler' of the Whites, drives west from Siberia, while in Moscow the Bolsheviks found the Communist International to spread revolution abroad.

  13. The Whites at the Gates

    • Denikin and Yudenich are turned back

      General Denikin's drive on Moscow reaches Oryol and Yudenich nears Petrograd, but the Red Army halts both at the high-water mark of the White cause.

  14. War with Poland

    • The Battle of Warsaw

      The Red Army's advance on Warsaw, aiming to carry revolution into Europe, is shattered by a Polish counterattack known as the 'Miracle on the Vistula'.

  15. Victory of the Reds

    • The fall of Crimea and Wrangel's evacuation

      The Red Army breaks the last major White army under General Wrangel, who evacuates over 100,000 soldiers and civilians from Crimea by sea.

  16. Crisis and Retreat

    • Kronstadt and the New Economic Policy

      Sailors at the Kronstadt naval base rise against Bolshevik rule and are crushed; days later, Lenin replaces War Communism with the market-friendly New Economic Policy.

  17. Famine

    • The Russian famine of 1921-1922

      Drought, war, and grain requisition trigger a catastrophic famine along the Volga that kills around five million people despite international relief.

  18. Rise of Stalin

    • Stalin becomes General Secretary

      Joseph Stalin is appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party, an administrative post he will build into the base of supreme power.

  19. Birth of the USSR

    • Foundation of the Soviet Union

      On 30 December 1922, the Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Transcaucasian republics unite to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.