World War and Revolution

At the onset of World War I Russians heeded the call for unity in order to concentrate on the war effort, and in a show of anti-German feeling, St. Petersburg was given the more Russian sounding name of Petrograd. However, after a couple of years of drawn- out, inconclusive fighting the masses started getting restless once again. The government was essentially paralyzed as Nicholas had gone off to the front to oversee the war effort and his assertive wife had fallen under the influence of the funky monk, Rasputin, who used his position to pack government positions with corrupt and ineffectual friends. Eventually, in February 1917, food riots brought angry crowds to Palace Square and this time policemen and soldiers refused to fire on them. A provisional government was declared and Tsar Nicholas was forced to abdicate.

The provisional government, meant to serve until elections could be held in November for a national constituent assembly which would use its mandate to lead the country out of chaos, was essentially crippled from birth by divisions on a number of issues. Principle among these were whether Russia should continue the war effort and the limits, if any, to the revolutionary changes occurring in the country. Alexander Kerensky, a mellow socialist who ended up in charge of the provisional government, maintained a pro-war policy to the end, whereas Bolshevik agitators wanted an immediate cessation of hostilities and a complete communization of the country. The Germans craftily provided Lenin, the Bolsheviks' leader who was having a great time in exile in Switzerland, with transport back home in April where he immediately gave lots of dramatic speeches and made a nuisance of himself until he was driven away in August after a failed putsch.

Still, as 1917 progressed, the situation in Petersburg and on the Front continued to worsen and the Bolsheviks' slogan of "Peace, Bread, Land, and Workers' Control" resonated deeper and deeper. Lenin saw his opportunity, and on the night of October 24 the Bolsheviks' Red Army garrisons quietly seized government buildings and communication centers, arresting the members of the provisional government and declaring a new government of the soviets (as the Councils of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies were called). This coup d'©tat came to be known as the October Revolution.