Russian Revolution

What's Hiding in Putin's Family History?

by Chris Monday

The details of Vladimir Putin's personal and family life are surprisingly (and by design) difficult to pin down. A historian suggests that his grandfather was more powerful, and more influential on the future Russian leader's fortunes, than Putin's common man mythology suggests. 

Understanding "Correlation of Forces" in Ukraine Counsels Caution for the US

by Michael Klare

Ukraine is a reminder of the significance of intangible factors in assessing military outcomes, and a warning against rash action in anticipation of success.

Again, Russia is at the Center of an American-Backed War for Democracy

by James D. Robenalt

The abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917 removed a major principled objection to calls for Americans to fight for the sake of democracy. The moral lines are clearer today, but once again Russia is at the center of an American debate about intervention.

How World War I Fueled the Russian Revolution

Stephen Miner of Ohio University says that while the collapse of Czarist Russia was likely without the first world war, the conflict made it virtually inevitable. Lynne Hartnett of Villanova says war exposed the weaknesses of the regime. 

The GOP’s Bolshevik Moment

by Fred Kaplan

Alexander Kerensky's tenure as Russia's only prime minister between the overthrow of the Czar and the Bolshevik takeover was cut short in part because he viewed Lenin as an ally against his monarchist enemies. Republican Party leaders risk the same fate if they accept the likes of Marjorie Taylor Greene as allies against Joe Biden.

The Lenin Plot: The Concealed History of The US-Led Effort to Overthrow the USSR

by Barnes Carr

"The Lenin Plot was a massive embarrassment for the Allies, and they tried to cover it up. The denial continued for years."

Did the US Try to Assassinate Lenin in 1918?

A new book demonstrates that the United States and western allies attempted to thwart the Bolshevik revolution and actually started the Cold War with an ill-fated 1918 invasion of Russia, but is on more speculative ground tracing an assassination attempt against Lenin to the US.  

The Polar Bear Expedition: When America Intervened in Russian Affairs

by James Carl Nelson

As allegations and investigations swirl around the questions of Russian intervention in our 2016 elections, it’s worth a look back one hundred years to our own intervention in Russia. 

The Revolt in the Trenches: WWI, Revolution, and Bulgaria

by Jana Tsoneva

One year after the Bolsheviks ended Russia’s participation in World War I, revolutionary soldiers in Bulgaria forced their government to do the same.

No, It Wasn’t Inevitable that Putin’s Russia Would Descend into Lawlessness

by Jonathan Daly

Russia's trajectory for two centuries before the revolution of 1917 exhibited a fairly consistent pattern of the growing predictability, impartiality, accessibility, and fairness of the legal system.

1918 Brought an Armistice, but Also a World of Death

A century ago, the war to end war came to an end. At the same time, Russia endured a vicious civil war, and the flu killed more people than all the battlefields of World War I.

The cautionary tale of the Bolshevik revolution

by Niall Ferguson

A century ago it was the West’s great blunder to think it would not matter if Lenin and his confederates took over the Russian Empire. Incredible as it may seem, I believe we are capable of repeating that catastrophic error.

Putin’s Russia: Revolution, What Revolution?

by Anastasia Edel

Today, the official birthday of the USSR, is no longer part of Russia’s holiday canon.

100 years later, Bolshevism is back

by Anne Applebaum

And we should be worried.

October Revolution: Russia's Communists Warn of Riots If Lenin Is Buried, Kadyrov Demands Apology

For almost a century, the revolutionary’s body has laid embalmed in a mausoleum on Moscow’s Red Square, splitting opinion from the outset.

The Russian Revolution’s Middle Eastern Legacy: Plus ça Change…

by Isabella Ginor and Gideon Remez

This week marks the centenary of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. What mark, if any, did it leave on Middle Eastern affairs, including Israel?

Russian Officials Cautious on How to Mark 1917 Revolution Centenary

Despite the significant anniversary, Russian authorities have been cautious about how to observe it, apparently fearful of inciting divisions, especially in the wake of a revolution in neighboring Ukraine.

Are Russians Really Long-Suffering

by Christopher Lawrence

That's the stereotype.  It's wrong. 

Revolutions: Three Different Kinds

by Rex Wade

Alyssa's posting, like Peter Stearns' earlier, implicitly touch on the questions of leadership and revolutionary stages. Perhaps in any discussion of revolutions it may be worth keeping in mind that those who begin revolutions rarely are the ones who finish them. (The American Revolution, perhaps better called by its other common term, the War for Independence, is an anomaly that perhaps misleads Americans about revolutions.) In comparing revolutions and leadership, perhaps several variants are worth keeping in mind:1) Places where the revolution “succeeds,” in the sense of the old regime being swept away, but successive leadership changes and even mini-revolutions and regime changes occur before things are stabilized in a new order, as in France after 1789 and Russia in 1917.2) Those (rare?) instances where the original revolutionaries successfully sweep away the old regime and replace it by something genuinely new that is reasonably stable and permanent, such as Turkey with Ataturk.3) Instances where revolutionaries have temporary success but the old regime soon reconstitutes itself in slightly altered form (“Revolution of 1905” in Russia, 1848 in Central Europe).

Don't Overestimate the Cohesion of the Military during Revolutionary Moments

by Rex Wade

As Jack Censer’s post has pointed out, the role of the military in revolutionary situations is critical to understanding them. Yet, it varies so much that finding common threads can be extremely difficult, and even then misleading. Yet, clearly, they play central roles. Perhaps one useful way of exploring that is to examine the extent to which the military is unified in outlook -- ideological, cultural, social, and hierarchically -- or divided, most likely between officers and rank and file men, which in turn can reflect social or ideological differences (although there could be other fault-lines, such as religion or ethnicity). Moreover, this can change as the revolution progresses.In the Russian Revolution of 1917, for example, both officers and men were unhappy with the tsarist government of Nicholas II as the year opened, with discussion of palace revolution emerging among high-ranking officers by the end of 1916 while rank-and-file soldiers (and lower level officers) were alienated by the ongoing war (World War I). Both immediately supported the February Revolution -- indeed a rebellion of rank-and-file soldiers in the capital city garrison played a critical role in toppling the regime-- and the new liberal provisional government.