The Fall of the Russian Empire

The Russian Empire ended in the early hours of 26 October 1917 (8 November by the Western calendar), when the Bolshevik Red Guards occupied the Winter Palace in Petrograd and arrested the ministers of the Provisional Government. Less than nine months earlier, on 15 March 1917, Tsar Nicholas II had abdicated, ending the Romanov dynasty after 304 years. Within another eighteen months, the imperial family itself was dead — executed in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16-17 July 1918 — and a four-year civil war was about to begin. By 1922, the Bolsheviks had won, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics had been proclaimed, and the territorial structure of the empire had been recast.

The collapse of the empire had consequences not only for Russia but for the entire world. The Russian Empire had been one of the great European and Asian powers, the lynchpin of the conservative order in the 19th century, and the largest single state on the European continent. Its disappearance opened a power vacuum from the Baltic to the Pacific, and the Soviet state that took its place would be one of the two superpowers of the twentieth century.

The fall of the empire was the result of many factors, both long-term and short-term. The long-term factors included the economic and social tensions of the imperial period, the failure of the autocratic system to adapt to the challenges of the modern world, the rise of national and revolutionary movements, and the pressures of the international system. The short-term factors included the disasters of the First World War, the breakdown of the imperial government, and the inability of the regime to mobilise popular support for the war effort. The actual events of 1917 unfolded in a context of long-developing tensions and contradictions.

The crisis of the late imperial period

The Russian Empire entered the twentieth century in a state of deep crisis. The Revolution of 1905 had revealed the deep tensions within Russian society, and although the tsarist regime had managed to survive the immediate challenge, the underlying problems remained unresolved.

The economic situation was paradoxical. Russia was industrializing rapidly, with significant growth in the textile, metallurgical, and railway sectors. The construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the development of the oil industry in Baku and the coal industry in the Donbas had transformed large parts of the empire. Yet the economic modernization was uneven and created new social tensions. The industrial working class was growing rapidly, but working conditions were harsh and the legal protections of labor were weak. The peasantry, still the vast majority of the population, remained in deep poverty, with insufficient land and heavy tax burdens.

The political situation was equally problematic. The October Manifesto of 1905 had created a parliament, the State Duma, and granted civil liberties, but Nicholas II consistently sought to limit the Duma’s power and to maintain the autocratic principle. The Duma was repeatedly dissolved when it clashed with the government, and the franchise was repeatedly altered to favor the conservative classes. The political system, in short, offered the appearance of constitutional monarchy without the substance, and this created ongoing tension between the regime and the reformist opposition.

The social situation was marked by deep inequality. The nobility, the imperial family, and the wealthy industrial and commercial classes enjoyed a standard of living comparable to their counterparts in Western Europe, while the mass of the population, especially the peasantry and the urban working class, lived in poverty. The contrast was increasingly visible and increasingly resented, and the revolutionary movements drew substantial support from the disaffected.

The national situation was also increasingly difficult. The empire was a multi-ethnic state, and the various non-Russian nationalities, including the Poles, Finns, Balts, Ukrainians, Georgians, Armenians, and others, were increasingly demanding greater autonomy or independence. The policies of Russification pursued by Alexander III and Nicholas II had only intensified these demands, and the granting of constitutional rights in 1905 encouraged the various national movements to organize politically.

The impact of the Russo-Japanese War

The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 was the catalyst for the Russian Revolution. The war grew out of the rivalry between Russian and Japanese ambitions in Manchuria and Korea, and it began with Japan’s surprise attack on the Russian naval base at Port Arthur in February 1904. Russia suffered a series of devastating defeats, including the destruction of the Baltic Fleet, sent around the world as the Second Pacific Squadron, at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905, and was forced to accept an unfavorable peace.

The defeat had a profound effect on Russian society. It exposed the corruption and incompetence of the imperial government, the backwardness of the Russian military, and the gap between Russia and the rising power of Japan. It also radicalized significant parts of the population, who saw the war as the result of an autocratic regime that cared little for the welfare of its people. Few observers had expected a mass revolution in Russia so soon, but the defeat changed minds, and the events of 1905 would show how deep the discontent ran.

The 1905 Revolution

The Revolution of 1905 was a mass uprising that swept across the Russian Empire. It began in January 1905 with a peaceful demonstration of workers in St. Petersburg, led by the priest Georgy Gapon, who marched to the Winter Palace to present a petition to the tsar. The march was fired upon by troops, with hundreds of casualties in what became known as Bloody Sunday.

The massacre at Bloody Sunday was a turning point in Russian history. The event shattered the traditional image of the tsar as the “Little Father” of the Russian people, and it triggered a wave of strikes, peasant revolts, and military mutinies that paralyzed the country. The most important event was the general strike of October 1905, which brought St. Petersburg and other major cities to a halt and forced Nicholas II to issue the October Manifesto, which established a parliament and granted civil liberties.

The 1905 Revolution was eventually suppressed, but it had lasting consequences. The autocratic system was permanently weakened, and the regime had to accept the existence of a parliament, a free press, and political parties. The revolutionary movements gained experience and confidence, and the various national movements of the empire were able to organize politically. The revolution also prompted significant reforms, including the legal reforms of 1906 and the Stolypin reforms of the agrarian sector.

The Stolypin reforms and the years before the war

The years between 1906 and 1914 were a period of relative stability and significant reform. The prime minister Pyotr Stolypin pursued an ambitious program of reforms aimed at creating a class of independent peasant landowners, modernizing agriculture, and strengthening the Russian state. The Stolypin reforms included the dissolution of the village commune, the encouragement of peasant land consolidation, and the resettlement of peasants to Siberia. The reforms were cut short by Stolypin’s assassination in 1911, and they were never fully implemented, but they represented a serious attempt to address the agrarian question.

The years before the First World War also saw the growth of the industrial economy, the expansion of the railway network, and the development of Russian capitalism. The growth of the working class and the rise of the labor movement created new social tensions, and the various revolutionary parties, including the Social Democrats and the Socialist Revolutionaries, continued to organize. The international situation, however, was also increasingly tense, and the outbreak of war in 1914 would soon change everything.

The First World War and the collapse of 1917

The First World War was the immediate cause of the collapse of the Russian Empire. Russia entered the war in August 1914 as a member of the Entente, allied with France and Britain against the Central Powers. The initial enthusiasm for the war was genuine, and the renaming of St. Petersburg as Petrograd was meant to evoke patriotic feeling. The early campaigns, however, were marked by both promise and disaster.

The Russian army’s invasion of East Prussia in August 1914 brought an early victory at Gumbinnen but ended in the catastrophic defeat at Tannenberg, with the destruction of the Second Army. The southern front was more successful, with the Russian army capturing the Galician capital of Lemberg in September 1914. By the end of 1914, however, it was clear that the war would be longer and more difficult than expected, and the Russian army was increasingly short of rifles, ammunition, and supplies.

The year 1915 was the worst. The German offensive in May 1915 led to the “Great Retreat” of the Russian army, with the loss of Poland, Lithuania, and much of Belarus. By the end of the year, the Russian army had been pushed back hundreds of kilometers, and Russian casualties had reached staggering levels. The military disasters were compounded by economic crisis at home, with food shortages, inflation, and the breakdown of transportation.

The Russian economy was never able to meet the demands of modern industrial warfare. The lack of rifles, the inadequacy of the railways, the shortage of munitions, and the disorganization of the supply system were all major problems. The decision to reorganize the war effort in 1915-1916, with the establishment of special committees to coordinate industrial production, helped somewhat, but the underlying problems remained.

The political crisis deepened as the war went on. The State Duma became increasingly critical of the government, and the “Progressive Bloc” of Duma deputies demanded a government of national confidence. The tsar, however, was unwilling to share power, and the situation continued to deteriorate. In December 1916, a group of conspirators murdered Grigory Rasputin, the controversial mystic who had gained great influence over the imperial family, in the hope that this would change the situation, but it was too late.

The February Revolution

The February Revolution of 1917 began with a strike of women textile workers in Petrograd on International Women’s Day, 23 February 1917 (8 March by the Western calendar). The strike was triggered by bread shortages and the cold weather, but it quickly spread to other workers and to the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison. Within days, the capital was in the hands of the revolutionaries, and on 2 March 1917 (15 March by the Western calendar), Tsar Nicholas II abdicated in favor of his brother, the Grand Duke Michael. The Grand Duke declined the throne the next day, ending three hundred years of Romanov rule.

The February Revolution was followed by a period of dual power, with the Provisional Government, led first by Prince Georgy Lvov and, from July 1917, by Alexander Kerensky, sharing authority with the Petrograd Soviet of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies. The Provisional Government committed itself to continuing the war, but it was unable to solve the fundamental problems of the economy, the military, and the land. The Petrograd Soviet, dominated by the Socialist Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, was more responsive to the demands of the workers and soldiers, but it was divided and uncertain.

The next few months were marked by continued crisis. The Provisional Government faced a series of crises, including the April Crisis over the war aims, the July Days of armed demonstrations in Petrograd, the Kornilov Affair of August 1917, in which the commander-in-chief Lavr Kornilov attempted a military coup, and the growing radicalization of the workers and soldiers.

The October Revolution

The October Revolution of 1917 was the Bolshevik seizure of power. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, had returned to Russia in April 1917 and had won increasing support among the workers and soldiers with their slogans of “Peace, Land, and Bread” and “All Power to the Soviets.” In September 1917, Lenin wrote that the Bolsheviks should seize power, and in October (November by the Western calendar), the Bolshevik Central Committee voted to organize an armed insurrection.

The actual seizure of power was almost bloodless. On the night of 25-26 October 1917 (7-8 November by the Western calendar), the Bolsheviks occupied key points in Petrograd, including the railway stations, the post office, and the State Bank. The cruiser Aurora fired a blank shot as the signal for the assault on the Winter Palace, where the ministers of the Provisional Government were sitting. The palace was taken in the early hours, the ministers were arrested, and a new government, the Council of People’s Commissars, was established under Lenin’s leadership.

The October Revolution was a turning point in Russian history. It ended the Provisional Government, transferred power to the Soviets, and set the stage for the establishment of a one-party state. The revolution was followed by a series of decrees that fulfilled the Bolshevik promises: a decree on peace called for an end to the war, a decree on land transferred the land to the peasants, and a decree on workers’ control placed the factories under the control of the workers. The Bolsheviks also dissolved the Constituent Assembly, which had been elected in November 1917, when it proved unwilling to support the Bolshevik program.

The Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War of 1918-1922 was one of the most brutal conflicts of the twentieth century. It was fought between the Red Army, organized by the Bolsheviks and led by Leon Trotsky, and a loose coalition of anti-Bolshevik forces known as the White Movement. The war was fought on multiple fronts, from the Baltic to the Pacific, and involved interventions by foreign powers, including the United States, Britain, France, Japan, and others.

The war was marked by extraordinary brutality. The Red Army employed a policy known as “Red Terror” against suspected counter-revolutionaries, while the White armies committed atrocities against the Jews, the workers, and the suspected Bolsheviks. The Ukrainian anarchist Nestor Makhno led an independent anarchist army in southern Ukraine that fought both the Reds and the Whites. The peasant uprisings against both sides added to the chaos. The war was accompanied by a devastating famine in 1921-1922 that killed millions of people.

The Bolsheviks eventually won the war, although the outcome was uncertain for a long time. The Red Army was more disciplined, more centrally organized, and more politically committed than the White armies, which were divided by political and regional differences. The Bolsheviks also benefited from their control of the central Russian heartland, with its population and resources, and from their ability to mobilize the workers and the poorer peasants. The Polish-Soviet War of 1920-1921, which ended in a Polish victory, did not break the Bolshevik hold on Russia.

The execution of the royal family and the end of the dynasty

The fate of the imperial family was a major issue in 1917-1918. After the abdication, the Romanovs were held under house arrest at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, then moved to Tobolsk in Siberia in August 1917 to protect them from the upheavals in Petrograd. In April 1918, they were moved to the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, in the Urals, where they were held under the control of the local Ural Soviet.

The approach of the Czechoslovak Legion and the White forces to Yekaterinburg in July 1918 alarmed the Bolshevik authorities. On the night of 16-17 July 1918, Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, their five children (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei), their doctor, and their remaining servants were taken to the basement of the Ipatiev House and shot. The execution was carried out by a detachment of Bolshevik guards under the command of Yakov Yurovsky. The bodies were taken to a forest outside the city and burned, with most of the remains being hidden in a grave that was discovered only in 1979.

The execution of the royal family was a momentous event. It ended the Romanov dynasty permanently, and it eliminated any possibility of a restoration. The Soviet government announced Nicholas’s execution within days, but it concealed the deaths of Alexandra and the children for years, and the remains were not recovered and identified until after the fall of the Soviet Union. The canonization of the Romanovs as new martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church in 2000 was a major event in the post-Soviet religious revival.

The establishment of the Soviet Union

The Russian Civil War ended with the Bolshevik victory and the establishment of the Soviet state. The RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) was proclaimed in 1918, and in 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed, incorporating Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and the Transcaucasian Federation. The Soviet state was officially established on the territories of the former Russian Empire, although Finland, the Baltic states, and parts of Poland had already been lost.

The Soviet state was organized on different principles from the Russian Empire. It was officially a federation of nominally equal republics, although in practice the Russian republic dominated. It was organized on the principle of democratic centralism, with the Communist Party as the leading political institution. It pursued a program of radical social transformation, including the nationalization of industry, the collectivization of agriculture, the suppression of religion, and the development of a planned economy. The Soviet state also pursued a policy of Russification in many areas, although it also encouraged the development of national languages and cultures in theory.

The fall of the Russian Empire was therefore not just a political change but a fundamental transformation of the state, society, economy, and culture of the vast territory that had been the Russian Empire. The legacies of the empire continued to shape the Soviet state, and they continue to shape the post-Soviet Russian Federation and the other successor states to the present day.

Themes in the fall of the empire

Five patterns recur across the long story of the empire’s collapse.

Autocracy and reform. The Romanov autocracy consistently failed to adapt to the challenges of the modern world, and each attempt at reform was followed by a reaction that left the fundamental problem unresolved. The empire’s final failure to develop a stable constitutional order was a major cause of its collapse in 1917.

War as cause and symptom. Wars had been a constant feature of Russian imperial history, and the empire had won many of them, from the Great Northern War to the Napoleonic Wars. But the First World War was different. It was a total industrial war that required the mobilisation of the entire society, and the Russian state’s inability to provide the necessary economic, military, and political organisation led to disaster. The First World War was both the immediate cause of the collapse and a symptom of the deeper problems of the imperial system.

Revolutionary movements. The Russian revolutionary movement went through several phases, from the Decembrists of 1825 to the Populists of the 1870s, the Social Democrats of the 1890s, and the Bolsheviks of 1903-1917. Each phase developed new ideas, new tactics, and new leaders. The Bolsheviks were the most successful in exploiting the crisis of 1917 to seize power, but they were able to come to power only because the imperial system had already failed.

National movements. The Russian Empire was a multi-ethnic state, and the various non-Russian nationalities had developed their own national movements during the imperial period. The empire’s collapse gave these movements the opportunity to assert their independence, and Finland, the Baltic states, parts of Poland, and parts of Ukraine and the Caucasus broke away. The Soviet state reincorporated the Baltic and Ukrainian lands by force in 1940-41 and 1944-45, but was unable to prevent their final secession in 1990-91 — a collapse that re-enacted, on a compressed timescale, the same dynamic of national awakening and imperial overextension that had undone the Romanovs in 1917.

The international context. The fall of the Russian Empire was an event with world-wide consequences. Russia’s withdrawal from the war under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk freed dozens of German divisions for the Spring Offensive of 1918; the Bolshevik Revolution inspired communist movements in Germany, Hungary, China, and beyond; and the Soviet Union reshaped the international order for the next seven decades. The collapse of the Romanov state was, in this sense, one of the founding events of the twentieth-century world.