View source for October Revolution

{{Short description|Second of two 1917 revolutions in Russia}}
{{Redirect|Red October||Red October (disambiguation)|and|October Revolution (disambiguation)|and|November Revolution (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = October Revolution
| partof            = the [[Russian Revolution]] and the [[revolutions of 1917–1923]]
| image             = After the capture of the Winter Palace 26 October 1917.jpg
| image_size        = 300px
| caption           = The [[Winter Palace]] of Petrograd, one day after the insurrection, 8 November
| date              = {{OldStyleDateNY|7 November 1917|25 October}}
| place             = [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]], [[Russian Republic]]
| result            = {{ublist|Bolshevik victory}}
* End of [[dual power]]
* Dissolution of the [[Russian Provisional Government]]
* The [[Second All-Russian Congress of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies' Soviets|Second Congress of Soviets]] proclaims itself as the supreme governing body of the country
* [[Kerensky–Krasnov uprising]] fails to retake the capital
* [[1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election]] held 
* Beginning of the [[Russian Civil War]]
| combatant1        = {{ubl
 | {{flagicon image|Socialist red flag.svg}} [[Bolsheviks]]
 | {{flagicon image|Socialist red flag.svg}} [[Left Socialist-Revolutionaries]] 
 | {{flagicon image|Socialist red flag.svg}} [[Anarchism in Russia#October Revolution|Anarchists]]<br>
}}
| combatant2        = {{flagicon image|Flag of Russia.svg}} [[Russian Republic]]
| commander1        = {{ubl
 | [[Vladimir Lenin]]
 | [[Leon Trotsky]]
 | [[Lev Kamenev]]
 | [[Vladimir Antonov-Ovseenko|Vladimir Ovseenko]]
 | [[Pavel Dybenko]]
 | [[Yakov Sverdlov]]
}}
| commander2        = {{ubl
 | [[Alexander Kerensky]]
 | [[Pyotr Krasnov]]
}}
| strength1         = {{ubli
| 10,000 Red sailors
| 20,000–30,000 Red Guard soldiers
| Unknown number of workers{{efn|50,000 workers passed a resolution in favour of Bolshevik demand for transfer of power to the [[soviets]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Head |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYGNAgAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+50+000+workers&pg=PT83 |title=Evgeny Pashukanis: A Critical Reappraisal |date=12 September 2007 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-1353-0787-5}}{{page needed|date=December 2024}}</ref>{{Sfn|Shukman|1994|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=ScabEAAAQBAJ&dq=october+revolution+50+000+workers&pg=PA21 21 The Workers: February–October 1917 ]}}}}
}}
| strength2         = {{ubli
| 500–1,000 volunteer soldiers
| 1,000 soldiers of the women's battalion
}}
| casualties1       = Few Red Guard soldiers wounded<ref>{{Cite web |date=9 November 2009 |title=Russian Revolution |url=https://www.history.com/topics/russia/russian-revolution |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230826013759/https://www.history.com/topics/european-history/russian-revolution |archive-date=26 August 2023 |website=HISTORY}}</ref>
| casualties2       = All imprisoned or deserted
}}
{{Campaignbox Russian Revolution}}
{{Campaignbox Russian Civil War}}
[[File:Red Guard Vulkan factory.jpg|thumb|[[Red Guards (Russia)|Red Guard]] unit of the Vulkan factory in Petrograd, October 1917]]
[[File:Kustodiev The Bolshevik.jpg|thumb|''Bolshevik'' (1920) by [[Boris Kustodiev]]]]
[[File:Exterminists' Rise in Power in Russia.png|thumb|''[[The New York Times]]'' headline from 9 November 1917]]

The '''October Revolution''',{{Efn|{{langx|ru|Октябрьская революция|Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya}}, {{IPA|ru|ɐkˈtʲabrʲskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə|IPA}}.}} also known as the '''Great October Socialist Revolution'''{{Efn|{{langx|ru|Великая Октябрьская социалистическая революция|Velikaya Oktyabrskaya sotsialisticheskaya revolyutsiya}}, {{IPA|ru|vʲɪˈlʲikəjə ɐkˈtʲabrʲskəjə sətsɨəlʲɪˈsʲtʲitɕɪskəjə rʲɪvɐˈlʲutsɨjə|}}}} (in [[Historiography in the Soviet Union|Soviet historiography]]), '''October coup''',{{Sfn|Figes|1996|loc=[http://www.orlandofiges.info/section6_TheOctoberRevolution1917/LeninandtheOctoberCoup.php Section 6: The October Revolution 1917]}}<ref name="eb_trr">{{Cite encyclopedia |title=The Russian Revolution |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Soviet-Union/The-Russian-Revolution}}</ref> '''Bolshevik coup''',<ref name=eb_trr/> or '''Bolshevik revolution''',<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Was the Bolshevik Revolution? |url=https://www.historians.org/about-aha-and-membership/aha-history-and-archives/gi-roundtable-series/pamphlets/em-46-our-russian-ally-(1945)/what-was-the-bolshevik-revolution |access-date=1 June 2024 |publisher=American Historical Association}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Russian Revolution, 1917 |encyclopedia=Holocaust Encyclopedia |url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-russian-revolution-1917}}</ref> was the second of [[Russian Revolution|two revolutions]] in Russia in 1917. It was led by [[Vladimir Lenin]]'s '''Bolsheviks'''. It began with an insurrection in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) on 25 October 1917 (Old Style), corresponding to 7 November 1917 (New Style). This event marked the precipitating factor of the Russian Civil War. The initial phase of the revolution, including the assault on Petrograd, was largely bloodless, with few casualties.

=== The Lulzy Origins ===
The October Revolution was basically the sequel nobody asked for after the February Revolution, which booted out Tsar Nicholas II (aka Mr. Autocracy) and replaced him with the Russian Provisional Government, led by Alexander Kerensky, the guy with a Napoleon complex but without the actual skills. This new gov was about as popular as dial-up internet because they thought it was a brilliant idea to keep Russia in World War I and also got trigger-happy during protests like the July Days, where they turned demonstrators into Swiss cheese.

By late 1917, the Provisional Government was a clown car run by the left-wing Socialist-Revolutionaries (SRs), but the far-left Bolsheviks were like, “Nah, fam, we want full communism.” Led by edgy memelord Leon Trotsky, the Petrograd Soviet voted to yeet the current regime with some classic revolutionary LARPing.

=== Bolshevik Blitzkrieg ===
On November 6, 1917 (Gregorian calendar, aka normie time), the Provisional Government tried to shut down the Bolshevik party by closing their newspapers and locking down Petrograd. Clearly, they didn’t get the memo that censorship only makes edgy people edgier. Minor slap-fights broke out, but then Bolshevik sailors and defecting soldiers swarmed in like the Red Wave DLC.

By the early morning of November 8, the Bolsheviks pulled a GTA speedrun and captured the Winter Palace, the Provisional Government’s final save point. Thus, the Bolsheviks effectively pulled off the ultimate IRL server takeover.

=== Post-Revolution Pogchamps ===
After the revolution, Russia basically turned into a battle royale, known as the Russian Civil War (1917–1922). This ended with the Bolsheviks winning and launching the Soviet Union, where communism became the new flavor of dystopia.

Western countries freaked out like helicopter parents and tried to intervene, but the Bolsheviks were like, “Don’t touch my spawn point,” and yeeted them out. Meanwhile, worldwide communists started throwing house parties celebrating the Bolshevik victory, while capitalist countries clenched their pearls.

October Revolution Day became the USSR’s annual excuse to hold massive parades and flex its tanks. Even after the USSR yeeted itself into the dustbin of history, some edgy communist LARPers around the world still celebrate it, probably with bad vodka and worse speeches.

=== Spicy Calendar Drama ===
So why is it called the October Revolution when it happened in November? Because Russia was still on the Julian calendar, like some kind of medieval boomer, while the rest of the world had switched to the Gregorian calendar. When the USSR finally caught up with the times, they still called it the October Revolution because branding.

For extra confusion, it’s also called the Bolshevik Revolution or the Communist Revolution, depending on how much tinfoil the person naming it was wearing. Early on, people just called it the October coup (Октябрьский переворот) or the Uprising of the 3rd, which sounds like a discount Star Wars movie.

=== Economic Hellscape ===
By the time the Bolsheviks rolled in, Russia's economy was already in the toilet. Thanks to the Provisional Government’s genius decision to keep fighting World War I, industrial production tanked harder than Netflix stock after a bad season. By autumn 1917, half the factories in places like the Urals and Donbas had rage-quit, unemployment was skyrocketing, and real wages were worth about as much as Monopoly money.

Russia's national debt ballooned to 50 billion roubles, and 11 billion of that was owed to foreign governments. In short, the country was financially more wrecked than a toddler in a candy store with a stolen credit card.

=== German Troll Support ===
During the revolution, Germany low-key played puppet master. They figured that if they helped Lenin and his Bolshevik edgelords take over, Russia would rage-quit World War I. So, like any good war profiteer, they sent Lenin back to Russia in a sealed train, probably hoping he’d turn the country into a massive flame war, which he did.

Germany basically funded the Bolsheviks' revolution DLC, hoping Russia would tap out of the war, which worked. Lenin got a free ride, and Russia got communism speed-runned into existence. GG, Germany.n.