The Bolshevik Takeover

The Bolshevik takeover
The fall of the Provisional government and the Bolshevik Revolution sparked many changes for Russia in 1917. It changed Russia for always. The economic system changed from a capitalist system to a socialist economy, peasants were granted the land that they already took in the February/March revolution and it ended the war and made peace in Russia. The lead up to the revolution can be traced back as far as March during the February/March revolution of 1917.
In March of 1917 in Russia, The Tsar, Nicholas II had little choice. The Great War (as it was known as at that time) had turned into a disaster, conditions at home were horrible, and the Menshevik government had forced Nicholas to abdicate He did this for himself and his son and gave the power to his brother. His brother gave up the power the next day because the country was in such disarray. After that, the Provisional Government took power. By November of 1917 in Russia, the Provisional Government was in complete collapse. In the meantime, the Bolshevik party, which was helped by German money, had built up an efficient party organisation, had a brilliant propaganda machine, and a powerful private army know as the Red Guards.
On the 15th of March 1917, Nicholas abdicated for himself and his son. His brother, Grand Duke Michael, refuses to take the throne and abdicated the next day. Russia then became a republic and the First Provisional Government took over. The Provisional Government promised many liberal reforms. They promised elections by the end of the year, secret ballots and to remove the secret police. Some of the other reforms were freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion.
The Great War also continued for Russia. Prime Minister, Lvov, continued the war so that Russia could avoid land and resource loss. The consequence of this was the food shortages and loss of life for the soldiers fighting in the war. The Soviets ordered, ORDER NO.1. This stated that soldiers could only take orders from the Soviets and not of the provisional government.
Many people returned after the amnesty was put in place by the Provisional government. They had been exiled and were now free to return to the Petrograd. Some of these Bolsheviks were Stalin, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Dzerzhinsky. Lenin also returned from Switzerland.
Lenin arrived in Petrograd in April and called for a socialist revolution to overthrow to Provisional Government. His April theses outlined many points. It alleged that they would not cooperate with political parties, he promised to end the war for Russia (He believed that there would be revolutions all over Europe which would avoid military threat) and to create a socialist state by removing private ownership of property. Lenin also appealed to the people by giving his famous speech of PEACE, LAND, BREAD.
During July there were violent riots spreading in Russia. These were calling for an overthrow of the Provisional government. Sailors marched in support of the Bolsheviks. This led to a new Provisional Government being formed, led by Kerensky. The Bolsheviks were consequentially defeated and Lenin fled to Finland.
Once Kerensky became Prime Minister due to the resignation of Lvov, Commander-in-chief, Kornilov, wanted Kerensky to refuse ORDER.1. He also wanted the death penalty to be given to thos who ignored this. Petrograd Soviet arm workers had then barricaded the . Petrograd Bolsheviks were supported more and more. Bolsheviks then promote and armed revolution. Bolsheviks then dominated the Soviets.