War and Revolution in Russia 1914 - 1921

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• 1. The auguries for war
• 2. Campaigns and crises: 1914-1916
• 3. 1917: From February to October
• 4. Brest-Litovsk and its consequences
• 5. Civil War: Whites v Reds
• 6. Allied intervention
• 7. Find out more
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The auguries for war

In 1913, Tsar Nicholas II celebrated the tercentenary of Romanov rule in Russia. He and his dynasty ruled over a huge empire, stretching from central Europe to the Pacific Ocean and from the Arctic to the borders of Afghanistan.

'the events that took place on the Eastern Front...would have a profound impact upon world history for the remainder of the century'

This mighty imperium covered one-sixth of the land surface of the globe, and was populated by almost 150 million people of more than a hundred different nationalities.

However, the Russian Empire was riven by many tensions. Just five years after the celebrations, Nicholas and his family would be dead, executed by the Bolsheviks, while his empire would be defeated in the World War and wracked by revolutions, civil wars and foreign interventions.

By 1921, after a period of great unrest, the Bolsheviks triumphed in Russia, and largely reunited the old empire (formally constituted as the USSR in 1923). The repercussions of the events that took place on the Eastern Front, from 1914 to 1921, however, would have a profound impact upon world history for the remainder of the century and beyond - although it was the battles of the Western Front that eventually achieved greater fame.

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Published: 2004-04-28