Nicholas did not want the throne to go to his son because of his haemophilia. He passed the throne to his brother who then refused it, thus creating a constitutional crisis into which the Provisional Government stepped. The collapse of the Tsarist regime came about almost by accident and was certainly unexpected.

Switzerland was neutral. Lenin had spent the war writing a book about Imperialism. The German government allowed him to travel across Germany to Russia in order to destabilise the Russian regime. They insisted that the train was 'sealed' so that there was no chance of Lenin's dangerous revolutionary ideas infecting the people of Germany!

The Provisional Government was formed out of the Duma. Lvov was a figure head. The real power lay with the liberal Kadet leader Milyukov, who became foreign minister.

The Provisional Government was forced to share power with the Petrograd Soviet, and the Soviet had firm control over the Petrograd garrison because of the 'Soviet Order Number One'. Events of February 1917 had showed that the support of the military was vital to the survival of a regime, so the Provisional Government was weakened from the start.

Lenin arrived by train from Switzerland at the Finland Station in St Petersburg (Petrograd). He immediately made a speech which outlined a programme. In contrast, the Provisional Government were failing to give clear leadership.

Lenin said that due to the situation in Russia, power should pass straightaway to the proletariat. Marxist thinking would have suggested that a period of middle class (bourgeois) rule would come after feudalism. Lenin said that Russia could skip this stage of history. 

The Bolshevik revolution took place in these two cities, giving Lenin control of a central area with the railways lines, industry, and a large population. However, the Bolsheviks were far from controlling Russia.

Lenin's recognised that this was a necessity. During 1917 the peasants had seized much of the land in any case. However, the peasants were not supporters of the Bolsheviks and so this decision was to cause problems. In the end Stalin settled the matter by seizing the land from the peasants in forced collectivisation. 

Communism is an atheist philosophy. Marx had said that religion was 'the opium of the masses'. More direct attacks on the Church came in the 1920s but religion practices were to survive.

This showed that the Bolsheviks were in a majority. The Social Democratic Party got the votes of the peasants and secured over 40%. The Bolsheviks had stronger representation in the cities and in the army.

The Cheka was formed immediately after the revolution in order to supress counter-revolution. It grew rapidly between 1917 and 1921 and became notorious for the savagery of its methods, including bloodthirsty punishments and torture. For more information see Orlando Figes 'A People's Tragedy. The Russian Revolution 1891-1924', page 646.

Germany demanded a hgh price for ending the war. Lenin saw that it was necessary and forced Trotsky to accept the terms. Russia lost 26% of its population, 27% of its arable land and 74% of its coal and iron ore.

The 'bread basket' of the Soviet Union. The Bolsheviks regained control of this region after the Civil War and the Russo-Poilish war.

Intervention had a military purpose, to continue the war against Germany on the Eastern Front. It was also ideological. Winston Churchill thought Bolshevism was like a contagious disease that had to be destroyed before it spread to the rest of Europe.

Trotsky directed and inspired the troops from his special armoured train. He also ordered the severe punishment of deserters

1921 was a crucial year. The end of the civil war did not end the problems of the Bolshevik regime. The Kronstadt Mutiny was a serious threat because the Kronstadt sailors had been key supporters of the revolution. They called for 'Soviets without the Bolsheviks', in other words a democracy not a one-party state.

This was a crucial concession. It shows that Lenin was prepared to be flexible in his ideology. However it did encourage capitalism, so the question was for how long could this policy be carried on?

As the structure of the Soviet Government reflected the structure of the Communist Party, control of the Politburo was the key to the control of the nation.

Privately Stalin was delighted by the death of Lenin. Stalin had spent the last year restricting Lenin's ability to work for fear of what he might do to undermine Stalin's position. Stalin used the funeral to launch the 'cult of Lenin'. In the eulogy he repeated the phrase 'we vow to you Comrade Lenin...'

Trotsky was absent from the capital at the time of Stalin's funeral on party duties. Stalin misled him about the date of the funeral, leading Trotsky to think that he would not be able to travel back in time. Trotsky's absence gave Stalin a decisive advantage.