The income of Russia at first World War in 1914 It allowed at first to quell a growing wave of discontent against the Tsar’s government, since all classes united against the common enemy: Germany and Austria-Hungary. But the results of the War began to deteriorate due to the large number of casualties and frequent defeats and the economy crumbled from the effort.
bp
On March 10, 1917, the shortage of bread caused strikes and riots in the capital. When the army joined the protesters, the tsar was forced to abdicate and the parliament, the Dumawas suspended. Power passed into the hands of two institutions: the provisional government, dominated by middle-class “progressives” and the soviet of delegates of the workers and soldiers of Petrograd, formed by several revolutionary parties of workers, among which was the famous “Bolshevik” party. Both bodies shared power with difficulties; Democratic reforms were tried, but they continued to do poorly in the war and the provisional government failed to respond to demands to reform land distribution.
Thus, the provisional government distanced itself from public opinion on the right as well as on the left. When in July the right-wing general Kornilov attempted a military coup, only militant workers could save the government, revealing their lack of real authority.
Only the Bolshevik party, led by the Marxist intellectual Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov(1870-1924) called Lenin,had consistently opposed the war, basing his campaign on the emotional slogan: «peace, bread and land» and then he began to gain support. By September he controlled the Petrograd and Moscow soviets and it was there that he began to plan his coup. The moment came when on November 4 the Red Guards began to take control of Petrograd (present-day Petersburg). The provisional government took refuge in the winter palace, which fell without a fight the following night. On November 7, Lenin announced that the Soviet had seized power on behalf of the working class and immediately began issuing decrees to end the war and initiate land reform.
However, the revolution was not assured, the Bolsheviks were still a minority in the country and only achieved final victory after four years of bloody civil war.