On this day in 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution begins with the bombardment of the Winter Palace in Petrograd, the event that would mark the overthrow of Russia’s Provisional Government and the rise of Soviet power.
Led by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, revolutionaries stormed key points across the city during the October Revolution (which occurred on 24 October under the old Julian calendar, which Russia was still using at the time). The assault on the Winter Palace signalled the final collapse of the short-lived democratic government that had replaced Tsar Nicholas II earlier that year.
By the following day, the Bolsheviks had seized control of Petrograd and soon extended their grip across Russia, paving the way for the creation of the world’s first communist state- the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
The revolution would change the course of global politics for much of the 20th century, inspiring leftist movements worldwide and setting the stage for decades of ideological conflict, including the Cold War.
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