1.  starter activity
Have a look at active history decision making activity for this topic. (45 mins clip available on this topic)
These pictures all suggest reasons why the Provisional Government was in dire straits by the autumn of Can you guess what problems they allude to?

2. How did the Bolsheviks manage to seize power in October 1917?
A still from the film October (1927) showing the storming of the Winter Palace

3. How did the Bolsheviks manage to seize power in October 1917?
 Aims
Construct a timeline showing lead-up to October 1917 Revolution
Analyse the reasons for Bolshevik success
Assess whether Oct 1917 was a popular uprising
45 mins
mins

4. How this event shows the Provisional Government was weak
November 1917: The Bolsheviks have taken over Russia !
This incredible event has just happened !
To find out why, here are a series of newsflashes from newspaper over the last 9 months.
Create this table and use the newsflashes to fill it in!
Date
Event
How this event shows the Provisional Government was weak
How this events made the Bolsheviks stronger
Print w/s :

5. NEWSFLASH 1! March 1917 - The Tsar has just abdicated!
Power over Russia has been given to 2 groups of people !
Group 1: The Duma led by Alexander Kerensky !
This group will hold elections soon, so they are
only a Provisional Government!
Group 2: A large group of workers and soldiers called the Petrograd Soviet !
The Provisional government can only pass a law
if the Petrograd Soviet agree to it !
Order No. 1 means that the Petrograd Soviet
have control of the Army !
Both have agreed to introduce freedom of speech
and the press, and the right to strike !

6. Newsflash 2! Important decisions have just been made!
March 1917: The Provisional Government’s decisions !
Decision 1: The Provisional Government will not end the war because the Germans would make the Russians pay too great a price if we surrender !
Decision 2: The Provisional Government will not give the peasants back their land. They worry that if they start giving back land, Russian soldiers will desert and return to claim their land!

7. Newsflash 3! Lenin has returned
Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, has just returned to Russia in April 1917!
He is desperate to see the Bolsheviks take power !
He has made an important speech from the train station as soon as he arrived !
Here is a statue built later to show him delivering his speech.
Picture courtesy of Keith McInnes

8. “Peace, Bread and Land!” and “All Power to the Soviets”
Lenin’s ideas are:
“Peace, Bread and Land!” and “All Power to the Soviets”
So he wants:
*An end to the War
*Land given to the peasants
*Soviets should take power - “No co-operation with the Provisional government!”
These ideas have been written up as the April Theses!

9. Russians are angry that the war and the
NEWSFLASH 4! RIOTING !
“The July Days”
Russians are angry that the war and the
shortages continue, so they are rioting to get things changed!
The Bolsheviks are the only party that are against the war, so the rioters asked the Bolsheviks to lead them !
Kerensky sends in troops against the rioters.
Lenin flees to Finland.

10. The Kornilov Revolt – August 1917
NEWSFLASH 5!
The Kornilov Revolt – August 1917
A general called Kornilov is so angry with the weakness of the Russian Government that he has threatened to take power himself ! He and his troops got on trains to go to Petrograd to take power!
Kerensky was in a panic, and he gave rifles to the Bolsheviks’ Army, the Red Guard, to defend Petrograd against Kornilov !
However, Kornilov didn’t arrive – the railway workers had pulled up the tracks so the trains stopped. The Bolsheviks look like heroes and have kept the rifles!

11. The Bolsheviks take over Petrograd!
7th November Trotsky, a leading Bolshevik, organises the Red Guard so they take control of:
The train stations and bridges
The main telegraph office
Other key buildings in Petrograd !
Kerensky fled and the Bolsheviks have taken the city! … except for …
The time is right!
The Provisional Government (P.G.) are unpopular because they shoot peasants who take land by force. Crime is rocketing: the P.G. don’t seem to be in control ! Winter is coming …
The Bolsheviks are very popular in the Petrograd Soviet, and have lots of support!
Lenin spends a whole night convincing reluctant Bolsheviks that the time is right for Revolution !

12. The Winter Palace where the Provisional Government is ! Newsflash 6!
The storming of the Winter Palace
At 9.00 pm the cruiser Aurora (see picture) fired a shell to signal the start of the takeover of the Palace! The Bolsheviks marched on the Palace …
The defenders had either fled or gave up !
The Provisional Government was captured
and the Bolsheviks had control!
Picture courtesy of Keith McInnes

13. Read p
Construct a timeline of the Bolshevik seizure of power, identifying what you think were the most important events.

14. Russian Revolution in Colour
31mins to 41mins (From Kornilov affair to Oct Rev)

15.  Your task
Your teacher will give you 9 cards with reasons why the Bolsheviks were successful in October Arrange them in a ‘diamond 9’ formation with the most important factors at the top.
Worksheet available on study history website
Diamond 9

16. What was the key to the Bolsheviks’ success?
Role of Lenin OR
Trotsky’s planning
The weakness of the Provisional Government

17. Reasons for Bolshevik success
Other parties co-operated with PG, e.g. promise of elections to Constituent Assembly allayed Liberals
Bolshevik opposition to War, compared with SRs & Mensheviks
Menshevik adherence to Marxism – Feb Rev was a prelude to proletariat revolution
Bolshevik aims & methods clearer than opponents

18. Weaknesses of PG – interim govt, lacked legitimacy
Failure of PG to suppress Bolsheviks, e.g. ignored Smolny Institute
Lenin’s charisma
Growth in membership of Bolsheviks & dominance of Soviets
Factory committees
Radicalisation of Russian politics
Smolny Institute

20.  Your task - Countdown to Revolution
Read Lynch p.99 onwards and construct a timeline of events explaining how the Bolsheviks seized power. Use these dates to help you:
Mid-September
12 September
7 October
10 October
23 October
25-27 October
27 Oct
OR do alternative newsflash style lesson at the end of this powerpoint.

21. Countdown to Revolution
Mid-September
Bolsheviks gained majority in Petrograd & Moscow Soviets
12 September
Time was ripe for revolution: ‘History will not forgive us if we do not assume power’
7 October
Lenin returned to Petrograd in secret
10 October
Central Committee pledged support for armed insurrection

22. 23 October
Bolshevik Papers Pravda & Izvestiya closed down
25-27 October
Support for PG collapses and members of govt flee abroad
27 Oct
Lenin notifies Congress of Soviets that Petrograd Soviet (controlled by Bolsheviks) had seized power & set up new revolutionary government, ‘Sovnakom’

23.  Your task
Read Lynch p.104 onwards and list the reasons why the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917 was successful.

24. What was the key to the Bolsheviks’ success?
We are going to a debate in tables on the reasons for Bolshevik success
There will be 2 groups in each debate:
Those who say it was down to Bolshevik strengths
Those who say it was because of weaknesses in the PG

25. What was the key to the Bolsheviks’ success? Tasks for today
Write an outline of the events of how the Bolsheviks seized power
As you go through you need to find arguments and evidence for your factor as you go along
You need to consider extent of agreement
You need to make sure you analyse fully

26. The rules Each group must present their case next lesson
Groups will then be given time to challenge each other on their arguments, but the questions must be based on our lesson outcomes and require detailed answers

27.  Extension task
Conduct some research into the part played by Trotsky in the Bolshevik Revolution. Note any evidence from commentators or contemporary observers of Trotsky’s own actions that he played a crucial role in the Revolution.
Trotsky

28. To what extent does the First World War explain the outbreak of two revolutions in 1917?’  
Essay planning sheets with sentence starters on study history
Model essay p44 – my revision notes with annotations
How far was Lenin main reason for Bolshevik success – Murphy p72-3
Possible enquiry work – see p89 SHP

29. Essay Title:
What are the key words in this title?
Change or Causation? (Make sure you explain why)
What are the key issues involved in this essay title?
What is your opinion on the matter? (Draw a judgement line)
Opening points to be made in each paragraph
Why has this question been asked?

30. Test your partner… Winter Palace Kornilov Revolt Order no 1
Describe the following events in the Bolshevik seizure of power, but without using the actual words! See how many they get right, then swap over.
Winter Palace
Kornilov Revolt
Order no 1
Provisional Government
July days
Peace, bread and Land

31. Why did Lenin think that the time was right for Revolution:
The Bolsheviks had control of the Soviet
Their popularity was at an all-time high and they had done well in elections across Russia
The Provisional Government was helpless and thoroughly demoralised by the Kornilov affair.
The Constituent Assembly elections were planned for November, and Lenin thought that the Socialist Revolutionaries were likely to win the most seats.