6 MYTHS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
1 THERE WAS ONLY ONE REVOLUTION IN 1917
When we discuss the Russian Revolution of 1917, we are actually talking about two separate events that took place within the same year; the first was a spontaneous movement that overthrew the reigning tsar, Nicholas II, while the second was an orchestrated coup and Bolshevik takeover.
In March 1917, Nicholas abdicated in the sincere belief that by doing so he would save Russia at a time of deep political turmoil and a disastrous war. The Bolshevik revolution, however, wouldn’t happen for around eight months, when, led by Lenin, the Bolsheviks eventually wrestled power from the Provisional Government. Though intrinsically linked, the two events were separate; combined, they created a year that would change Russia forever.
2 NICHOLAD II WAS A BAD RULER
If there was a single figure to blame for the fall of the Romanov dynasty, Nicholas II is often deemed to have been that person. He is commonly cast as an ineffectual leader who brought his dynasty’s collapse on himself. “But,” argues Helen Rappaport, “it can’t be underestimated what a massive job it was to be ruler of Russia – the vast scale of that country and its population was far beyond that of anywhere else in Europe, and Nicholas had many disparate peoples to govern.”
Growing up, Nicholas had not shown much inclination to rule, and came to the throne much earlier than expected – he was aged just 26 when his father, Alexander III, died at the age of 49. Both father and son had assumed they would have more time together to prepare Nicholas for the
