November 7, 1917 · Petrograd Theater
November 7, 1917
On the night of October 25–26 (November 7 by the new calendar), Bolshevik Red Guards and Baltic Fleet sailors seized the key infrastructure of Petrograd — telegraph offices, railway stations, bridges, and the State Bank — in a near-bloodless coup. The Provisional Government ministers, sheltering in the Winter Palace, were arrested; Prime Minister Kerensky escaped in a car borrowed from the American embassy. The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets ratified the transfer of power and Lenin announced Soviet rule.
Commanders