"Once again that fatso Rodzianko wrote me some nonsense, to which I will not even respond." This is how Russian Emperor Nicholas II reacted to troubling news delivered by Chairman of the State Duma Mikhail Rodzianko, who on Feb. 26, according to the Old Style calendar (March 11, according to the New Style), wrote that the situation in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) was critical: The capital was seized by popular revolt.

Rodzianko beseeched Nicholas, who was supreme commander (Russia was fighting in WWI and the emperor was the commander-in-chief), to introduce a constitutional monarchy, create a government responsible to the Duma and thus appease the protestors. The tsar, certain that the Petrograd garrison would suppress the revolt, ignored his requests. It would prove to be a fatal mistake.

The government troops took sides with the rioters and on Feb. 28 (March 13) Nicholas received a telegram about the complete defeat in Petrograd. The tsar's train was not even allowed entry into the capital and two days later, under pressure from the generals who were convinced that the emperor's resignation would save the country Nicholas officially abdicated the throne in favor of his brother Mikhail.

"All around is betrayal, cowardice and deception!" he wrote in his diary. Two days later, on March 5 (March 18), Mikhail stood down, ending 300 years of Romanov rule. There would never be another tsar in Russia.

The revolt that brought down the Russian monarchy began on Feb. 23, 1917 (March 8), on International Woman's Day. Beginning with a strike by weavers from factories in Petrograd's Vyborgsky District, the protest quickly spread throughout the entire city. According to Georgy Katkov, historian and author of The February Revolution, 90,000 people participated in the revolt on the first day.

Eyewitnesses wrote that the revolution began suddenly. "No one imagined that Woman's Day would become the first day of the revolution," wrote author of The History of the Revolution Leo Trotsky, one of the Bolshevik leaders. Katkov underlines that initially the protesters' main slogan was, "We want bread!" There were serious problems with bread supplies in Petrograd and in the winter of 1917 enormous lines for bread appeared for the first time. Then there were political demands: "End the war!" and "Down with autocracy!"

The revolt expanded with every day. The protesters fought with the police and the government decided to use military force. On February 26 (March 11) Alexander Kerensky, a member of the State Duma and future minister, stated: "The revolution has failed!" expecting the army to mercilessly suppress the rioters. But on the following day the troops began siding with the revolt en masse: Soldiers killed officers that tried to resist. The revolt quickly absorbed all the regiments stationed in the city and the revolution's victory was sealed.

Although for contemporaries the February Revolution appeared to be a sudden phenomenon, a century later historians are convinced that it was a logical event. By the end of February 1917 several factors in Russia had coalesced. They exacerbated an already agitated atmosphere, setting the stage for the utter collapse of the existing power structure:

"People [in the capital - RBTH] are seriously expecting not only revolutionary outbreaks but also a palace coup," said reports to the interior minister in 1917. Nicholas and his family's authority plumbed new depths. The State Duma demanded that the tsar introduce a constitutional monarchy and government responsible to the people.

Nicholas ignored all the demands. The people considered the tsar a talentless ruler and Empress Alexandra, who was German, was accused of being a spy for the German Empire. Meanwhile, the royal couple isolated themselves and did not notice what was happening around them.

In March, as soon as the monarchy fell, Russia established a strange system whereby power belonged to two independent structures (known as a diarchy): The Provisional Government and the Soviets.

The Provisional Government was composed mostly of former parliamentarians and was dominated by moderately liberal forces. Its aims were to create a broad Constituent Assembly that would determine the future of the country and the form of government and write a new Constitution. The government held patriotic positions, saying the war would be fought "until the victorious end."

The Soviets were elected organs that were formed "at the bottom" of society - in factories and military units - and were dominated by socialists. The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies played a central role. It was created in the first days of the revolution and had big influence among the lower classes of society.

Officially, the Provisional Government ruled "under agreement" with the Petrograd Soviet. But in practice the two structures frequently clashed and the frail system was destined to failure. The diarchy ended in July 1917 when the Provisional Government headed by Alexander Kerensky concentrated power in its hands. Actually, Kerensky's rule did not last long; on Oct. 25 (Nov. 7) the Bolsheviks overthrew the Provisional Government.

The period between the two revolutions was contradictory. With the fall of the old regime society obtained unprecedented freedoms: All political parties were allowed and there was freedom of the press and assembly. On the other hand, the country was thrown into chaos. While the Provisional Government and its rivals had been fighting for power there was no one who could create order on a practical level.

"Robberies, shootings, lynching and murders became part of everyday life," wrote midshipman Nikolay Reden in his memoirs. "The whole country floundered in a cauldron of anarchy." American journalist John Reed, author of Ten Days That Shook the World, agreed. "Enormous Russia, bearing the new world, writhed in pain." Reed writes about shootings on the streets but also about the birth of the new man. "In new Russia every man has received the right to vote and workers' newspapers, Soviets and unions have appeared."

"We old men may not live to see the battles of the upcoming revolution," Vladimir Lenin, informal leader of the Bolshevik party, said in January 1917. Back then, an émigré in Switzerland, he entertained the possibility that he would not be able to participate in the political struggle. But things turned out completely differently: At the end of October that year he would head the revolution against Kerensky and the Provisional Government.

This time the Bolshevik revolt was successful: They were joined by the Soviets and by the army. On the night of Oct. 25 (Nov. 7) the revolutionaries seized the central post and telegraph office and swiftly and successfully stormed the Winter Palace (the government's residence). Kerensky fled the city and the other ministers were arrested.

Coming to power and proclaiming the power of the Soviets, the Bolshevik government immediately issued two decrees: The Decree on Peace and The Decree on Land. The first proclaimed "immediate peace without annexations and contributions," the second took away all the land from the landowners and gave it - through the government - to the peasants.

The subsequent fate of Russia was supposed to be decided by the Constituent Assembly, convened in January 1918. However, the Bolsheviks, who did not have a majority in the Assembly but basically controlled the situation, opted for another solution. "The guard is tired," anarchist and guard leader Anatoly Zheleznyakov told the deputies and holding his weapon, terminated the first and last assembly on Jan. 6 (Jan. 19). On the following day the Bolsheviks dissolved the Constituent Assembly and took over power.

In 1917 the Bolsheviks were far from being the largest party in Russia and they also held radical, extreme left positions. Historians say that Lenin and his supporters were able to maintain power thanks to their strong organization and readiness to promise the people that its wishes would be met "immediately" without waiting for victory in the war, the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, etc. The people's main demands were peace and land and the Bolsheviks, as soon as they came to power, declared that there would be peace and land.

"The issue of concluding peace was equivalent to power. He who solves it, who has a concrete program, will govern Russia. In the end that is how it happened," believes Doctor of Historical Sciences Igor Grebenkin. It is this difference, he thinks that - with respect to the Provisional Government, which was "afraid to even address" these global problems - guaranteed victory for the Bolsheviks.

"Each minute our party is ready to take power in its entirety," Lenin stated in June 1917 during a rally of the Soviets. There was laughter in the room - no one believed the potential of the Bolsheviks. But several months later no one was laughing: The Bolsheviks indeed seized power in its entirety. It was still a long way until the final victory: there was still the Civil War, which lasted until 1923 and took the lives of almost 13 million people. But the Bolsheviks won that war too. In December 1922 they declared the creation of the first socialist state in the world, the USSR. The communists would govern Russia for almost 70 years.