Petrograd 1917 : witnesses to the Russian Revolution / John Pinfold.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pinfold, John, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Saint Petersburg (Russia)--History--Revolution, 1917-1921--Sources.

Saint Petersburg (Russia).

Soviet Union--History--Revolution, 1917-1921--Sources.

Soviet Union.

History.

Genre:

Sources.

Biographies.

Physical Description:

ix, 309 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, [2017]

Summary:

"It's damned hard lines asking for bread and only getting a bullet!" The dramatic and chaotic events surrounding the Russian Revolution have been studied and written about extensively for the last hundred years, by historians and journalists alike. However, some of the most compelling and valuable accounts are those recorded by eyewitnesses, many of whom were foreign nationals caught in Petrograd at the time. Drawing from the Bodleian Library's rich collections, this book features extracts from letters, journals, diaries and memoirs written by a diverse cast of onlookers. Primarily British, the authors include Sydney Gibbes, English tutor to the royal children, Bertie Stopford, an antiques dealer who smuggled the Vladimir tiara and other Romanov jewels into the UK, and the private secretary to Lord Milner in the British War Cabinet. Contrasting with these are a memoir by Stinton Jones, an engineer who found himself sharing a train compartment with Rasputin, a newspaper report by governess Janet Jeffrey who survived a violent confrontation with the Red Army, and letters home from Labour politician, Arthur Henderson. Accompanied by seventy contemporary illustrations, these first-hand accounts are put into context with introductory notes, giving a fascinating insight into the tumultuous year of 1917.

Contents:

The Key Witnesses 3

Eyewitness Accounts 23

Petrograd in 1914: a workman's view 23

Nicholas and Alexandra 25

Encounters with Rasputin 32

The outbreak of war 39

The murder of Rasputin 53

The February Revolution 58

A Bolshevik view of the Revolution 109

The first eyewitness account to be published in England 113

Experiences of a jockey in Moscow 119

Burying the victims of revolution 121

Adjusting to the new society 123

The fate of the imperial family 128

The arrival of Lenin 141

With Kerensky at the front 149

The Henderson mission 155

All-Russia Conference of the Councils of Workers' and Soldiers' Delegates 160

The July Days 164

Bolshevik propaganda and demoralization at the front 186

The disillusionment of a Social Democrat 191

The Kornilov Affair 196

The Bolshevik uprising 211

Living under Bolshevism 229

The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly 257

A prisoner of war's experience of the Revolution 263

Instruction in the tenets of Bolshevism 271

Leaving Russia and looking to the future 273

British supporters of the Bolshevik Revolution 277

Petrograd in 1918: a workman's view 287.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 289-302) and index.

ISBN:

9781851244607

1851244603

OCLC:

957507839