The Russian Revolutions of 1917There were two revolutions that occurred in Russia in 1917. The first, in February, overthrew the Russian monarchy. The second, in October, created the first communist state in the world. The Russian revolutions of 1917 involved a series of revolts by workers and peasants across the country and by soldiers, predominantly of peasant origin, in the Russian army. Many of the uprisings were organized and led by democratically elected councils called soviets. The soviets began as strike committees and were basically a form of local self-government. The second revolution led to the birth of the modern communist movement and the transformation of the Russian Empire into what became known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The goal of the authors of the second revolution was the creation of social equality and economic democracy in Russia. However, the communist regime they established eventually turned into a bureaucratic dictatorship. The overthrow of the Russian monarch, Emperor Nicholas II, and the ruling Romanov dynasty occurred after an uprising in February 1917. The events of late February 1917 are known as the February Revolution. After the overthrow of the emperor, an unstable coalition of conservative, liberal, and moderate socialist politicians proclaimed itself the Provisional Government on February 27, 1917. This government initially received Soviet support. However, the provisional government proved unable to resolve the problems that had led to the February Revolution. The main issue was to end Ru... middle of paper... at the constituent assembly. Many of their leaders favored the establishment of a military dictatorship, but few were openly Tsarist. Armed opposition to the Soviet regime was initially concentrated in the south, under General Kornilov. The Civil War in the East was equally fatal for the Whites. A government was organized by a group of Socialist-Revolutionaries who had been members of the Constituent Assembly. By January 1920, all of Siberia, except Vladivostok and some other Far Eastern territories, was in the hands of the Bolsheviks. The Bolshevik military victory was due partly to the lack of cooperation between the various anti-Bolshevik commanders and partly to the extraordinary organization of the Red forces after Trotsky became war commissar. However, it was won only at the cost of enormous sacrifice, and by 1920 Russia was ruined and devastated..