The February Revolution, Petrograd, 1917 is the most comprehensive book on the epic uprising that toppled the tsarist monarchy and ushered in the next stage of the Russian Revolution. Hasegawa presents in detail the intense drama of the nine days of the revolution, including the workers' strike, soldiers' revolt, the scrambling of revolutionary party activists to control the revolution, and the liberals’ conspiracy to force Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate. Based on his previous work, published in 1981, the author has revised, enlarged, and reinterpreted the complexity of the February Revolution, resulting in a major and timely reassessment on the occasion of its centennial. See inside the book.

Part I. Russia and the First World War -- Russia enters the war -- The political crisis of the summer 1915 -- Deepening gulf: the government and the liberals, 1916 -- Petrograd during the war -- The war and the workers -- The war and the revolutionary parties -- Part II. On the eve -- The tsar, the tsarina, and the government -- The security of Petrograd -- The liberal opposition -- The liberals, conspiracies, and the freemasons -- The workers and the revolutionary parties -- Part III. The uprising -- The beginning: February 23 -- The second day: February 24 -- The general strike: February 25 -- Bloody Sunday: February 26 -- The insurrection, February 27 -- Part IV. The Petrograd Soviet and the Duma Committee -- The formation of the Petrograd Soviet -- The formation of the Duma Committee -- The first steps of the Duma Committee -- The Petrograd Soviet and the masses -- The 'transfer' of power -- Part V. The abdication of Nicholas II -- Nicholas II and the revolution -- The Duma Committee and the monarchy -- The Stavka and counterrevolutionary attempts -- The abdication of Nicholas II -- The Duma Committee's delegates -- Part VI. The formation of the Provisional Government and the birth of dual power -- The formation of the Provisional Government -- Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich's renunciation of the throne -- The Provisional Government, the State Duma, and the birth of dual power -- Conclusion

A timely reassessment and detailed history of the epic uprising that toppled the tsarist monarchy and ushered in the next stage of the Russian Revolution.

SELECTED AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE TELEGRAPH AND EVENING STANDARD '[The] centenary will prompt a raft of books on the Russian Revolution. They will be hard pushed to better this highly original, exhaustively researched and superbly constructed account.' Saul David, Daily Telegraph 'A gripping, vivid, deeply researched chronicle of the Russian Revolution told through the eyes of a surprising, flamboyant cast of foreigners in Petrograd, superbly narrated by Helen Rappaport.' Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs Between the first revolution in February 1917 and Lenin’s Bolshevik coup in October, Petrograd (the former St Petersburg) was in turmoil. Foreign visitors who filled hotels, bars and embassies were acutely aware of the chaos breaking out on their doorsteps. Among them were journalists, diplomats, businessmen, governesses and volunteer nurses. Many kept diaries and wrote letters home: from an English nurse who had already survived the sinking of the Titanic; to the black valet of the US Ambassador, far from his native Deep South; to suffragette leader Emmeline Pankhurst, who had come to Petrograd to inspect the indomitable Women’s Death Battalion led by Maria Bochkareava. Drawing upon a rich trove of material and through eye-witness accounts left by foreign nationals who saw the drama unfold, Helen Rappaport takes us right up to the action – to see, feel and hear the Revolution as it happened.

This book explores the 1917 Russian Revolution from its February Revolution beginning to the victory of Lenin and the Bolsheviks in October.