The october Revolution
preparations
On October 10, 1917, Vladimir Lenin convinced the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party that it was time to act and selected October 25 as the day to overthrow the Provisional Government and grant the proletariat its right to rule themselves.
Why October 25th?
'"...all the soldiers are for the Bolsheviks because every one of them, even the Cossacks, wants peace above all." - Louis de Robien, The Diary of a Diplomat in Russia
Lenin prepared the soldiers to act with the Military Revolutionary Committee, an organization comprised of the Petrograd Soviet but essentially run by Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky. Trotsky and his army occupied the Peter and Paul Fortress, an artillery post adjacent to and within shooting range of the Winter Palace of the Provisional Government. The Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky, realized the Bolsheviks were preparing to attack and ordered the arrests of all Bolshevik members, but it was too late.
''Those groups and parties who have dared to lift their hands against the state are liable to immediate, decisive, and permanent liquidation."- Kerensky
October 25
At 2:00 A.M. on October 25, the Military Revolutionary Committee seized bridges, railroads, and the post office, effectively cutting off communication with the Provisional Government.
"...a systematic seizure of government buildings and railway stations is going on. None of my orders are obeyed...There is no guarantee that the insurrectionists will not next attempt to arrest the Provisional Government." - Colonel Polkovnikov telegram to Kerensky
Sailors maneuvered the battle ship, Aurora, directly in front of the Winter Palace on the Neva River. A blank signal shot was given from the Aurora to commence the attack of the Winter Palace, and at 2:00 A.M on the 26th of October, with a limited struggle and almost no blood shed, the last cadets surrendered the Winter Palace to the Bolsheviks. Kerensky escaped in a car arranged by the United States Embassy, and the remaining leaders of the former Provisional Government were arrested.
''Our troops enter the palace in great masses. A search is made and the Provisional Government, found in one of the rooms of the palace, is arrested."- Nikolai Podvoisky, leader of the Military Revolutionary Committee.
The three leaders of the Bolsheviks - Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin, and Vladimir Lenin - victoriously named their new government the Council of People's Commissars, and Lenin became its chief of state.