The October, 1917 revolution in Russia, during World War 1. Opening scene shows an explosion at the base of a tall column topped by a winged figure with outstretched arms. The column and statue teeter and then fall in a crash to the ground. Within the same scenes another similar collumn stands, but any statue it contained is gone. Next, a Bolshevik rioter is seen on a ladder, prying a large bas relief statue of Romanov double eagle from face of a building. It falls and breaks into many pieces on the ground.
During World War I (and near timeframe of Russian Revolution of 1917), view of Russian General Lavr Kornilov and Minister of War Alexander Kerensky coming down through stairs in Petrograd, Russia. They salute and greet other officers, some Russian and some French, including General Joseph Joffre. Russian and French Troops marching. Russian and French Generals review troops.
Alexander Kerensky, War Minister of the Russian Provisional Government and Russian Army Commander-in-Chief, General Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov, enter a building in Petrograd .They are accompanied by many staff officers. Dramatization of ending hostilities between Russia and Germany. A Russian and a German soldier shake hands and are joined by soldiers from both sides. German and Russian soldiers celebrate. Russian troops returning from the front. A Russian soldier adjusts his socks and boots. Russian troops hike and move cargo in horse-drawn wagons. Russian troop train with soldiers on roof. Caption refers to Lenin being in Petrograd on October 7, 1917. Places, in Petrograd, inhabited by Vladimir Llyich Lenin, and Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Newpapers and letters pertaining to the period.
Russia after the Bolsheviks came to power by the October Revolution (Russian Revolution of 1917). Vladimir Lenin addresses an assembly at the Red Square in Moscow. Russian soldiers on horsebacks cross the farmlands. Commander of another troop leads large number of soldiers on horses. Demonstrators during a protest march raise banners.
Russia after the Bolsheviks came to power by the Russian Revolution of 1917. Vladimir Lenin addresses a crowd of people in a Russian city. Lenin speaks to an assembly of Soviet Congress from a stage. Russian soldiers on horsebacks cross a river and march. Congressmen in the assembly listen to what Lenin speaks.
Slate refers to March 17, 1917, when Russian Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, and a Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) during World War 1. It is followed by a few scenes from what appears to be a staged film enactment of a mob storming a palace. Soldiers and citizens, carrying sticks and clubs, rush up a stairway inside, while others are seen charging an entrance and beating on palace gates. A statue of the Russian Imperial Seal is seen with one eagle head broken. Next, actual footage shows a prison courtyard littered with debris. Bars on the doors and windows are bent and broken. Several persons are seen moving about in the debris. Later a group of people are seen at work cleaning up debris, placing it into a horse-drawn wagon. Slate compares this event to the fall of the Bastille during the French revolution. Russian soldiers loyal to the Bolsheviks and the Soviet cheer in streets of Petrograd. Armored cars and an artillery field piece are manned by the revolutionary Russian soldiers. A street is filled with Russian soldiers and some civilians.