Why study the Russian Revolution?

The Russian Revolution is one of the most important events of the twentieth century. In February 1917, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, and a representative Provisional Government succeeded the autocracy. In October, the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government. They would go on to establish the world's first socialist state and attempt to spread socialist revolution around the world. In so doing, they issued a strong ideological challenge to the capitalist world. During the 1930s, the Soviet Union industrialized and advertised full employment and prosperity, while the capitalist world was mired in the Great Depression.

For much of the post-World War II period, the majority of people on the planet lived in a state that identified itself as either capitalist or socialist. The Russian Revolution's influence extended to nearly every major geopolitical event of the twentieth century, including both World Wars, the Cold War, Korea and Vietnam, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and wars between Israel and Arab states. The Soviet legacy continues to affect the successor states of the former Soviet Union, as well as the former USSR's client states. By studying the Revolution and the formation of the Soviet state, students and scholars better understand the context of events that have shaped the world in which we live.

Why study propaganda posters?