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Blood on the Snow: The Russian Revolution 1914-1924
In Blood on the Snow, Robert Service returns to the subject that has formed the backbone of his long and distinguished career: the Russian Revolution.
For Service, the great unanswered question is how we reconcile the two vital narratives that underpin what happened in 1917. One places all the blame on the Tsar Nicholas II and on Kerensky’s provisional government. The other is the view from the bottom, the workers who wanted democratic socialism, not the Bolshevik dictatorship espoused by Lenin and his successors.
Service’s vivid and revisionist account spans the period from the outbreak of the First World War to Lenin’s death in 1924, at which point the totalitarian Soviet model of governance was in place. Focusing on twelve key characters, among them the great industrialist Pëtr Ryabushinski, Alexander Shlyapnikov, who founded the Workers’ Opposition to Lenin with Alexandra Kollontai, the radical Muslim turned Bolshevik, Mirza Said Sultan-Galiev, the British diplomat and spy, Robert Bruce Lockhart and, of course, Lenin himself, this is a major work of history from one of our finest historians.
For Service, the great unanswered question is how we reconcile the two vital narratives that underpin what happened in 1917. One places all the blame on the Tsar Nicholas II and on Kerensky’s provisional government. The other is the view from the bottom, the workers who wanted democratic socialism, not the Bolshevik dictatorship espoused by Lenin and his successors.
Service’s vivid and revisionist account spans the period from the outbreak of the First World War to Lenin’s death in 1924, at which point the totalitarian Soviet model of governance was in place. Focusing on twelve key characters, among them the great industrialist Pëtr Ryabushinski, Alexander Shlyapnikov, who founded the Workers’ Opposition to Lenin with Alexandra Kollontai, the radical Muslim turned Bolshevik, Mirza Said Sultan-Galiev, the British diplomat and spy, Robert Bruce Lockhart and, of course, Lenin himself, this is a major work of history from one of our finest historians.
496 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 9, 2023
36 people are currently reading
378 people want to read
About the author
Robert Service
33 books272 followersThis author is the British historian of modern Russia. For the British-Canadian writer of Yukon poetry, see Robert W. Service.
Robert Service is a British academic and historian of modern Russia and the Soviet Union. He is a professor of Russian history at the University of Oxford and a Fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford.
He is the author of the highly acclaimed Lenin: A Biography, A History of Twentieth - Century Russia, Russia: Experiment with a People and Stalin: A Biography, as well as many other books on Russia's past and present. He wrote a marvelous book on communism titled Comrades Communism A World History (International Bestseller). He is married with four children.
Robert Service is a British academic and historian of modern Russia and the Soviet Union. He is a professor of Russian history at the University of Oxford and a Fellow at St. Antony's College, Oxford.
He is the author of the highly acclaimed Lenin: A Biography, A History of Twentieth - Century Russia, Russia: Experiment with a People and Stalin: A Biography, as well as many other books on Russia's past and present. He wrote a marvelous book on communism titled Comrades Communism A World History (International Bestseller). He is married with four children.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 9, 2024
Very different from the other book on the Russian Revolution I've read recently. A very different approach too, this one is far more interested in the perspectives of ordinary people who lived though the years - taking their diaries and letters. In the introduction, Robert Service sort of decries "great man theory" but I think he couldn't help but write somewhat like that toward the end. He also wasn't as hostile to Lenin as I was expecting him to be. Interesting book!
March 23, 2025
Fantástico livro!! Escrita fácil, concisa, direta, com uma soberba articulação entre os acontecimentos narrados, uma excelente e abrangente perspetiva sobre um período que é geralmente abordado de forma algo superficial e, com frequência, positivamente enviesada independentemente da verdade histórica.
January 29, 2025
If there’s one thing you’ll take away from this book, it’s how incredibly lucky you are not to have been born in Russia at that time (or at any time, if we’re being brutally honest). Recent Russian history reads like a sadistic experiment in how much worse things can get, and Blood on the Snow offers a front-row seat to one of its most spectacularly grim chapters.
The decade covered in this book was nothing short of catastrophic, yet Robert Service somehow manages to condense it all into an almost - almost - digestible chronicle. Credit where it’s due: he keeps it relatively concise and even makes room for the voices of the so-called “ordinary” people, though these are predictably drowned out by the relentless cascade of disasters. The Russian Empire’s transition to the Soviet Republic was less a transformation and more a high-speed derailment into chaos, and Service does a fine job of walking us through every grim development.
That said, while the book includes some excerpts from private diaries, they are as rare and overwhelmed as their authors. The situation was already bad in 1905, Nicholas II was hardly beloved, and yet I suspect that even the most ardent revolutionaries of the Provisional Government did not foresee that they were about to trade an incompetent monarchy for something even worse. But that’s the Russian Revolution for you: like watching a horrific accident unfold in slow motion, with the added twist that the wreckage somehow keeps finding new depths of misery to sink into.
The book is informative and engaging, if you enjoy witnessing history as a prolonged exercise in suffering. But for a book that hints at telling the story of “ordinary” Russians, it still feels a bit too focused on the high drama of leadership and not quite enough on the people crushed underneath it all.
The decade covered in this book was nothing short of catastrophic, yet Robert Service somehow manages to condense it all into an almost - almost - digestible chronicle. Credit where it’s due: he keeps it relatively concise and even makes room for the voices of the so-called “ordinary” people, though these are predictably drowned out by the relentless cascade of disasters. The Russian Empire’s transition to the Soviet Republic was less a transformation and more a high-speed derailment into chaos, and Service does a fine job of walking us through every grim development.
That said, while the book includes some excerpts from private diaries, they are as rare and overwhelmed as their authors. The situation was already bad in 1905, Nicholas II was hardly beloved, and yet I suspect that even the most ardent revolutionaries of the Provisional Government did not foresee that they were about to trade an incompetent monarchy for something even worse. But that’s the Russian Revolution for you: like watching a horrific accident unfold in slow motion, with the added twist that the wreckage somehow keeps finding new depths of misery to sink into.
The book is informative and engaging, if you enjoy witnessing history as a prolonged exercise in suffering. But for a book that hints at telling the story of “ordinary” Russians, it still feels a bit too focused on the high drama of leadership and not quite enough on the people crushed underneath it all.
April 8, 2025
I set about reading this book in order to gain a greater understanding of the political setting and context of The Silver Bone, the book I finished prior to this one. Whilst Service’s writing is objectively stellar and does well to frame the wider political movements through the lens of several diarist’s throughout, I feel as if I may have bit off more than I can chew.
This is one of those books that I cannot help but rate on what it sets out to achieve rather than necessarily how I feel. In truth, I had to take a break from the book for about a month before finishing it whilst on holiday, not my usual light read in the sun, I will say. In what was a very busy period of my life, the heavy content and complex political structures in 1910’s Russia got on top of me, but as I say, this is not a reflection of the excellent writing.
Blood on the Snow flows excellently between the Tsarist years of 1914 through to Nicholas II’s abdication in 1917, through the February and October Revolutions, through to the death of Lenin in 1924, without ever feeling like a linear documentary of exclusively major events. It delves into the ever-changing landscape of the Orthodox Church, life on the front lines in the First World War and the Civil war off the back of that, as well as the views of poets, soldiers and peasants throughout.
Overall I cannot rate the book highly enough, and for anyone with an appetite for learning about the sordid past of this still complex and convoluted country, it’s a must read.
This is one of those books that I cannot help but rate on what it sets out to achieve rather than necessarily how I feel. In truth, I had to take a break from the book for about a month before finishing it whilst on holiday, not my usual light read in the sun, I will say. In what was a very busy period of my life, the heavy content and complex political structures in 1910’s Russia got on top of me, but as I say, this is not a reflection of the excellent writing.
Blood on the Snow flows excellently between the Tsarist years of 1914 through to Nicholas II’s abdication in 1917, through the February and October Revolutions, through to the death of Lenin in 1924, without ever feeling like a linear documentary of exclusively major events. It delves into the ever-changing landscape of the Orthodox Church, life on the front lines in the First World War and the Civil war off the back of that, as well as the views of poets, soldiers and peasants throughout.
Overall I cannot rate the book highly enough, and for anyone with an appetite for learning about the sordid past of this still complex and convoluted country, it’s a must read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 8, 2024
A solid and sober history of the Revolution.
The narrative is built around the personal stories of various figures from ordinary Russia, and much of Service’s material comes from diaries. Service does a good job explaining the political situation in Russia, forces pushing for reform or revolution just as Russia was entering the Great War, and the progress made by various Tsarist reform efforts until the war derailed them. His treatment of Kerensky is balanced, and Service gives him more credit than some writers do in explaining his importance and his success at reform in the face of so many huge challenges.
Service’s writing is dramatic, and he does a good job explaining the role of chance and contingency in shaping events, though sometimes the narrative makes them seem more orderly and logical than they were at the time. Some readers may wish for more detail on the Civil War. Also, the human tragedy of Russians’ suffering in this period is never really driven home.
A compelling and well-researched work.
The narrative is built around the personal stories of various figures from ordinary Russia, and much of Service’s material comes from diaries. Service does a good job explaining the political situation in Russia, forces pushing for reform or revolution just as Russia was entering the Great War, and the progress made by various Tsarist reform efforts until the war derailed them. His treatment of Kerensky is balanced, and Service gives him more credit than some writers do in explaining his importance and his success at reform in the face of so many huge challenges.
Service’s writing is dramatic, and he does a good job explaining the role of chance and contingency in shaping events, though sometimes the narrative makes them seem more orderly and logical than they were at the time. Some readers may wish for more detail on the Civil War. Also, the human tragedy of Russians’ suffering in this period is never really driven home.
A compelling and well-researched work.
April 20, 2025
Simply a masterpiece, the whole period is one of chaos and upheaval brilliantly sketched by Service. The strongest elements of this account are the detailed sections concerning Nicholas II and the Provisional Government eras.
If you want a truly detailed account of the Reds vs the Whites in the Civil War I would recommend you seek out Beevor’s Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917 - 1921 which is where I am going next. Beevor’s account on this topic is not a strong point of this book nor is it intended to be a military history but it describes enough to get a basic understanding of the key events and figures.
If you want a truly detailed account of the Reds vs the Whites in the Civil War I would recommend you seek out Beevor’s Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917 - 1921 which is where I am going next. Beevor’s account on this topic is not a strong point of this book nor is it intended to be a military history but it describes enough to get a basic understanding of the key events and figures.
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June 11, 2025Until I read and review this splendid sounding book by a first rate historian I provide the review by Pratinav Anil from The Guardian on December 13th of last year:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
I used to reproduce reviews like this, fully acknowledge, but I was reported to GR and they threatened to close my account and delete my reviews if I persisted. So I stopped and I am clearing any reviews posted when I come across them - sorry.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
I used to reproduce reviews like this, fully acknowledge, but I was reported to GR and they threatened to close my account and delete my reviews if I persisted. So I stopped and I am clearing any reviews posted when I come across them - sorry.
March 17, 2025
Disappointing. I wanted a book on the Russian Civil War. This was a rather grinding unpacking of the timeline to the Bolsheviks taking power. Sometimes frustrating trying to remind oneself of the carousel of characters who come and go. Limited on the Civil War. Probably my fault for misunderstanding the purpose of the book, so found it a bit dull tbh.
January 9, 2026
Un buem conocedor de revolución rusa. De este libro me gusta que ha buscado diarios y cartas personales de personas de diferentes orígenes para contar todo lo que sucedió de 1914 a 1924. Y no fueron pocas cosas
May 28, 2024
A good survey of the years from about 1916 to the early 1920s that touches on the key events of the revolution and civil war, but including many perspectives.
January 12, 2025
Weakest Robert Service book. Lacks his usual insight and really adds very little to a much written about subject.
October 14, 2025
Really great for an overview, and the added touch of diaries from contemporaneous regular Russian folk was a great way see how the greater societal changes affected everyone
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews