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Красное колесо #3.4
Красное колесо. Узел 3: Март Семнадцатого.: Повествованье в отмеренных сроках. Книга 1
В первой книге «Марта Семнадцатого» описаны начальные дни Февральской революции в Петрограде: последние прения в Государственной Думе; разгон уличных демонстраций, стрельба; бунт запасных батальонов; растерянность Совета министров; Ленин в Цюрихе; Государь в Могилёве. Первые аресты чиновных лиц в Петрограде
1093 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
297 books4,268 followersalso known as
Alexander Solzenitsyn (English, alternate)
Αλεξάντρ Σολζενίτσιν (Greek)
Works, including One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) and The Gulag Archipelago (1973-1975), of Soviet writer and dissident Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970, exposed the brutality of the labor camp system.
This known Russian novelist, dramatist, and historian best helped to make the world aware of the forced Gulag.
Exiled in 1974, he returned to Russia in 1994. Solzhenitsyn fathered of Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a conductor and pianist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksan...
Alexander Solzenitsyn (English, alternate)
Αλεξάντρ Σολζενίτσιν (Greek)
Works, including One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1962) and The Gulag Archipelago (1973-1975), of Soviet writer and dissident Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1970, exposed the brutality of the labor camp system.
This known Russian novelist, dramatist, and historian best helped to make the world aware of the forced Gulag.
Exiled in 1974, he returned to Russia in 1994. Solzhenitsyn fathered of Ignat Solzhenitsyn, a conductor and pianist.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksan...
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 19, 2017
The grasp of history is amazing. Presented in time jumps, moving from character to character - and there are a lot of characters - and from place to place (and street to street in st. petersburg), Solzhenitsyn uses Modernist techniques (found documents, telegrams, a screenplay treatment) to revitalize a story we know the ending of but which, as each character's actions remind us, wasn't determined at the time.
This is the first book of March 1917 with three more to come under that title, and then two more that make up April 1917, concluding an encyclopedic mega-novel The Red Wheel, of which the first two parts - August 1914 and November 1916 - appeared in 1989 and 1999 (in english). This translation reads smoothly, for the most part. Certainly Solzhenitsyn's acidic sketches of this or that figure - the royal family, the politicians, the revolutionaries - are not lost in the transfer. Highly recommended.
This is the first book of March 1917 with three more to come under that title, and then two more that make up April 1917, concluding an encyclopedic mega-novel The Red Wheel, of which the first two parts - August 1914 and November 1916 - appeared in 1989 and 1999 (in english). This translation reads smoothly, for the most part. Certainly Solzhenitsyn's acidic sketches of this or that figure - the royal family, the politicians, the revolutionaries - are not lost in the transfer. Highly recommended.
August 19, 2019
Solzhenitsyn's "Red Wheel" is a genre-busting series. Broadly speaking it is "historical-fiction" but it is much more than that. His grasp of history, time, and human nature are staggering. I've been waiting for this book to be translated into English for nine years, though many have been waiting for decades. The first two books in the series are some of the most under-appreciated books ever written, dealing with Russia at the beginning of World War I and then the accelerating rush toward revolution.
March 1917 deals with four days in early March, when the bread riots turned violent and the city of Saint Petersburg descended into anarchy. There are a vast number of characters in this volume--almost too many. Fortunately, the publisher has included a cast of characters with a brief description of each at the end of the book to help keep track of them.
As other reviewers have noted, Solzhenitsyn switches frequently between characters and scenes throughout the book, so the reader must work hard to keep track of the characters and use the list in the back to accomplish this. But the work is worth it, for the sweep of this work is large and almost apocalyptic.
The revolution, by this point--March of 1917, seems unstoppable. The cultural, economic, and spiritual momentum behind the revolution are bearing down upon that generation with such force and speed that no one in the book is capable of keeping up. In fact, Solzhenitsyn is very clear that even the revolutionaries themselves have no control--they are in fact incapable of understanding the forces at work.
Herein lies the genius of "March 1917"--the vast numbers of characters are complex, motivated by truly human emotions, desires, and worldviews. Solzhenitsyn not only understands each character but is able to articulate each one in a thoroughly convincing way that respects each character for who they were--good or bad. He is in fact respectful of the Bolshevik and Czar Nicholas II.
This vast cast of characters together experience and participate in the critical moments of the descent into anarchy. The first two days begin slowly, and perhaps that was Solzhenitsyn's intent. He lulls the readers into a complacent attitude, not seeing at first the import of a crowd turning violent in an attempt to get as much bread as they can, fearing a shortage after losing trust in the authorities providing the bread.
The leaders begin to respond, but they have no idea how quickly Petrograd would fall apart. A series of seemingly disparate events conspire to prevent the government from being able to respond in time to the bread riots which become increasingly violent, ratcheting up in intensity as the government does respond. Even the trusted Cossacks turn a blind eye to the violence, which only serves to embolden the mob.
Nicholas II leaves for GHQ to lend personal leadership to the renewal of the spring offensive on the front of the Great War, leaving a vacuum of authority, leaving his cabinet to respond to the greatest crisis in the history of Russia. Their inability to understand the seriousness of the threat causes them to misrepresent the nature of the threat to the Czar, who is then left unable to respond, hundreds of miles from the capitol. He, naively, believes his government capable of responding, while he continues to wage war upon the Axis powers, rather than the more important battle in Petrograd.
Meanwhile, in the capital, the people become increasingly violent, attacking--even murdering policemen. The government then begins to lean on the military, but again, there are subtle forces at work to prevent the army from suppressing the rebellion. First, the units in the capitol have the tradition and respect of the government, but the soldiers in these units are fresh, poorly trained soldiers that have purposefully been left away from the front because they are untested and not ready for combat. The soldiers then join in the rebellion, being unwilling to turn their weapons against the people--their fathers, mothers, and siblings.
Once the army joins in the rebellion, none can truly be trusted, and the government is paralyzed, unable to even protect themselves, their property, and government buildings. By this time, there is almost no stopping the revolution. But even the rioters and revolutionaries are fearful of government retribution, not understanding the government's complete inability to maintain order and suppress the revolution. Not only are they unable to respond to the chaos around them, but they are also completely blind to their own participation in, and unleashing the monster of Revolution. Their inability to see the horror of what they'd worked for years to unleash left them wholly incapable of controlling it once it had been loosed.
The story moves from group to group--between the government, the Czar and his officials, the revolutionaries in and out of Russia, the army, the proletarian laborers, the intelligentsia, and so on. Solzhenitsyn captures the spirit of all echelons of Russian society. He takes many of the characters to great depths, understanding their motivations and backgrounds such that each one is portrayed as realistically and respectfully.
The narratives of the last two days expand and take up most of the book, and the story really does get better and accelerates toward the abyss. By day four the revolution seems like a divinely ordained collapse and judgment upon a nation that has completely abandoned morality, seeking to fulfill its own desires and the retribution against the elite that have mismanaged and abused the people for millennia.
The end is haunting and mesmerizing, as the Czar'd brother, Mikhail Alexandrovich, leaves the Winter Palace secretly, in fear for his life. It is the finest moment of the book, full of beauty, sorrow, reminiscence, regret, and fear.
This isn't the best book in the series, but it is a fine one, and a haunting reminder that God judges human societies, and there are frightful consequences to unrestrained vice.
March 1917 deals with four days in early March, when the bread riots turned violent and the city of Saint Petersburg descended into anarchy. There are a vast number of characters in this volume--almost too many. Fortunately, the publisher has included a cast of characters with a brief description of each at the end of the book to help keep track of them.
As other reviewers have noted, Solzhenitsyn switches frequently between characters and scenes throughout the book, so the reader must work hard to keep track of the characters and use the list in the back to accomplish this. But the work is worth it, for the sweep of this work is large and almost apocalyptic.
The revolution, by this point--March of 1917, seems unstoppable. The cultural, economic, and spiritual momentum behind the revolution are bearing down upon that generation with such force and speed that no one in the book is capable of keeping up. In fact, Solzhenitsyn is very clear that even the revolutionaries themselves have no control--they are in fact incapable of understanding the forces at work.
Herein lies the genius of "March 1917"--the vast numbers of characters are complex, motivated by truly human emotions, desires, and worldviews. Solzhenitsyn not only understands each character but is able to articulate each one in a thoroughly convincing way that respects each character for who they were--good or bad. He is in fact respectful of the Bolshevik and Czar Nicholas II.
This vast cast of characters together experience and participate in the critical moments of the descent into anarchy. The first two days begin slowly, and perhaps that was Solzhenitsyn's intent. He lulls the readers into a complacent attitude, not seeing at first the import of a crowd turning violent in an attempt to get as much bread as they can, fearing a shortage after losing trust in the authorities providing the bread.
The leaders begin to respond, but they have no idea how quickly Petrograd would fall apart. A series of seemingly disparate events conspire to prevent the government from being able to respond in time to the bread riots which become increasingly violent, ratcheting up in intensity as the government does respond. Even the trusted Cossacks turn a blind eye to the violence, which only serves to embolden the mob.
Nicholas II leaves for GHQ to lend personal leadership to the renewal of the spring offensive on the front of the Great War, leaving a vacuum of authority, leaving his cabinet to respond to the greatest crisis in the history of Russia. Their inability to understand the seriousness of the threat causes them to misrepresent the nature of the threat to the Czar, who is then left unable to respond, hundreds of miles from the capitol. He, naively, believes his government capable of responding, while he continues to wage war upon the Axis powers, rather than the more important battle in Petrograd.
Meanwhile, in the capital, the people become increasingly violent, attacking--even murdering policemen. The government then begins to lean on the military, but again, there are subtle forces at work to prevent the army from suppressing the rebellion. First, the units in the capitol have the tradition and respect of the government, but the soldiers in these units are fresh, poorly trained soldiers that have purposefully been left away from the front because they are untested and not ready for combat. The soldiers then join in the rebellion, being unwilling to turn their weapons against the people--their fathers, mothers, and siblings.
Once the army joins in the rebellion, none can truly be trusted, and the government is paralyzed, unable to even protect themselves, their property, and government buildings. By this time, there is almost no stopping the revolution. But even the rioters and revolutionaries are fearful of government retribution, not understanding the government's complete inability to maintain order and suppress the revolution. Not only are they unable to respond to the chaos around them, but they are also completely blind to their own participation in, and unleashing the monster of Revolution. Their inability to see the horror of what they'd worked for years to unleash left them wholly incapable of controlling it once it had been loosed.
The story moves from group to group--between the government, the Czar and his officials, the revolutionaries in and out of Russia, the army, the proletarian laborers, the intelligentsia, and so on. Solzhenitsyn captures the spirit of all echelons of Russian society. He takes many of the characters to great depths, understanding their motivations and backgrounds such that each one is portrayed as realistically and respectfully.
The narratives of the last two days expand and take up most of the book, and the story really does get better and accelerates toward the abyss. By day four the revolution seems like a divinely ordained collapse and judgment upon a nation that has completely abandoned morality, seeking to fulfill its own desires and the retribution against the elite that have mismanaged and abused the people for millennia.
The end is haunting and mesmerizing, as the Czar'd brother, Mikhail Alexandrovich, leaves the Winter Palace secretly, in fear for his life. It is the finest moment of the book, full of beauty, sorrow, reminiscence, regret, and fear.
This isn't the best book in the series, but it is a fine one, and a haunting reminder that God judges human societies, and there are frightful consequences to unrestrained vice.
August 28, 2026
. . . in which things are heating up and also slowing way down. So much detail that it sometimes barely crawls along, but it gives such depth and nuance to the early events of the revolution mob taking hold. Ask for maximalism and ye shall receive maximalism.
November 21, 2020
Petrograd, March 1917
This is the first volume of two. It deals with the real persons who participated in the overthrow of the Romanov Dynasty. Thoroughly research, Solzhenitsyn has produced a fictional description of the personalities and locations of the revolution. The Red Wheel also includes August 1914 and February 1916. The second volume of March 1917 has just been released and is newly translated. I will review the entire corpus after reading the next book. Very well written, with surprisingly few political comments. Yet many details that put the reader into the locations of the events.
This is the first volume of two. It deals with the real persons who participated in the overthrow of the Romanov Dynasty. Thoroughly research, Solzhenitsyn has produced a fictional description of the personalities and locations of the revolution. The Red Wheel also includes August 1914 and February 1916. The second volume of March 1917 has just been released and is newly translated. I will review the entire corpus after reading the next book. Very well written, with surprisingly few political comments. Yet many details that put the reader into the locations of the events.
July 27, 2018
Can't wait for the next book in this series. Solzhenitsyn is a master of his craft
January 2, 2020
A few impressions after reading three volumes of this massive history/novel about the Russian Revolution:
Again I'm reminded how easy it is to overlook the profound societal changes wrought by millions of men killed in the meat grinder of WWI. The Russians alone lost over five million men in that war. Were the U.S. today to lose an equivalent portion of our population, this would be 2 and a half million American men going off to war and never coming home. Now imagine what that would do to your society -- especially if the men you lose are among your bravest, strongest, most loyal, and most religious. Imagine that the men who stay behind to run your cities are the ones too clever, weak, or disloyal to serve. What happens when the opinion-makers among them are increasingly seized with the ideas of revolution, while the citizens and soldiers grow angrier at an increasingly high penalty for the feckless incompetence of their rulers?
The uprising in Petrograd that sparked the fuse ultimately leading to Tsar Nicholas's abdication could have been put down, simply because there was no planning or organization by the various revolutionary factions rushing to get out front and claim the mantle of leadership. Russian soldiers refused to fire on their people, someone killed an officer, and then the barracks began to empty into the streets. Opportunists swooped in, the prisons were opened, thugs grabbed guns, there was rioting. At the end of the day, the soldiers wanted food, warmth, and honorable men to lead them. But there were none to be found in that city. Only cowards hiding in their administrative buildings. So the soldiers remained scattered and unled while the rebels squabbled over who was in charge.
What a vast vacuum of character and leadership must persist for thugs to take power in a country with some semblance of the rule of law, faith, and loyalty. What a denunciation of the corrupt and weak men appointed by Tsar Nicholas, and of the Tsar himself. Interesting to read this as a new hagiography of this incompetent (sainted by the Russian Church no less!) makes its way toward publication.
A vicious cycle takes root when sophisticates who sneer at concepts like faith, honor, and loyalty run the newspapers, the academies, all the bastions of "educated" society. The institutions that undergird stability depend ultimately on leaders who have those qualities, yet it's exactly these men the elites despise and work hardest to undermine.
There's a moment in the street reveling when elites who have been calling loudest for revolution realize there are no police coming to protect them from the drunken and bloodlusting masses. There are no courts to protect them from armed students breaking into their homes to drag them off for "crimes against the people." There is only the rule of the gun and the demogogue. Perhaps some protection of people and property is wise, they think. Maybe some kind of due process. But it's too late. Too late for them, and the millions to follow, who will be subjected to lifetimes of suffering because weak men captured by ideologies thoughtlessly hammered away at society's foundation until it collapsed.
Again I'm reminded how easy it is to overlook the profound societal changes wrought by millions of men killed in the meat grinder of WWI. The Russians alone lost over five million men in that war. Were the U.S. today to lose an equivalent portion of our population, this would be 2 and a half million American men going off to war and never coming home. Now imagine what that would do to your society -- especially if the men you lose are among your bravest, strongest, most loyal, and most religious. Imagine that the men who stay behind to run your cities are the ones too clever, weak, or disloyal to serve. What happens when the opinion-makers among them are increasingly seized with the ideas of revolution, while the citizens and soldiers grow angrier at an increasingly high penalty for the feckless incompetence of their rulers?
The uprising in Petrograd that sparked the fuse ultimately leading to Tsar Nicholas's abdication could have been put down, simply because there was no planning or organization by the various revolutionary factions rushing to get out front and claim the mantle of leadership. Russian soldiers refused to fire on their people, someone killed an officer, and then the barracks began to empty into the streets. Opportunists swooped in, the prisons were opened, thugs grabbed guns, there was rioting. At the end of the day, the soldiers wanted food, warmth, and honorable men to lead them. But there were none to be found in that city. Only cowards hiding in their administrative buildings. So the soldiers remained scattered and unled while the rebels squabbled over who was in charge.
What a vast vacuum of character and leadership must persist for thugs to take power in a country with some semblance of the rule of law, faith, and loyalty. What a denunciation of the corrupt and weak men appointed by Tsar Nicholas, and of the Tsar himself. Interesting to read this as a new hagiography of this incompetent (sainted by the Russian Church no less!) makes its way toward publication.
A vicious cycle takes root when sophisticates who sneer at concepts like faith, honor, and loyalty run the newspapers, the academies, all the bastions of "educated" society. The institutions that undergird stability depend ultimately on leaders who have those qualities, yet it's exactly these men the elites despise and work hardest to undermine.
There's a moment in the street reveling when elites who have been calling loudest for revolution realize there are no police coming to protect them from the drunken and bloodlusting masses. There are no courts to protect them from armed students breaking into their homes to drag them off for "crimes against the people." There is only the rule of the gun and the demogogue. Perhaps some protection of people and property is wise, they think. Maybe some kind of due process. But it's too late. Too late for them, and the millions to follow, who will be subjected to lifetimes of suffering because weak men captured by ideologies thoughtlessly hammered away at society's foundation until it collapsed.
July 24, 2023
Fascinating, overwhelming, his attention to detail and the research involved in the history of this period gives you the feeling of living through the revolution. Sadly it is past and cannot be changed. The fatal flaws in the main characters and their reluctance to act or reacting badly is going to bring about the misery of civil war, and the terror of Stalin. Solzhenitsyn brilliantly recognized the tragedy that the Revolution brought to Russia. Every country has its own unique history and Solzhenitsyn draws no parallels with modern times. Russia after all was a monarchy with absolute power. The Duma met or was dissolved at Nicholas ' will. Russia in no way was prepared to become a democracy. Lenin and his Bolsheviks lost the one and only election allowed during this revolution and the country returned to absolute rule and nearly a century past before another election was allowed. The scholarship and detail is fascinating. Nicholas signed the abdication in pencil. Why, did he think it could be erased? Still I could not help drawing my own parallels with modem times and our own flaws. One thing his books make very clear is that there are times in history where decisions are made maybe even minor decisions that completely change the course for a country or in fact for the whole world forever.
This masterpiece is in 3 volumes each about 700 pages long. The English version had to wait for a translator which was a major work in itself. I learned a new word in Russian for a soup made from the spine of a sturgeon.
This masterpiece is in 3 volumes each about 700 pages long. The English version had to wait for a translator which was a major work in itself. I learned a new word in Russian for a soup made from the spine of a sturgeon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 3, 2024
Solzhenitsyn’s last project was a huge history of the Russian Revolution written has a series of novels told through the eyes of the many, many participants in the events, some actual people including the Tsar and the leaders of the factions, etc and some fictitious, in particular a Russian military officer. Each book covers events from a specific month (the first was August 1914 and the second November 1916), partly in first person narrative style but also using newspaper articles, movie scripts, documents, etc. In March 1917 we reach the Revolution itself and the detail presented by Solzhenitsyn is so great that he took 3 volumes to tell his story.
This first volume covers 5 days with over half of the 600 page volume being about March 12 (new style) on which day the Revolution really began. It brilliantly details the confusion and almost hysteria experienced by everyone involved from the Tsar and military leaders down to the political leaders in the Duma and revolutionary organizations to the individual soldiers and citizens. As such it is not only a fascinating historical fiction but a warning to everyone today of how events can spin out of control. Not everyone will find this to be their cup of tea but as I have most of Solzhenitsyn’s writing, I loved it.
This first volume covers 5 days with over half of the 600 page volume being about March 12 (new style) on which day the Revolution really began. It brilliantly details the confusion and almost hysteria experienced by everyone involved from the Tsar and military leaders down to the political leaders in the Duma and revolutionary organizations to the individual soldiers and citizens. As such it is not only a fascinating historical fiction but a warning to everyone today of how events can spin out of control. Not everyone will find this to be their cup of tea but as I have most of Solzhenitsyn’s writing, I loved it.
August 7, 2025
This historical novel takes place over a three-day period in March at the beginning of the Russian Revolution. It is heavy with well-drawn characters and captures the chaotic events which will lead to the end of the Romanov dynasty. The hapless and insufferable Tsar Nicholas II is painted as completely inept and out-of-touch with the people. Nor is the government capable of controlling the course of events. Beware: this is the first of four books concerning the month. You must dedicate many hours to reading exhaustive details about a plethora of people, but it is worth it if you are a Russophile.
December 1, 2018
A great cultural, historical, feat. Also, as with any historic account, much can be learned from it.
I think, too, that Knausgaard must have read much Solzhenitsyn to learn how to include substantial detail and keep it interesting and flowing. The difference between the two, however, is the younger writer can't get enough of himself,even when his written piece is ostensibly not about himself, and that's too bad, because he can write so well. Solzhenitsyn, on the other hand, carries many persons in his pockets, and shares the limelight with them.
I think, too, that Knausgaard must have read much Solzhenitsyn to learn how to include substantial detail and keep it interesting and flowing. The difference between the two, however, is the younger writer can't get enough of himself,even when his written piece is ostensibly not about himself, and that's too bad, because he can write so well. Solzhenitsyn, on the other hand, carries many persons in his pockets, and shares the limelight with them.
June 5, 2025
Continuing the decline and fall of the Russian empire, this book closer to the end becomes very chaotic in storyline (presumably rightly so considering the revolution; just harder to follow).
Would be nice to have the maps in the front, as I was over halfway finished before I found the included maps in the appendix.
This translator is definitely easier reading than the first books in the Red Wheel series.
Would be nice to have the maps in the front, as I was over halfway finished before I found the included maps in the appendix.
This translator is definitely easier reading than the first books in the Red Wheel series.
October 23, 2018
I found the first two books in this series to be epic good 5 stars. This however is too dispersed with too many characters without enough depth in the stories. The last two books left me speechless. I am a huge Solzhenitsyn fan, but i did not see this one as good. I will be reading the next one as soon as it comes out.
May 15, 2023
Excellent, deep, and engaging description of the bursting dam of the revolution in Russia. The first two nodes - August 1914 and November 1916 set up the building pressure on the Tsar and on society. Now we see how things begin to break.
February 3, 2024
Like reading the news feed on my phone
I read this book on the Russian Revolution and see striking parallels in the US today. I am really struck by how far down the path of collapse our country has gone.
I read this book on the Russian Revolution and see striking parallels in the US today. I am really struck by how far down the path of collapse our country has gone.
August 8, 2025
it took me almost a year to finish this but it was definitely worth it. idk when I'll finish the other 3...
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews