Russia in Flames: War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914 - 1921

by Laura Engelstein

In 1913, the Romanov dynasty celebrated its tercentenary-three centuries of autocratic rule over one of the world's mightiest and most expansive empires. Four years later, the monarchy lay in ruins and a brutal struggle had begun to fill the vacuum of power. The Russian Revolution utterly re-shaped the landscape of the twentieth century. To mark the centennial of this epochal event, distinguished scholar Laura Engelstein offers a full history of not just the February and October Revolutions but the critical period surrounding and giving rise to them, beginning with the outbreak of World War One and following through until the end of the civil strife-seven years of violence and chaos that finally left the Bolsheviks in command of the field. With fresh eyes and narrative verve, backed by a lifetime of scholarly work in the field, Engelstein's account offers new perspectives on the events that led to the fall of the old order and ultimately the creation of the Soviet state, a way of looking at the institutions and structures of power that were simultaneously crumbling and being replaced. In the process she provides a dynamic sense of the play of personalities and agendas that set Russia on a course of self-destruction and reinvention, and on a scale previously unimagined. Russia in Flames will join the ranks of works by Orlando Figes, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Timothy Snyder, and Richard Pipes: a major, defining, exhaustive, and exhilarating account of war and revolution as they were unfolding, and as one of history's greatest empires was dissolving and reforming itself before the eyes of the world.

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction, Russian Revolution, Russian History, War, 20th Century

848 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 2017

About the author

Laura Engelstein is an American historian who specializes in Russian and European history. She served as Henry S. McNeil Professor Emerita of Russian History at Yale University and taught at Cornell University and Princeton University.

Reviews

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 5 out of 5]

Large-scale history of the Russian Revolution, with an emphasis on its political and military facets. Engelstein's book follows the standard narrative in many ways, showing how the Revolution came from a near-feudal society and decades of dissatisfaction with Romanov rule, the unwillingness of Nicholas II to entertain serious reforms, the increasingly radicalized dissident culture and Russia's disastrous wars with Japan and Germany, all culminating in the establishment of the world's first Communist regime. Engelstein shows the Revolution as driven by violence from the start: what allowed Lenin and his comrades to seize and hold power was their willingness to act decisively and crush opposition, with a singlemindedness that the frazzled, divided Provisional Government couldn't hope to achieve. Where Kerensky attempts to appease all factions (the Bolsheviks who demand radical change, the moderate socialists who wanted a representative democracy, the conservatives who want a restored Russian Empire, the Western Allies who demanded Russia remain in the war), Lenin and Trotsky make no bones about their endgame. Their "dictatorship of the proletariat" presented a clearer, more decisive vision for Russia's future than any other option on offer. Unfortunately for Russia, and the world, it was also an incredibly destructive one.

Engelstein devotes the plurality of the book not to the familiar-enough maneuverings of Lenin and Trotsky and the drama of Red October, but to the bloody civil war of 1918-1921. Often portrayed, at least in Western historiography, as a simple conflict between Bolshevik revolutionaries and monarchist Whites, Engelstein shows that it was in fact a convoluted clash between a seemingly endless array of factions. The White Armies, a grab-bag of monarchists, military officers and Menshevik dissidents, were so disorganized they couldn't even coordinate their military strategy, while introducing little but reactionary violence to the areas of their control. Besides them were foreign interventionists with varying goals and wavering commitment to overthrowing the Soviets; nationalist movements on the fringes of Empire, from Poland and Finland (successfully) to the Ukraine and the Caucasus (unsuccessfully); reactionary Cossacks and restless Central Asian peoples; Jews, Tartars and other minorities victimized by all sides; anarchists, peasants and mutinous soldiers who resisted the coercive Soviet State. The Bolsheviks ripped Russian society up from its roots, with bloodshed and famine that not only reordered society but claimed millions of lives. Engelstein shows this all in a book of incredible breadth, depth and readability; the best one-volume history, in English, of the Russian Revolution since Orlando Figes's A People's Tragedy.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has some real strengths.

Laura Engelstein's analysis of events leading up to the February Revolution, and then what happens between February and October, is superb. Her chronology is clear, managing to avoid confusing the reader who must track so many individuals and competing groups with similar and always-changing names.

She also finishes on a strong note. The final chapters about the "war against the peasants" are memorable -- the forced requisition of grain, the Bolshevik consolidation of power, etc. Engelstein is also at her best when she places the events in the context of Marxist ideology along with contemporary attempts to shape and see events through that prism.

In the final analysis, Leninism was an authoritarian form of socialism, and Lenin can be seen as a "counter revolutionary" because he crushed the true social democratic revolution of February 1917 (50 million people voted in the Constituent Assembly election for multi-party pluralism) in favor of single-party authoritarianism. As for Marx, his theories had to be "refined" by the Bolsheviks in order to make them "work." But the proletariat had more to lose than mere chains. There was a diverse socialist milieu in Russia; the Bolsheviks bid for power was a long shot, but the author demonstrates how Lenin's group managed to beat the odds. It leaves the reader wondering what could have been; Russia was not destined to endure a century of Communist hardship.

The socialist milieu extended to the peasantry, who may not have been interested in the finer points of Marxist theory. Nevertheless, they moved in a socialist, bottom-up direction in their appropriation of large landholders' property and decision to form peasant collectives.

This book also has some weaknesses. It was almost all political history. Sheila Fitzpatrick's 'Everyday Stalinism' was excellent because it showed how ordinary people, who got swept up in these enormous events, managed to survive. Engelstein's focus is almost entirely political.

The middle chapters on the Russian civil war and developments on the Imperial periphery (the revolutions and wars in the smaller countries between German and Tsarist Russia) were difficult to follow. Engelstein admits the historian's task here is difficult; so many names, so many groups, always changing their allegiances and titles. It was hard to follow then. Imagine the task of a scholar immersed in the literature.

Engelstein may simply have tried to fit too much into one volume, but her aim in her magnum opus was to explain a "continuum of violence" from 1914 through the early 1920s: the war, population dislocations, revolution(s) and civil war(s) -- all part of a larger pattern of state dissolution that, in the end, was barely mastered by one group, the Bolsheviks, at enormous cost to humankind.

[Chris Lira · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at about 55% completion. Very dry, not keeping my interest, and a bombardment of names. Life is too short.....

As an aside, there are some *glaring* errors in this book. The author says that Grand Duke Nikolai was “at least 2 feet taller than (Tsar) Nicholas”. Wikipedia as Nikolai was 6’-6”, which by the author’s reckoning would make the tsar 4’-6”, at most. Absolutely not. Then later in the book, she refers the acquisition of Baku by Peter the Great in 1824- which is weird, since he died in 1725. These sorts of things really ding the author’s credibility, as well as the editor’s. In a history book, they are inexcusable.

[Helen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a sweeping, detailed account of 7 key years in Russian history - 1914-1921 - which for me at least put together the various facets leading to the fall of the monarchy and the triumph of the Bolsheviks into a coherent pattern. And there are many facets - many details and angles examined in this exhaustive but fascinating volume. The upshot - at least as I gathered it - is that despite the idealism that drove the liberals and the social revolutionaries in the decades preceding the revolution, many of whom had in mind a version of socialism that included democracy, Lenin had no interest in democracy, and instead used the concept of soviets or councils as cover for his authoritarian, ultra-conformist system. He was trying to build a new society but it wasn't anything like what the majority of socialists in Russia prior to 1917 had in mind. The Bolsheviks were a small splinter of the socialist spectrum in Russia yet they had a non-dithering, determined leader - who believed that only a dictatorship, with him as dictator, could uproot the old order and remake society as he envisioned it. It didn't work out as planned and the repression that started then bred resentment and hate vs. the regime that eventually resulted in its downfall. Since it was never democratic... and according to the author, that was what the people wanted more than anything else, that was the symbol of their revolution against the monarchy and the old way, the democracy.

This is a relatively easy-to-read book, and gracefully written at that. It is filled with fascinating details on the personalities and histories of the players, well-known and obscure, and for anyone interested in learning more about the Russian Revolution or Russian history in general, would be an excellent place to start, since the Revolution was probably the key turning point in Russian history.

I'll add the quotes in comments to my review - which I will get to shortly. But meanwhile, I recommend the book to anyone who wishes to gain some insight into this tumultuous and tragic period of Russian history, which shaped the country's subsequent development and probably also explains why many of the former Imperial provinces that have broken away since the collapse of the USSR, such as the Ukraine and the Baltic States, have no interest in re-integrating themselves into some sort of exclusive relationship with Russia. They were interested in independence and self-determination from way back - despite the tangled melange of ethnic groups inhabiting these countries - with several different ethnic groups inhabiting any given territory - and so it's unlikely they'll ever want to rejoin Russia on some affiliation basis.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweeping, thoughtful and well-written history of revolutionary Russia.

Engelstein does a great job describing the diverse popular forces behind the revolution, and how and why people resisted the tsar, the Provisional government, and the Bolsheviks. She stresses the contingency of events, and disputes the idea that the outbreak of Civil War was something the Bolsheviks hoped to avoid or did not expect, and ably covers the ruthlessness of the Bolsheviks’ policies.

The narrative is clear and easy to follow but dense and a bit dry at times. Some more maps would have helped. Also, Engelstein writes that Nicholas lost all support by the February Revolution (he did?)

A balanced, well-researched and very readable work.

[Kat V · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been reading this forever. It’s a great book. Don’t read it as an introduction to the Russian revolution. First you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the basic premise and concepts and then this book is good for filling in every possible detail. It was a lot of information and a little overwhelming but detailed and informative. The information is presented in an incredibly bland way but I think that’s partly because it’s SO thorough. 3.7 stars.

[Fernando Pestana da Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is one of the best single volume works on the Russian Revolution that I have read. Covering the period from the beginning of Word War I (with a first part containing a short introduction to events in the 20th Century prior to 1914), it has an excellent treatment of the way the Great War eroded the tsarist power, militarily and economically, but also socially, increasing the gap between the monarchy and the educated civil society and the intensity of violence in society (with pogroms against Jews or foreigners). Then it goes on describing the February revolution in Petrograd and the stepping down of Nicolas II, the exciting and increasingly chaotic events throughout 1917 down to the Bolshevik coup in October and the first period of their rule. The narrative is not concentrated solely in Petrograd, but covers in reasonable detail the concomitant events elsewhere in the empire's lands, some occupied by Germany and some still nominally Russian: in Finland, the Baltic, Poland, Ukraine, the Caucasus and trans Caucasia, and Central Asia. Of course, these events become, after the Bolshevik take over and even more after the signing of the capitulation peace treaty with Germany at Brest-Litovsk, intimately mingled with a ferocious Civil War, with its even more confusing frontlines, with Reds, Whites, the Czechs' legion, Allied foreign troops, nationalists of every stripe, anarchists, or simply plain bandits. It ends with chapters on War Communism, the Bolshevik control of the by then disaffected industrial workers, and the final revolts at the end of the tumultuous period: Tambov and other peasant revolts, and the event that was a epoch changing for many in the Left inside and outside Russia: the Kronstadt revolt. Covering all these aspects in slightly more than 620 pages (with another 200 of notes, a bibliographical essay, and index) this excellent book is a monument to concision and a very readable introduction to this defining moment of World history. It ends with a 5 pages bibliographical essay about works (most in English and Russian, some in German) that is an excellent guide for those who want to know more about the diverse aspects covered in the book.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish this were better formatted, in that it could have been better as a cohesive narrative, but each chapter goes back in time and then works forward. Very hard to follow, even for someone like me who is well versed in this history.

[Dwight Mayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good, but sometimes dry. Compelling thesis, deeply informative, but partly lacks the human element that makes this period interesting to me.

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a tricky book to review. On the one hand, it is an exhaustively researched, highly nuanced, and enlightening analysis of the period ranging from the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 to the Kronstadt and Tambov Rebellions ending in 1922. When it is good, it is very, very good. On the other hand, the sheer size of the book, paired with the task of recounting and explaining in detail the ridiculously complex and variegated events entailed across the (former) Russian Empire means that much of the book (particularly the mid-section) is a garbled, tiring slog.

Firstly, the good. Laure Engelstein is a veteran historian with a background focused on social and cultural history of the late imperial era, and this shows in the context that she situates the Revolution in, with a refreshing detailed look at the Great War as not just the mere prelude to 1917 but a key stage of the history of the Revolution. Writing long after the Soviet archives opened, Engelstein benefits from a dizzying plurality of sources (many of which she translated from Russian herself), ranging from memoirs of the various historical figures to Marxist and revisionist literature. The quoted primary sources are incredible and let the historical actors speak for themselves through some well-chosen anecdotes to illustrate a point or exemplify broader trends, and Engelstein has a keen eye for pathos and irony in her selections that really shed light on the whole era. She is also at a sobering distance from the Cold War polemics that plagued the historiography of the Revolution for nearly a century which have been dissolved by the nuanced, revisionist findings of historians of the last few decades. Like many academics, you can tell that she subscribes to something of a moderate left / liberal standpoint, but this doesn’t come with the nauseating anti-communist condescension of many of her predecessors, and the intellectual integrity of the work is nearly impossible to fault. All the actors and factions of the Great War, Revolution, and Civil War are sharply but empathetically analysed and criticised. There is absolutely no black and white to be found in this era. One experiences psychological whiplash as you approve, then disapprove, then sympathise, then disapprove again the actions of the revolutionaries, counter-revolutionaries, and the masses they recruited, who all constantly change position, allegiance, tactics, etc. I was particularly happy to read focussed treatments of the anti-Bolshevik Left, and the oft-overlooked Makhnovists.

As aforementioned, Engelstein’s method for analysing the era is mostly a political history coloured by cultural and social lenses. With such a depth and breadth of knowledge, she brings attention to lesser-known aspects of the era and I learned a lot of new things: about the sheer scale of state terror during the Great War that resurfaced with a vengeance during the Civil War; the incredibly temperamental nature of the masses based on mood and immediate circumstances, within whom the same crowds fluctuated between anti-capitalist riots and pogroms, and often proved to be more radical than the revolutionaries and more reactionary than the Whites; how the Civil War was in fact a rhizomatically expanding series of civil wars within civil wars intersecting within each faction, sub-faction, region, ethnicity, religion, etc.; how divided the White movement was and that its adherents ranged from moderate socialists to antisemitic monarchists; the role of the Cossacks as a pool of veritable mercenaries recruited by Whites as well as Reds; the nature of antisemitism and pogroms throughout the whole era of 1904-1921 and the crimes committed by all sides (though in different ways and degrees); how the Allies initially helped the Soviets with aid and military organisation as they hoped to use them against Germany during the War; how Lenin was almost alone in his own party about making peace with the Germans, and how many Russians saw him as a German agent; how strong a role conspiracy theories played in the events; how political commissars were invented by the Provisional Government, not the Bolsheviks; how much of a counter-productive self-fulfilling prophecy the Red Terror was; and so on.

But now onto the bad. As a nitpick, I think Engelstein understandably focuses too much on politics (high and low), with the socioeconomic factors being either a background factor or an afterthought. However this is a minor problem and, as also aforementioned, her judgements and analyses of the various issues are clear and enlightening; Engelstein retains a keen eye for the structural forces at play among people and factions, as demonstrated by the thematic chapters on politics from below, Cossacks, Jews, peasants, and workers. The main problem with the book is a question of structure. Ironically, the strong narrative-focus of this book often makes it hard to follow the overall narrative. While the main events of the Revolution are grippingly recounted, the coherence of the narrative breaks down with the Civil War, as chapters on the various provinces and countries introduce a whole new geography, history, a new cast of characters, and the dizzying events that follow, all while going back over the aforementioned key epochal revolutionary events and how this intersected with events in the regions. I’m unsure how much the fault here is Engelstein’s, since the subject matter here is incredibly complicated. But simply put, the mid-section and a few chapters in the last section were such an immense slog that was barely intelligible to me, leading me to simply skip some chapters and consult the two Civil War chapters in Ronald Grigor Suny’s ‘The Soviet Experiment’. The sluggish mid-section chapters also made me more fatigued with the endless political narratives in the other chapters that would have otherwise similarly gripped me as before. So while I learned a lot about the Revolution and the basic elements of the Civil War at the centre, I didn’t absorb much about the Civil War in detail, which is precisely what I wanted to get out of a book that deals with the Revolution and Civil War in equal measure.

Despite these disappointments, the book was overall a rewarding read (even if I kind of just wanted it to be over by the end), and is an immensely useful reference work for the era and for further reading. I can’t, however, say I can recommend it.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may seem strange to say about a very dense book with some 200 plus pages of notes and citations, but... I wish it had been more detailed.

What I mean by that is that this book is solely a political history, but I would have liked to have known more about some of the key players, and to know exactly how or why certain military offensives failed, or certain cities refused to revolt or vice versa--more than just "by October, the drive on X City had stalled." I understand why she didn't go that route, but I think my desire to know more is a testament to the compelling power of the narrative and the fascinating history that I had been up until reading this book, largely ignorant of--despite being a pretty regular reader of histories both political and otherwise.

A fascinating book for people interested in early Soviet Russia, the evolution of revolutions of all stripes, or those curious about the psychological and sociological repercussions of a society coming apart. It's not a fast read by any stretch of the imagination, and it is not for the casual reader, but those that do dive in will be well pleased.

[Kenneth Barber · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an exhaustive study of the fall of the Romanovs, the February revolution,the October revolution and the civil war that followed. The narrative begins with the unrest of the 1890’s and the Revolution of 1905. The reforms granted after 1905 were basically window dressing and were never implemented as promised. Unrest continued against the Tsar. These were brought to a head with the advent of WWI and the subsequent loses, casualties, famine and social unrest.
The author follows the revolution that led to the resignation of the Tsar the establishment of the provisional government and finally the October revolution and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks.
The book follows the myriad of political parties and their programs and efforts to gain control of government. As the war is left with the treaty of Brest Litovst, civil war breaks out. The Bolsheviks now have to subdue various nationalistic movements and local uprisings.
The book presents a challenge in following all the various factions and parties, is worth the effort.

[James Spencer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I generally love academic history books and am very interested in World War I and it's aftermath in both Russia and Germany so expected to enjoy this but was disappointed. It is poorly written, very badly edited, repetitive, and disorganized. If I read one more "And rightly so", I think I'll scream. The reference to the Russian Black Sea fleet as the "Baltic" fleet (repetitively so not just a typo), the misspelled words (most due to letter missing), and the endless thumbnail bios lasting no more than 3 or 4 sentences (so not containing any real info other than where the subject was born) tell me that Oxford really fell down on this one.

[Philip Kahn-Pauli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a masterful history by a giant in the field. Engelstein provides a single-volume history of the Russian Revolution as well as the subsequent Civil War. I will say it is a door stopper of a book and demands close attention. As someone whose family fled Russia during the Civil War, it gave me a much better sense of the horrors involved and the birth of the Bolshevik regime. Anyone with an interest in the conflict, read this book!

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very long, very traditional (political/sort of economic) history book. I think the power of this book, funny enough, wasn't in how it covered Russia but in the non-Russian parts of the Russian Empire (Finland, Poland, and Ukraine especially), I'm not aware of a book as full of depth in these areas that's not a scholarly, boring nightmare to read.

[Barry Smirnoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extensive survey of the scholarship on the First World War, the Russian Revolution and the Russian Civil War. It also draws from original sources and secondary works. It is comprehensive and useful for students and the general public. I highly recommend it.

[Alexandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I appreciated the scope and the bibliography, as well as the crossing of 1917 by grouping together WWI, revolution and 'civil war'.

Amazing how Engelstein was able to discern who had high and low motives (the Bolsheviks were always low), and write out any sense of social history from the period.

[Matt Sones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Russian Revolution. So many opportunities to experiment with some kind of democratic society, destroyed by ruthless murderers with an overwhelming PR machine and persuasive grassroots mobilization.

[Dav · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didnt find flow interesting

[Thom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and balanced overview of the turbulent revolution years.

[Anna C · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Russia (and Ukraine and Poland and Finland and the Baltic states and Central Asia and the Caucasus and Crimea and Jewish communities across the entire former empire) in Flames"

[Donald Robertson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed!

[Varði · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good overview of a complex and sometimes confusing era in Russian history. I would have liked a more detailed analysis of the Civil War period. The author's anti-bolshevism can get a bit grating, though.

Nevertheless highly recommended for those who want to learn about the period.