- In ,April 1917 Lenin and other revolutionaries returned to Russia after having been permitted by the German government to cross Germany. The Germans hoped that the Bolsheviks would undermine the Russian war effort
- Lenin would say to “end the war”, “all land to the peasants”, and “all power to the soviets”
- The failure of the all-out military offensive in July increased discontent with the provisional government, and disorders and violence in Petrograd led to popular demands for the soviet to seize power
- The government then started to take strong measures against the Bolshevik press and leaders
- Army discipline deteriorated after the failure of the July offensive. the provisional government and the Menshevik and Socialist Revolutionary leaders in the Soviet lost support from the impatient soldiers and workers
- From mid September on the Bolsheviks had a majority in the Petrograd Soviet and Lenin urged the soviet to seize power
- Moscow was taken by force and local groups of Bolshevik and workers and soldiers gained control of most of other cities of Russia
- In the end, negotiations with the Central powers which had begun late in 1917 resulted in the Russian acceptance of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Most of the lands ceded to Germany under the Georgia, Armenia, and others/ The Bolsheviks regained some of the lost territory during the Russian civil war.