revolution

Tony Rocchi09.09.2025

Every European revolution had a counter-revolution. Russia in 1917 was a huge exception to this historical pattern because there was no counter-revolution in the former Russian Empire between the February and October Revolutions of 1917. In fact, the conditions for a counter-revolution were completely absent. Russian revolutionaries prided themselves on their understanding of revolutions of […]

Andrey Vedyaev28.07.2025

On July 10, 1900, the legendary Soviet intelligence officer Maria Aleksandrovna Fortus was born into the family of a Kherson banker. She had to look death in the eye more than once, but still stayed alive — it seemed that Fortune herself was on her side. At the age of 16, Maria, carried away by […]

Tony Rocchi05.11.2024

World War One was the catalyst that made possible the speedy collapse of the Russian state and society after the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II in the February Revolution of 1917. All sectors of society in the Russian Empire underwent major changes both on the war front and on the home front from 1914 to […]

Tony Rocchi29.10.2024

The tumultuous eight months between the February and October Revolutions of 1917 witnessed many types of violence, but terrorism and even state violence were not among them. Instead, the lands of the former Russian Empire were rocked by many incidents of mass violence from below. Politically motivated killings often happened during 1917, but political parties […]

Natalia Tanshina09.07.2024

A significant date is approaching — 235 years since the beginning of the French Revolution. Which we called either the Great French Bourgeois Revolution or the French Bourgeois Revolution (without the great one, because the great one is only ours, the October Revolution, because it is socialist). Now they also call it ambiguously: some, the […]

Tony Rocchi07.07.2024

In its own way, terrorism became a mass movement in the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. However, few historians consider terrorism a mass movement but regard it as something committed by individuals or small groups. The Revolution of 1905-1907 was the first European revolution with a strong terrorist component. Politically motivated murders did happen in previous […]

Tony Rocchi04.07.2024

How we regard the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907 often determines how we understand the nature of political terrorism in the Russian Empire. If we only focus on the mass movements of the revolution, then terrorism during this period remains the Great Unknown. What makes it so ironic about terrorism being the Great Unknown is that […]

Tony Rocchi26.05.2024

The French Revolution was the greatest revolution and civil war that took place in a series of revolutions, civil wars, and national-liberation wars that began with the revolution in Geneva Switzerland in 1768 and finished with the final defeat of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The wave of revolutions and […]

Tony Rocchi18.05.2024

Just how unique was the French Revolution of 1789-1799? Revolutions, uprisings, revolutionary wars, and other upheavals took place in many countries in Europe and the world beginning with a revolution in Geneva Switzerland in 1768 and ending with the overthrow of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815. Revolutions have many points of similarities, but the French […]

Tony Rocchi13.05.2024

Part 1. Comparing the Russian Revolutions of 1905-1907 and 1917-1922 to other revolutions in different countries and regions has its risks. In general, it is safest to set the Russian revolutions in the entire history of European revolutions beginning with the revolution of 1768 in Geneva, Switzerland and finishing with the Russian Revolution of 1917-1922. […]

Why Was There No Counter-Revolution in Russia in 1917?

Maria from Kherson

Brave New World: Russian Society in 1917

Terrorism in the Year 1917: a Conspicuous Absence

The French Revolution’s 235th Anniversary

A Mass Movement that is a Great Unknown of the Revolution of 1905-1907

Terrorism — the Great Unknown of the Russian Revolution of 1905-1907

More Risks in Comparing European Revolutions

The French Revolution and its Legacy in France Today

Russian and European Revolutions: More Risky Comparisons

The Michael Jackson Biopic is Missing its Most Controversial Story

Madama Butterfly and the Japan of the Western Imagination

The Spanish Civil War at 90: the Republic’s Response

Terminator Is about 80 Years Old