The Apocalypse of 1917

The Russian Revolution of 1917-1922 as the Apocalypse of the 20th Century.

More than 100 years have passed since the Russian Revolution of 1917-1922, but, in so many respects, this revolution is still a great unknown for us.

We can say the same about other great revolutions in Europe. Asked what he thought was the significance of the French Revolution, the Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai is reported to have answered, “It’s too soon to tell.” More than 230 years have passed since the French Revolution began in 1789 and, judging by the many books still being published about it, we are still learning many new aspects of this revolution. We are learning more about mass anti-revolutionary and counter-revolutionary movements during the French Revolution. Consequently, we can better understand now just how much the revolution divided the population. Divisions along almost every possible line happened on an even bigger scale in the Russian Revolution.

I have been studying Russian history for more than 50 years, especially the prerevolutionary history of the Russian Empire from 1861-1917, and the history of the Russian Revolution of 1917-1922. For several years now, I firmly believe that the Russian Revolution was the apocalypse of the 20th century and that the grandiosity of the years 1917-1922 requires more years of deep intensive study.

The word apocalypse literally means a revelation or prophecy.

However, the word apocalypse often means the destruction of an old familiar world and the birth of a new unknown order. The destruction of all traditional human and divine authorities happened in 1917 in the former Russian Empire on a level without parallels in European and world history. This massive upheaval continued during the Civil War from 1918-1922.

One can describe the Russian Revolution of 1917-1922 as the biggest eschatological explosion of the 20th century. Eschatology is a teaching about the end of the old world and the birth of a new age.

Through revelations and prophecies in apocalyptic texts, eschatology is a core teaching of Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, all European political ideologies borrowed and adapted elements of the Judeo-Christian eschatological understanding of the historical process. Without studying religious and ideological eschatology, it is impossible to understand the mentalities of people participating in European revolutionary, antirevolutionary, and counterrevolutionary movements. The degree of the intensity of eschatology varies in every religion and ideology, but it is never absent. Above all, eschatology explains how history is a logically inevitable plan playing out over the course of centuries.

One can say that almost all interpretations of the significance of the Russian Revolution are really variations of eschatological mythmaking. Soviet historians developed a complex eschatological narrative to explain the logically inevitable victory of Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks in 1917 and the Civil War and the logically inevitable defeat of their opponents. Russian and foreign historians have often described the February and October Revolutions as inevitable and they often rewrite history backwards to show that the tsarist government was doomed to collapse inevitably. Histories of the Civil War from 1918-1922 are often portrayed as a cosmic struggle of Reds and Whites without showing the intense divisions and conflicts among both the Bolsheviks and their opponents.

There have always been conspiracy theories to explain the Russian Revolution of 1917-1922. These theories have become extremely popular since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The most popular conspiracy theories include:
1. British intelligence brought about the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II.
2. A Freemason conspiracy of liberals and socialists organized the February Revolution.
3. The “golden German key” financed Lenin and the Bolsheviks to seize power and to take Russia out of the war.
4. A Jewish conspiracy—led by the Elders of Zion—organized both the February and October Revolutions and murdered Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

Note that the French Revolution also gave rise to conspiracy theories about the roles of the Enlightenment philosophes, Freemasons, and the sect of the Illuminati in igniting the revolution and overthrowing the monarchy. Conspiracy theories about revolutions are one more variation of eschatological mythmaking because adherents of conspiracy theories believe that a huge demonic force is at work cause upheavals and revolutions everywhere.

Despite the huge amount of eschatological historical mythmaking about the Russian Revolution, Russian and foreign historians since the collapse of the Soviet Union have obtained access to previously closed archives and have published huge amounts of books and articles that strip away the mythmaking and present the complexities of the Revolution and Civil War in a much more objective manner.

However, the work of objectively describing and analyzing the Russian Revolution of 1917-1922 has only begun. Perhaps we need another 100 years before we can truly understand these events.

For me personally, understanding the Russian Revolution as the biggest apocalypse of the 20th century helps me in understanding why the upheaval of the years 1917-1922 took on such massive proportions.