The Bolshevik Seizure Of Power

• September- Headquarters of Petrograd Soviet. Bolsheviks become majority party in Petrograd. Trotsky is elected chairman of the Soviet.
• 7th October- Lenin returns to Petrograd. 
• 10th October- Lenin convinces majority of Bolsheviks and leadership to support a seizure of power.
• 9th October- Petrograd soviet creates the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) under control of Trotsky.
• 23rd October- Peter and Paul fortress. Soldiers agree to give Bolsheviks weapons. Trotsky reports that 15 out of 18 armed units in the capital support a seizure of power by the Bolsheviks.
• Night of 23-24 October- The Winter Palace, Provisional Government Headquarters. Kerensky sends troops to close down Bolshevik Newspapers Pravda and Izvesta. But Kerensky's soldiers are repelled by the MRC.
• 24th October- Ships supporting the Bolsheviks led by the cruiser Aurora, and aim their guns at the city.
• Night of 24-25 October. Bolsheviks begin the revolution seizing bridges and the post office.
• Smolny Institute- Lenin issues a statement 'The Provisional Government is no more and power has passed to the soviets'
• Winter Palace- Kerensky leaves the Winter Palace to contact troops loyal to the Provisional Government and bring them into Petrograd to defeat the Bolsheviks.
• Warship Aurora fires on the Winter Palace and the Bolshevik attack begins. At 2.00 am, the Government are captured.
• Even Trotsky had to admit that the revolution was essentially a series of 'small operations, calculated and prepared in 'advance'