Pearson Edexcel A Level History: Russia, 1917–91 | Lesson 2 | Why were the Bolsheviks able to seize power in October 1917?

This is a fully resourced, ready-to-teach 90-minute lesson for Pearson Edexcel A Level History, Paper 1, Option 1E: Russia, 1917–91: from Lenin to Yeltsin.

The lesson investigates why the Bolsheviks were able to seize power in October 1917. Students examine the unstable system of dual power created after the February Revolution before evaluating the relative importance of Provisional Government weakness, popular radicalisation, Bolshevik organisation and the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky.

Rather than treating October as either a simple popular revolution or a straightforward Bolshevik coup, students explore how genuine but uneven support was combined with careful organisation and control of strategically important institutions.

Included in this pack:

• Fully editable 32-slide classroom PowerPoint
• Detailed teacher lesson pack
• Substantial range of student resources
• Complete timed plan for a 90-minute lesson
• Guidance for dividing the lesson into two shorter sessions
• Detailed teacher subject knowledge
• Suggested questioning and teacher explanations
• Adaptive teaching support and extension opportunities
• Primary-source analysis
• Historiographical discussion
• Edexcel-style causation planning
• Model analytical writing
• Homework and retrieval tasks

Key content covered:

• The creation and nature of dual power
• The Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet
• Authority on paper compared with power in practice
• Order No. 1 and control of the Petrograd garrison
• The Provisional Government’s dilemmas over war, land, food, elections and military discipline
• Lenin’s return and the April Theses
• The April Crisis and formation of the coalition government
• The failed June Offensive
• The July Days and the temporary suppression of the Bolsheviks
• The Kornilov Affair as a political turning point
• The growth and geographical concentration of Bolshevik support
• The contrasting contributions of Lenin and Trotsky
• The Military Revolutionary Committee
• Bolshevik control of bridges, railways, communications and the Petrograd garrison
• The seizure of the Winter Palace
• The announcement of the transfer of power

The lesson culminates in a causation tribunal examining the claim:

“The Provisional Government was chiefly responsible for its own overthrow.”

Students assess competing explanations using the criteria of reach, timing, indispensability and causal mechanism before answering an Edexcel-style essay question on the importance of Bolshevik leadership.

This resource has been created by an experienced History teacher and examiner with over 20 years of teaching and examining experience. It is suitable for classroom teaching, revision, home learning or independent study.

All resources are fully ready to teach.