The Russian Revolution: A 100 years of Historiography

2017 marked the centennial of the February and October Revolutions, stirring up conversations about what happened in Russia during the revolution and why it happened. This paper evaluates the100 years of Russian Revolution historiography and the changes which took place over the years. The historiography of the revolution until the end of the Cold War was often defined by political bias and a focus on the political leadership of the various factions by both the Western point of view and the Soviet/socialist perspective. After the Soviet Union fell a new modern historiography emerged which drew from both traditional schools and focused on groups such as women and ethnic minorities. In this research traditional sources like books and journal articles are used along with propaganda posters and newspapers. Sources range from the early 1920’s to 2017