A Concise History of the Russian Revolution

by Richard Pipes

Book Overview

An authoritative history of the Russian Revolution and the violent and disruptive acts that created the first modern totalitarian regime, portraying the crisis at the heart of the tsarist empire

A deep and eloquent condemnation of the revolution and its aftermath. --The New York Times

Drawing on archival materials released in Russia, Richard Pipes chronicles the upheaval that began as a conservative revolt but was soon...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679745440
• ISBN13: 9780679745440
• Release Date: November 1996
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

excellent guide to understanding the Russian Revolution

This book is Richard Pipes own consolidation and abridgement of his two masterworks, "Russian Revolution" (1990) and "Russia under the Bolshevik Regime" (1994). The two volumes total 1,300 pages supported by 4,500 references. The "Concise History" redaction is 406 pages and includes a glossary, chronology, one page of references, and a very good index. It also has 76 photos and five maps. Although it is a work of impeccable scholarship, it is also highly readable and accessible to the average reader. Pipes is a virtuoso historian and perhaps the greatest chronicler of Russian history of all time. If you decide to read this history, you will learn a great deal about the most important event of the 20th Century (which spanned the two World Wars), and certainly the greatest experiment in utopian social engineering ever. In the process you will gain an extensive knowledge about the greatest foe the United States faced in the last Century, and how that foe came to its defeat. Pipes concludes that "the Russian Revolution appears as the unfolding of a tragedy in which events follow with inexorable force from the mentality and character of the protagonists." And his lifetime of study of these events has left him "...less sanguine about humanity's capacity to change itself." Recommended companion read: Aleksander Zolzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956," HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2002. This is a one volume abridgement by Zolzhenitsyn from the original seven volumes, which have now been remaindered.

An Excellent Introduction to the Topic

I wanted to understand just how the 300 year reign of Tsarist Russia ended and transformed into the Communist regime that dominated that land for 70 years. After looking at the books available on this topic, I chose A Richard Pipe's Concise History of the Russian Revolution to answer my questions. It proved to be an excellent choice. Don't let the word Concise in the title fool you. It is not concise in that it is short or brief. All the details are here to present a well fleshed out picture of the tumultuous events of 1917. The necessary background of Nicholas II and Alexandra is presented. The moves of Lenin and his supporting cast are provided in detail. One also learns that the foundations murderous regime of Stalin were all put into place and utilized by Lenin himself. The book ends with Lenin's death, and provides a glimple into Stalin and how he came to succeed Lenin. Pipe's work is a very worthwhile work. For reading only one book on this subject, I have yet to have come across one that would better replace it.

A masterful and concise volume

Dr. Pipes is one of the great scholars of Russia and the Soviet Union. He has written at length on the origin and events of the revolution that led to the founding of the USSR. Only someone with his deep knowledge of the material and his skill at writing could pull off such a brilliant telling of these important, and tragic, historical events in only 400 pages.The book is divided into three sections. The first is called "The Agony of the Old Regime" and provides a snapshot of the way Russia was governed and the lives of its citizens and peasants in 1900. It also discusses its experiments in constitutional government and the crisis of the First World War and the February Revolution.The second part is entitled "The Bolsheviks Conquer Russia" and tells us about Lenin, the October Coup, and the building of the terror state.Part three is called "Russia under the Bolshevik Regime" and discusses the Civil War, the building of the mechanisms to export communism and revolution to the rest of the world, the crisis of Lenin's stroke and the positioning for power by Stalin and then Lenin's death. The chapter on "Reflections on the Russian Revolution is very valuable. There is a list of suggested further readings and the book has many well-chosen pictures.

A great summary of his 3 previous books . . .

I'm a history student in my fourth year honours(with my major in Russia) and this book was the text book for my fourth year honours class. It is a great book because Pipes gives a summary of his previous 3 books "Russia Under the Old Regime", "The Russian Revolution" and "Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime". It is the equivalent to buy 3 books in one. The novelty of the book is that if the reader is interested in reading a relative short book about Russian history, this is the best book for that. However if one is interested in further details, I recommend people to read any of the 3 books summarized here in details. Pipes proves with enough arguments the gangster character of Lenin and his ambition for power. As Pipes argues, 'power' was the only ideology of the Bolshevik Party. The first part of the book provides a good background of the origins of 'autocracy' in the Old Regime. The last chapter gives the reader details about other aspects of the Bolsheviks after they achieved power, including among others 'the chapter on culture'. The chapters 'The October Coup' (here Pipes proves with details that in October 1917 a coup d'état took place and not a revolution), 'The Red Terror' (proves that it was through killing nearly a million people that Bolsheviks stayed in power) and the chapter on Lenin are of course the worst nightmare for communists around the world. I one word I have to say that Pipes' books are the 'bible' of Russian history. My deepest admiration to Dr Pipes.

A fine, if slightly biased view on the Russian Revolution

This book works as both an engrossing beginning to a serious study of Russia from around 1905 to the death of Lenin, or as a one-off read for those with a passing interest. A finely written history book, it manages to cram in a topical description of every major happening (and some not so major) during the aforementioned time frame as well as provide a solid foundation upon which to delve deeper into the subject matter. Pipes, a Harvard professor as well as an ex-National Security Advisor for Reagan on Soviet and Eastern European affairs (but don't let this fact dissuade you from reading the book) writes thought-provoking and informative prose with a well-tuned eye for context. The only turn-off is his constant reminders of just how awful the Bolsheviks were, finishing the book with a short diatribe supporting subjective reporting of history (which might be better wrestled with in a different book entirely). Regardless, a fine book, written by one of the world's top authorities of the subject matter