Welcome to Russian History Retail, Episode 228, 1917, Part 1.

Last time we finished our tour of the old cities of Russia.

Today we start a five-part series on the most tumultuous and important year in Russian

history, 1917.

1917 was a turbulent year all over the world.

In this series, I'll be going back and forth between the events in Russia, focusing on

Petrograd, also known as St. Petersburg, and the rest of the world.

We'll give us a framework with which to understand what was happening in Russia.

My sources will include my extensive library, but there is one book I will be leaning heavily

on.

It's called Caught in the Revolution by Helen Rappaport.

It is an amazing work, which includes first-hand accounts of the events of 1917 from numerous

sources.

This book, and I hope this series, will give you a sense of the fear, excitement, terror,

and confusion that permeated the streets of Petrograd.

Before we start, I have to point out a problem that has plagued many historians of this era.

There were two calendars in use at the time, the Julian, or Old Calendar in Russia, and

the Gagorian in the most of the rest of the world.

I'll be using both as I have in most of my past episodes.

Many of the correspondence that Rappaport uses in a work are from Europe and America, where

the Gagorian dating system was the standard.

I'll make sure that I keep you informed as to which dating system I'm talking about.

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