1917 saw one of the most dramatic revolutions in world history when the workers of Russia united to throw out their tsar and aristocracy, and formed the first communist state. A century later, this book reflects on the reasons for this revolution, key people, events and its legacy.

Illustrated with archive photography, posters and artefacts, and supported by eyewitness accounts, this book explores Russia's century of upheaval. It considers how change affected not only people such as Lenin, Stalin and Tsar Nicholas II, but also the ordinary Russians. It explores the roles of the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks and the secret police, and it also looks at the arts, education, family life, sport, and the revolution's impact on global politics and cultural attitudes. The twentieth century was also dramatic in terms of world politics and this book examines all of this change within the context of the First World War, the Second Word War, the Civil War between the Reds and the Whites and the Cold War. It explores Perestroika and Glasnost and how 21st-century Russia emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union.

For children aged 12+, this book is especially aimed at history students who are studying the Russian Revolution and Russian history. Heather Maisner studied Comparative Studies, English and Russian at university and has translated books from the Russian. The highly respected Russian historian, academic and author of many books on the subject, Geoffrey Hosking, has acted as consultant. He is the Emeritus Professor of Russian History at UCL, and has published a number of best-selling books on Russia.

This book has been graded for interest at 12-16 years.

There are 64 pages in this book. This book was published 2019 by Hachette Children's Group .

Heather Maisner is author of over 30 children's books, translated into 8 languages, including the award-winning Magic Hourglass , Magic Globe and Diary of a Princess . She also teaches creative writing to children.

This book has the following chapters:

• 1: Pre-revolutionary Russia
• 1: Aristocracy and religion
• 1: Writers
• 1: Stirrings of revolution
• 1: The Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks, Lenin and Trotsky
• 1: Artists in this era
• 1: World War I
• 1: The February Revolution
• 1: The October Revolution and immediate aftermath
• 1: Women in the Revolution
• 1: Creation of the Soviet Union
• 1: Civil War and the Communist Party
• 1: NEP (New Economic Policy)
• 1: Propaganda and Posters.
• 1: Stalin and the Cult of personality
• 1: Five-Year Plans
• 1: Collectivisation
• 1: The Great Purges
• 1: The Nationalities
• 1: Education
• 1: Family and Architecture
• 1: World War II
• 1: The Cold War
• 1: Writers, artists and self-publishing
• 1: The Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1: Russia and the outside world
• 1: Gorbachev, Perestroika and Glasnost
• 1: Conclusion
• 1: Timeline
• 1: Glossary and further information
• 1: Index
• 1: Pre-revolutionary Russia
• 1: Focus - Writers
• 1: Stirrings of revolution
• 1: Focus - Bolsheviks and Mensheviks
• 1: Focus - Artists in this era
• 1: The First World War
• 1: Revolution
• 1: February 1917
• 1: The end of the monarchy
• 1: The October Revolution
• 1: Focus - Women in the Revolution
• 1: Creation of the Soviet Union
• 1: Civil War, Red Terror
• 1: The Soviet Union
• 1: New Economic Policy (NEP)
• 1: Focus - Propoganda and posters
• 1: Stalin and the cult of personality
• 1: Five-Year Plans
• 1: Collectivisation
• 1: The Great Purges
• 1: Gulags
• 1: Republics of the USSR
• 1: Focus - Education
• 1: Focus - Family and architecture
• 1: The Second World War
• 1: The Cold War
• 1: Focus - Writers and artists
• 1: Khrushchev
• 1: The Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1: Focus - Leading the world
• 1: After Khrushchev
• 1: Glasnost
• 1: After Communism
• 1: Timeline and key dates
• 1: Glossary
• 1: Bibliography
• 1: Index