March 1917: The Red Wheel, Node III, Book 1 (The Center for Ethics and Culture Solzhenitsyn Series)

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, the University of Notre Dame Press is proud to publish Nobel Prize–winner Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s epic work March 1917, Node III, Book 1, of The Red Wheel. The Red Wheel is Solzhenitsyn’s magnum opus about the Russian Revolution. Solzhenitsyn tells this story in the form of a meticulously researched historical novel, supplemented by newspaper headlines of the day, fragments of street action, cinematic screenplay, and historical overview. The first two nodes―August 1914 and November 1916―focus on Russia’s crises and recovery, on revolutionary terrorism and its suppression, on the missed opportunity of Pyotr Stolypin’s reforms, and how the surge of patriotism in August 1914 soured as Russia bled in World War I. March 1917―the third node―tells the story of the Russian Revolution itself, during which not only does the Imperial government melt in the face of the mob, but the leaders of the opposition prove utterly incapable of controlling the course of events. The action of book 1 (of four) of March 1917 is set during March 8–12. The absorbing narrative tells the stories of more than fifty characters during the days when the Russian Empire begins to crumble. Bread riots in the capital, Petrograd, go unchecked at first, and the police are beaten and killed by mobs. Efforts to put down the violence using the army trigger a mutiny in the numerous reserve regiments housed in the city, who kill their officers and rampage. The anti-Tsarist bourgeois opposition, horrified by the violence, scrambles to declare that it is provisionally taking power, while socialists immediately create a Soviet alternative to undermine it. Meanwhile, Emperor Nikolai II is away at military headquarters and his wife Aleksandra is isolated outside Petrograd, caring for their sick children. Suddenly, the viability of the Russian state itself is called into question. The Red Wheel has been compared to Tolstoy’s War and Peace, for each work aims to narrate the story of an era in a way that elevates its universal significance. In much the same way as Homer’s Iliad became the representative account of the Greek world and therefore the basis for Greek civilization, these historical epics perform a parallel role for our modern world. Cover Praise The Red Wheel Series Page Title Page Copyright Publisher’s Note Contents THURSDAY, 8 MARCH CHAPTER 1 DOCUMENTS – 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3' (The bread noose) CHAPTER 4 CHAPTER 5 CHAPTER 6 CHAPTER 7 ' (Early evening, 8 March) CHAPTER 8 FRIDAY, 9 MARCH CHAPTER 9 CHAPTER 10 CHAPTER 11 CHAPTER 12 CHAPTER 13 CHAPTER 14 CHAPTER 15 CHAPTER 16 CHAPTER 17 CHAPTER 18 CHAPTER 19 CHAPTER 20 CHAPTER 21' (Early evening, 9 March) CHAPTER 22 SATURDAY, 10 MARCH CHAPTER 23 CHAPTER 24 CHAPTER 25 CHAPTER 26' (The Duma ends) CHAPTER 27 CHAPTER 28 CHAPTER 29 CHAPTER 30 CHAPTER 31 CHAPTER 32 CHAPTER 33 CHAPTER 34 CHAPTER 35 CHAPTER 36 CHAPTER 37 CHAPTER 38 CHAPTER 39 CHAPTER 40 CHAPTER 41 CHAPTER 42 SUNDAY, 11 MARCH CHAPTER 43 CHAPTER 44 CHAPTER 45 CHAPTER 46 CHAPTER 47 CHAPTER 48 CHAPTER 49 CHAPTER 50 CHAPTER 51 CHAPTER 52 CHAPTER 53 CHAPTER 54 CHAPTER 55 CHAPTER 56' (The Pavlovsky mutiny) CHAPTER 57 CHAPTER 58 CHAPTER 59 CHAPTER 60 CHAPTER 61 CHAPTER 62 CHAPTER 63 CHAPTER 64 CHAPTER 65 CHAPTER 66 CHAPTER 67 MONDAY, 12 MARCH CHAPTER 68 CHAPTER 69 CHAPTER 70 CHAPTER 71 CHAPTER 72 CHAPTER 73 CHAPTER 74 CHAPTER 75 CHAPTER 76 CHAPTER 77 CHAPTER 78 CHAPTER 79 CHAPTER 80 CHAPTER 81 CHAPTER 82 CHAPTER 83 CHAPTER 84 CHAPTER 85 CHAPTER 86 CHAPTER 87 CHAPTER 88 CHAPTER 89 CHAPTER 90 CHAPTER 91 CHAPTER 92 CHAPTER 93 CHAPTER 94 CHAPTER 95 CHAPTER 96 CHAPTER 97 CHAPTER 98 CHAPTER 99 CHAPTER 100 CHAPTER 101 CHAPTER 102 CHAPTER 103 CHAPTER 104 CHAPTER 105 CHAPTER 106 CHAPTER 107 CHAPTER 108 CHAPTER 109 CHAPTER 110 CHAPTER 111 CHAPTER 112 CHAPTER 113 CHAPTER 114 CHAPTER 115 CHAPTER 116 CHAPTER 117 CHAPTER 118 CHAPTER 119 CHAPTER 120 CHAPTER 121 CHAPTER 122 CHAPTER 123 CHAPTER 124 CHAPTER 125 CHAPTER 126 CHAPTER 127 CHAPTER 128 CHAPTER 129 CHAPTER 130 CHAPTER 131 CHAPTER 132 CHAPTER 133 CHAPTER 134 CHAPTER 135 CHAPTER 136 CHAPTER 137 CHAPTER 138 CHAPTER 139 CHAPTER 140 CHAPTER 141 CHAPTER 142 CHAPTER 143 CHAPTER 144 CHAPTER 145 CHAPTER 146 CHAPTER 147 CHAPTER 148 CHAPTER 149 CHAPTER 150 CHAPTER 151 CHAPTER 152 CHAPTER 153 CHAPTER 154 CHAPTER 155 CHAPTER 156 CHAPTER 157 CHAPTER 158 CHAPTER 159 CHAPTER 160 CHAPTER 161 CHAPTER 162 CHAPTER 163 CHAPTER 164 CHAPTER 165 CHAPTER 166 CHAPTER 167 CHAPTER 168 CHAPTER 169 CHAPTER 170 MAPS OF PETROGRAD INDEX OF NAMES "The Red Wheel is Solzhenitsyn's magnum opus about the Russian Revolution. Solzhenitsyn tells this story in the form of a meticulously researched historical novel, supplemented by newspaper headlines of the day, fragments of street action, cinematic screenplay, and historical overview. The first two nodes, August 1914 and November 1916, focus on Russia's crises and recovery, on revolutionary terrorism and its suppression, on the missed opportunity of Pyotr Stolypin's reforms, and how the surge of patriotism in August 1914 soured as Russia bled in World War I. The third node, March 1917, tells the story of the Russian Revolution itself, during which not only does the Imperial government melt in the face of the mob, but the leaders of the opposition prove utterly incapable of controlling the course of events. The action of book 1 (of four) of March 1917 is set during March 8-12. The absorbing narrative tells the stories of more than fifty characters during the days when the Russian Empire begins to crumble. Bread riots in the capital, Petrograd, go unchecked at first, and the police are beaten and killed by mobs. Efforts to put down the violence using the army trigger a mutiny in the numerous reserve regiments housed in the city, who kill their officers and go and rampage. The anti-Tsarist bourgeois opposition, horrified by the violence, scrambles to declare that it is provisionally taking power, while socialists immediately create a Soviet alternative to undermine it. Meanwhile, Emperor Nikolai II is away at military headquarters and his wife Aleksandra is isolated outside Petrograd, caring for their sick children. Suddenly, the viability of the Russian state itself is called into question. The Red Wheel has been compared to Tolstoy's War and Peace, for each work aims to narrate the story of an era in a way that elevates its universal significance"-- Publisher's description