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Commemorating the Revolution: October 1917

The Kennan Institute hosted its final event marking the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Speakers focused on the policies of the Provisional Government, the Bolshevik victory, and the political and military consequences that followed in its immediate aftermath. The seminar was followed by a book talk from 4:00 – 5:30 by William Taubman, who discussed his new biography on Mikhail Gorbachev.

Date & Time

Monday
Oct. 23, 2017
10:00am – 5:30pm ET

Location

6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
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Overview

The Kennan Institute hosted its final event marking the 100th anniversary of the 1917 Russian Revolution. Speakers focused on the policies of the Provisional Government, the Bolshevik victory, and the political and military consequences that followed in its immediate aftermath. The seminar was followed by a book talk from 4:00 – 5:30 by William Taubman, who discussed his new biography on Mikhail Gorbachev.

The seminar has been generously supported by the editorial board of the book series Russia’s Great War and Revolution, a multinational scholarly effort that aims to fundamentally transform understanding of Russia's "continuum of crisis" during the years 1914-1922. The book talk is an event in the Washington History Seminar series, sponsored jointly by the National History Center of the American Historical Association and the Wilson Center's History and Public Policy Program.

Agenda:

10:00 – 12:00  Panel 1: The Continuum of Crisis and Possibility of Change.

Professor William Rosenberg, University of Michigan, "Political Narratives and the Problem of Power in 1917"

Professor Dan Orlovsky, Southern Methodist University, "The Rise and Fall of the Provisional Government"

Dr. William Pomeranz, Kennan Institute, "Investigating the Revolution in Real Time: The Murav’ev Commission and the Investigation of the July Days"

Professor Laurie Stoff, Arizona State University, "The October Revolution and the Dilemmas of Gender"

12:00 – 1:15  Lunch Time Key Note Speaker: Professor Angela Stent, Georgetown University

1:15 – 3:15  Panel 2: October 1917 and its Aftermath

Professor Christopher Read, University of Warwick, "Lenin and the Bolshevik Seizure of Power"

Professor Eric Lohr, American University, "The Changing Face of Russian Citizenship in 1917"

Professor John Steinberg, Austin Peay State University, "The Disintegration of the Russian Army and the Search for Peace"

Professor Liudmila Novikova, Higher School of Economics, "Anti-Bolshevik Alternatives in the Russian Civil War"

4:00 – 5:30 Gorbachev: His Life and Times (RSVP separately)

Professor William Taubman, Amherst College (Emeritus)

Commentator: Svetlana Savranskaya, The George Washington University

Commentator: Michael Dobbs, Author of One Minute to Midnight: Kennedy, Khrushchev, and Castro on the Brink of Nuclear War

Hosted By

Kennan Institute

The Kennan Institute is the premier US center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange.  Read more

History and Public Policy Program

The History and Public Policy Program makes public the primary source record of 20th and 21st century international history from repositories around the world, facilitates scholarship based on those records, and uses these materials to provide context for classroom, public, and policy debates on global affairs.  Read more

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