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July Days
Period of unrest in Petrograd, Russia (16–20 July) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The July Days (Russian: Июльские дни) were a period of unrest in Petrograd, Russia, between 16–20 July [O.S. 3–7 July] 1917. It was characterised by spontaneous armed demonstrations by soldiers, sailors, and industrial workers engaged against the Russian Provisional Government.[2] The demonstrations were angrier and more violent than those during the February Revolution months earlier.[3]
July Days | |||||||
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Part of the Russian Revolution | |||||||
![]() Rioters on the Nevsky Prospect come under machine gun fire, 17 July | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
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Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
500,000 demonstrators,[1] 4,000–5,000 Red Guard soldiers, few hundred anarchist sailors, and 12,000 soldiers | Several thousand police and soldiers |
The Provisional Government blamed the Bolsheviks for the violence brought about by the July Days and in a subsequent crackdown on the Bolshevik Party, the party was dispersed, many of the leadership arrested.[4] Vladimir Lenin fled to Finland, while Leon Trotsky was among those arrested.[5]
The outcome of the July Days represented a temporary decline in the growth of Bolshevik power and influence in the period before the October Revolution.[4]