A Diary of the Russian Revolution

A Diary of the Russian Revolution offers a rare firsthand account of the 1917 overthrow of the Romanov monarchy, as seen through the eyes of James L. Houghteling Jr., one of the few Americans in Petrograd.

When an astonishing revolution toppled the Russian autocracy early in 1917, James L. Houghteling Jr., a special attaché to the US embassy in Russia, was one of the very few Americans present who daily recorded the striking events he witnessed and the comments he heard from both Russian and foreign observers. The diary of the thirty-three-year-old Chicago native therefore provides a rare and valuable record of dramatic developments in the streets of the wartime capital, Petrograd. It also offers unusual insights into how Russian elites and foreign diplomats, journalists, and business owners viewed the actions of soldiers, workers, and political leaders who shaped the revolution.

Like US Ambassador David R. Francis and others, Houghteling enthusiastically hailed the fall of the Romanov monarchy as a triumph for American-style liberty and for a patriotic spirit that seemed to promise more vigorous prosecution of the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although Houghteling witnessed soldiers' refusals to obey officers' orders, heard stories about desertions, and learned about the popularity of socialists, he refused to allow that to dim his optimism in the weeks when the United States moved toward declaring war against Germany in April. A Diary of the Russian Revolution thus reflects the wishful thinking that affected so many Americans' views of the overthrow of the autocracy and distorted their responses to anti-war socialists' seizure of power in the fall of 1917.

This book presents Houghteling's original account along with explanatory notes and an introduction that sets the diary in the wider context of American interpretations and misinterpretations of the revolutions of 1917 that did so much to shape the twentieth century."