Interlink illustrated histories In February 1917, the centuries-old empire of the Czars collapses. Eight months later, revolutionaries under Lenin"s leadership, take power. Few would have gambled on this government of inexperienced militants against a force of armed counter-revolutionaries sustained by the West. But mobilization of the people, the power of the Red Army and political police, the experience gained during the war and, not least, Lenin"s skill in directing the new political economy, allow the Bolsheviks to strengthen their hold.