00:00 Lenin returns to Petrograd on a special sealed train provided by the Germans, who saw his return as a way to undermine the Russian war effort.

04:57 Lenin arrives in Petrograd on a sealed train and makes speeches to revolutionists, attacking other socialist parties, but is initially not recognized by his own party.

09:40 Lenin despised collaboration with other parties but was willing to break his own rules if necessary, and his promises to peasants, workers, and soldiers were all lies in order to achieve his goal of a complete reversal of society through civil war.

14:31 The provisional government in Russia had no power or functioning government, leading to frustration among the peasants and a delay in the establishment of the Constituent Assembly, which the Bolsheviks sabotaged, and the continuation of the war further worsened the situation.

19:29 The Bolsheviks were able to take over the arsenals and armories, distribute weapons to their own men, and carry out the October Revolution, which was essentially a coup d'etat with very little fighting.

24:24 The violence escalates in September 1917 with industrial strikes, armed conflicts, and peasant violence against landed estates, while Lenin and the Bolsheviks prepare for an armed insurrection against the provisional government.

29:14 The Bolsheviks take the Winter Palace with the help of Kronstadt sailors, but the storming of the Winter Palace depicted in Eisenstein's film was pure propaganda, and more people were killed in the making of the film than in the actual event; after the storming, the Bolsheviks begin to arrest people, but there is not yet widespread repression, and many parts of Russia are unaware of the Bolshevik coup for months; Kerensky flees the country and ends up in France and then the United States; the Bolsheviks attempt to take control of everything, but face resistance from civil servants and bank employees; they are not yet a mass movement, and a civil war seems imminent.

34:03 Lenin accepts the humiliating terms of the Brest-Litovsk negotiations in order to focus on strangling the White Russians, and he establishes the secret police, the Cheka, to eliminate class enemies, leading to widespread torture and sadism.

39:04 The Bolsheviks set up the Cheka to eliminate potential opponents to their regime, recruiting both Bolsheviks and czarist officials, while the rest of the world initially provided little financial support to the White Russian cause until after 1918 when the British and Americans began sending troops and supplies.

43:52 The critical moment came in October 1990 when Denekin sent his forces on the Great March on Moscow, but they were exhausted, overstretched, and being attacked from the rear, ultimately leading to their defeat and the Bolsheviks' victory.

48:34 The Bolsheviks had a clear chain of command and strict discipline, while the white armies were chaotic and made up of various factions, ultimately leading to their defeat in the civil war.

53:21 Lenin, in the midst of his triumph after defeating the whites, suffered a stroke and wanted to commit suicide, realizing his mistake in appointing Stalin and preferring Trotsky to take over, while Stalin kept Lenin alive to continue his establishment of power.