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In just eight months, the Bolsheviks went from being a small, radical party with its leaders in exile to the rulers of the largest country on earth. The October/November Revolution was not a spontaneous mass uprising like the one in February; it was a brilliantly executed, clinical coup d’état, led by a small group of determined revolutionaries who seized power in a city that was ready to fall. But how did they do it? How did this minority party manage to overthrow the government and take control? The answer is a classic historical combination: the fatal weaknesses of their opponent,…