During World War 1 the Bolsheviks had growing support in the two major cities, Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg) and Moscow. Due to the growing support the Bolsheviks also had support of the army so revolution was less complicated to execute. The two major leaders during 1917 were Lenin and Trotsky. Lenin created intelligent and methodical planning for the takeover of Petrograd and Moscow, while Trotsky headed the Revolutionary Military Committee and commissar of foreign affairs. The October Revolution was executed very well and in fact did not have very much action in revolution itself, the Bolsheviks took over key government buildings without any resistance. Bessie Beatty wrote about how the Bolsheviks took over the Winter Palace on 25th October, 1917, in her book, The Red Heart of Russia.
“Nobody seemed to know what had happened. The Battalion of Death had walked out in the night, without firing so much as a single shot. Each floor was crowded with soldiers and Red Guards, who went from room to room, searching for arms, and arresting officers suspected of anti-Bolshevik