The October armed uprising in Moscow is the Bolsheviks’ armed protest in the union with other left-wing radicals against the power of the Provisional Government, which resulted in the establishment of Soviet power in the city. It involved long and persistent battles.

In the afternoon of October 25, Petrograd developments became known in Moscow. Already in the evening, a special meeting of the Moscow City Duma formed a Public Security Committee from representatives of the Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), Constitutional Democrats (Kadets), and other parties, headed by the Moscow City Mayor, the SR Vadim Rudnev, and the commander of the Moscow Military District, Colonel Konstantin Ryabtsev. The Committee was to protect the Provisional Government. The Committee relied mainly on officers and cadets.

Also, on the evening of October 25, a joint meeting of the Moscow Soviet of Workers’ Deputies and the Soviet of Soldiers’ Deputies was held, which elected the Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) from representatives of the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, and United Social Democrats Internationalists, chaired by the Bolshevik Grigory Usievich. The MRC relied on part of the garrison troops and the workers of the Red Guards.

In the early days, both sides limited their actions to seizing buildings and infrastructure facilities, trying to avoid bloodshed. The Kremlin with its arsenal was of great strategic significance. On October 28, pro-Bolshevik soldiers blocked there decided to surrender. However, while they were being disarmed by the cadets, there began shooting, six cadets and about two hundred soldiers were killed and injured. By the end of the day, the troops of the Public Security Committee controlled the city center, surrounded by the troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee. October 29 saw the beginning of persistent battles. The troops of the Military Revolutionary Committee, which had superiority in artillery, were gradually driving the opponents back to the vicinity of the Kremlin. On October 30, detachments from the nearest cities and Petrograd were arriving in Moscow to help the Military Revolutionary Committee, while the troops loyal to the Provisional Government and the Public Security Committee were either blocked or stopped as a result of awareness-raising (propagandist) discussions on the outskirts of Moscow.

On November 2, the leaders of the Public Security Committee signed a surrender, and the next day the fighting in Moscow ended. The exact number of casualties of the fighting remained unknown. It amounted to at least several hundred people. Many buildings and architectural monuments of the Kremlin were seriously damaged by artillery shelling.