The control and use of coercive power was central to the dramatic events of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the bloody civil war that followed. The Bolsheviks would not have succeeded if they had faced concerted resistance on the part of the Imperial Russian armed forces. The army was of necessity a crucial actor in the revolution. The four sovereign power issues in which the military was involved were the February Revolution, the Kornilov affair in late August, the October Revolution, and the Civil War.

The February Revolution forced the abdication of the tsar in early March 1917. The military was thrust into the arbiter role by the three-way standoff between the tsar, the revolutionary forces, and the leaders of the political opposition in the State Duma, the Russian parliament. The military leadership refused to stand behind Nicholas II during the crisis because of their fear that if order was not soon restored the revolution would spread to the front and endanger the war effort.

The Kornilov affair refers to the conflict between the Commander in Chief of the army, General Lavr Kornilov, and the head of the Provisional Government, Alexander Kerensky. In late August, Kerensky accused Kornilov of planning a coup and treason. Kornilov had not in fact been planning to seize power, but Kerensky's accusation drove him into open rebellion, and Kornilov and several other leading officers were arrested. Most officers, however, sat out the affair.