Revolution in VR: Travel in time to 1917 Russia with RT's unique 360 panoramic video series

The Russian Revolution is all around, as RT viewers will now be able to witness the horrors of war, join Vladimir Lenin as he seizes power, and even watch Joseph Stalin play the piano in new 360 VR-ready videos for RT's #1917LIVE project.

“With #1917LIVE we attempted to create an alternate reality online, so that our historic role play would make the viewer feel that they are there,” says RT Deputy Editor-in-Chief Kirill Karnovich-Valua.

“So, #1917LIVE is an immersive project and 360-degree video is the most immersive video format. RT's breakthrough Project: Revolution VR-series will bring viewers back in time, and everyone will have the chance to experience 1917 Russia almost as it was 100 years ago.”

© RT

The eight videos, each lasting several minutes and featuring prominent Russian performers in key roles, places the viewer in the middle of dramatic scenes as they unfold in real time, and thanks to the panoramic format, those watching can turn their heads and train their eyes to whatever captures their interest.

The first of three scenes which have been made available depicts Russian soldiers on the Eastern Front, stuck in the lull of trench life, only to have their deceptive peace shattered in seconds by the first landing shell.

Check out our 360° video on your mobile device, opening it with the YouTube or Facebook app. The RT360 app is also available for download (Apple | Android).

The second shows privileged foreign travelers enjoying the leisure of casually discussing Russia’s political volatility, as casualties are delivered from the frontline to Petrograd’s Vitebsky station.

In the third, a fleeing Bolshevik takes refuge from the Cossack patrols in a quiet courtyard in the capital of the Russian Empire. And as with all political conflicts, civilian bystanders do not have the luxury of ignoring the bigger picture.

Revolutionaries and convicts, plundering Bolsheviks and undercover agents will all feature in the upcoming videos that will be released as Russia approaches the exact 100-year anniversary of Lenin’s followers storming the Winter Palace, and ushering in the most radical socio-political experiment of the 20th century.

Project: Revolution is best enjoyed alongside the rest of #1917LIVE, a multimedia project that has, since the beginning of the year, been running in tandem with the events of a century ago.

The centerpiece of the project is the twitter hashtag #1917LIVE. It has brought together hundreds of voices tweeting through the February Revolution, the April Theses, the July Days, and soon the October Revolution as if they were happening outside your window.

Initially run by RT staff, now hundreds of people – including MPs from several European states, and the writer Paulo Coelho – have adopted historical personas, to create one of the biggest live role play experiences in internet history. In excess of 170,000 #1917LIVE tweets have been sent out over the course of 2017.

It's not too late to join or follow the groundbreaking project, and up-to-date tweets, photos and videos can be accessed at 1917.rt.com