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Season Three Research Files

Episode Five
5:00pm-6:00pm

RUSSIAN ROULETTE

Russian Roulette is a particularly grim game of chicken in which a revolver is loaded with a single bullet. A player spins the cylinder, puts the gun to his head and pulls the trigger. Anybody who goes through with this game is either dead or crazy.

The first known reference in print is "Russian Roulette," a fictional short story by Georges Surdez in the January 30, 1937, issue of Collier's magazine. It is described by a Russian sergeant in the story. Not only was Russia losing the battle in 1917, but officers felt that they were being dishonored before their colleagues. Someone would suddenly pull out his revolver in any place, remove one cartridge from the cylinder and spin it. He had five chances to one that a live cartridge would kill him if fired at his temple. The version with the single bullet is also played in Surdez's story.

Yet there is not much historical evidence that actual Russian officers did play either version in 1917 or at any other time. Czarist officers were notorious for their violent, dissolute behavior, but there was never a record of such a game. Two books by Russian army veterans, The Duel (1905) by Aleksandr Kuprin and From Double Eagle to Red Flag (1921) by Petr Krasnov, both tell of drunken officers making spectacles of themselves, neglecting their jobs, etc. But no Russian Roulette. Visit the Americans for Gun Safety site at agsfoundation.com to learn more about gun safety practices.

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