The novel Animal Farm is a satirical portrayal of the Russian Revolution in 1917. The events and characters represent historical events and political figures of that time. As the book begins, Old Major is giving a speech to the animals to ignite the revolution. In his speech he talks of his dream of a better future where animals are in power. The animals plan to overthrow their cruel farmer Mr. Jones, who has underfed and overworked them. After an attack that drives Mr. Jones off the farm, the animals seize the farm as their own and change the name from Manor Farm to Animal Farm. A set of seven commandments are created in memory of old major, and to declare the founding principles of Animalism. Conflict arises quickly as the animals decide who will lead them. The pigs being smarter than the others assume power. Napoleon and Snowball immediately clash on ideas of how to go about everyday farm tasks. At first the farm is doing considerably well with Snowball's ideas. The animals learn the fundamentals of the newly established Animalism and how to read. Napoleon takes Jessie and Bluebells pups to re-educate them. Mr. Jones returns to the farm and is again defeated. His gun was dropped during the battle and is fired twice a year to celebrate the day. As the animals start to work harder to finish the harvest before the end of the season, Snowball proposes the idea of a windmill to help generate electricity. Napoleon immediate despises the windmill. When a vote is held to build the windmill, Napoleon signals his dogs to attack and run Snowball off the farm. Napoleon then takes over. He cuts the rations for the animals and makes them work harder and longer to finish the windmill which he first despised. He begins trading with humans and slowly becomes more and more like them. The pigs begin sleeping in the farmhouse and drinking alcohol. Squealer and Napoleon manipulate the other animals by twisting the words of Old Major so that the pigs may break the commandments. Squealer changes the commandments by adding words to them that weren't there before. The animals slowly realize how badly the farm is doing with Napoleon in charge. Napoleon uses his dogs to kill any animal that is opposed to him. The animals work hard to finish the windmill that shortly after is destroyed in a storm. Napoleon blames the destruction on the windmill on his scapegoat, Snowball. Snowball is used as the source of the farm's problems. As the animals work to rebuild the windmill again, Napoleon trades with the humans more frequently. One of the farmers Napoleon trades with is Fredrick. He cheats Napoleon with the purchase of some timber and shortly after blows up the newly rebuilt windmill. The farm is attacked again and the animals escape with a slim victory. Boxer, the hardest working animal, collapses while working on the windmill. The animals are told that he will be taken to a hospital, but he is really sold to a glue factory. After a couple of years, the conditions on the farm continue to worsen. The pigs are almost indistinguishable from the man they once considered their enemy. The pigs even begin to walk upright and wear Mr. Jones's clothes. Squealer eventually crosses out the original commandments that the animals have lived by to leave on single statement, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others”. The novel ends with Napoleon entertaining Mr. Pilkington at dinner. At the dinner, Napoleon changes the name of Animal Farm back to its original, Manor Farm. The other farm animals are staring in through the window of the farm house and can no longer distinguish the pigs from the humans.