Questions about February Revolution
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What caused the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia?
The February Revolution was caused by a combination of long-term and short-term factors. Long-term causes included Imperial Russia's failure to modernize its social and political structures, harsh conditions for peasants and industrial laborers, and the legacy of the 1905 revolution. Short-term causes included catastrophic military losses in World War I, totaling roughly 9.15 million casualties by early 1917, chronic food shortages, and the breakdown of government authority under Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra.
When did the February Revolution take place and why is it called the February Revolution?
The main events took place between the 23rd of February and the 3rd of March 1917. It is called the February Revolution because Russia used the Julian calendar at the time, making the outbreak the 23rd of February by that calendar, even though by the Gregorian calendar used in the West the same day fell in March. The event is sometimes called the March Revolution, a name adopted after the Soviet Union modernized its calendar.
Why did Tsar Nicholas II abdicate during the February Revolution?
Nicholas II abdicated on the 2nd of March 1917 after being stranded on his train in Pskov, unable to reach Petrograd because revolutionaries controlled the railway stations around the capital. Army Chief Nikolai Ruzsky and Duma deputies Vasily Shulgin and Alexander Guchkov advised him to abdicate. He did so on behalf of himself and his son Tsarevich Alexei, ending three hundred years of Romanov dynastic rule.
What role did the Petrograd Soviet play in the February Revolution?
The Petrograd Soviet was formed on the 27th of February 1917, the same day that Petrograd's garrison mutinied. It represented workers and soldiers and issued Order No. 1, which established that government military orders would only be followed when they did not conflict with Soviet directives. This order created the system of dual power, in which the Soviet held real practical authority through its control of workers and soldiers while the Provisional Government held formal authority but lacked popular support.
How did Alexander Bublikov's telegraph help secure the February Revolution?
On the 28th of February 1917, Bublikov was appointed commissar at the Ministry of Ways of Communication and sent a telegraph to railway workers across the country framing the Duma's Provisional Committee as the legitimate new authority. A follow-up order prohibited trains from traveling within 265 kilometers of Petrograd, effectively preventing loyalist troops from reaching the capital. According to Yury Lomonosov, by the morning of the 1st of March, every railway station from the battlefront to Vladivostok had learned a revolution had taken place.
What was dual power after the February Revolution and why did it fail?
Dual power referred to the arrangement in which the Provisional Government held formal authority over Russia while the Petrograd Soviet held actual control through workers and soldiers. The Provisional Government, formed from Duma delegates and not publicly elected, lacked popular legitimacy and failed to address the demands for peace, land, and food. When Vladimir Lenin arrived from exile on the 3rd of April 1917 and began undermining the government through his April Theses, and when Kerensky failed to end the war or resolve shortages, the arrangement collapsed in the Bolshevik October Revolution later that year.