February Revolution
The February Revolution, known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution, and sometimes as the March Revolution, was the first of two revolutions which took place in Russia in 1917.
The main events of the revolution took place in and near Petrograd, the then-capital of Russia, where long-standing discontent with the monarchy erupted into mass protests against food rationing on 23 February Old Style. Revolutionary activity lasted about eight days, involving mass demonstrations and violent armed clashes with police and gendarmes, the last loyal forces of the Russian monarchy. On 27 February O.S., most of the forces of the capital's garrison sided with the revolutionaries. On the same day, the Russian Provisional Government, made up by left-leaning Duma members, was formed, seized the railway telegraph and issued orders claiming that the Duma now controlled the government. This was followed by a second telegram prohibiting trains from traveling near Petrograd, ensuring that loyal troops could not arrive by railway to restore Imperial Authority. Three days later, Nicholas II, stranded in his train in the city of Pskov while trying to reach the capital, and with the Provisional Government preventing his train from moving, was forced to abdicate, ending Romanov dynastic rule. The Provisional Government under Georgy Lvov replaced the Council of Ministers of Russia.
The Provisional Government proved deeply unpopular and was forced to share dual power with the Petrograd Soviet. After the July Days, in which the government killed hundreds of protesters, Alexander Kerensky became the head of the government. He was unable to resolve Russia's immediate problems, including food shortages and mass unemployment, as he attempted to keep Russia involved in the ever more unpopular world war. The failures of the Provisional Government led to the October Revolution by the communist Bolsheviks later that year. The February Revolution had weakened the country; the October Revolution broke it, resulting in the Russian Civil War and the eventual formation of the Soviet Union.
The revolution appeared to have broken out without any real leadership or formal planning. Russia had been suffering from a number of economic and social problems, which compounded after the start of World War I in 1914. Disaffected soldiers from the city's garrison joined bread rioters, primarily women in bread lines, and industrial strikers on the streets. As more and more troops of the undisciplined garrison of the capital deserted, and with loyal troops away at the Eastern Front, the city fell into chaos, leading to the Tsar's decision to abdicate under his generals' advice. In all, over 1,300 people were killed during the protests of February 1917. The historiographical reasons for the revolution have varied. Russian historians writing during the time of the Soviet Union cited the anger of the proletariat against the bourgeois boiling over as the cause. Russian liberals cited World War I. Revisionists tracked it back to land disputes after the serf era. Modern historians cite a combination of these factors and criticize mythologization of the event.
Etymology
Despite occurring in March of the Gregorian calendar, the event is most commonly known as the "February Revolution" because at the time Russia still used the Julian calendar. The event is sometimes known as the "March Revolution," after the Soviet Union modernized its calendar.Causes
A number of factors contributed to the February Revolution, both short and long-term. Historians disagree on the main factors that contributed to this. Liberal historians emphasise the turmoil created by the war, whereas Marxists emphasise the inevitability of change. Alexander Rabinowitch summarises the main long-term and short-term causes:Long-term causes
Despite its occurrence during the height of World War I, the roots of the February Revolution extended much further back. Chief among these was Imperial Russia's failure, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, to modernize its archaic social, economic, and political structures while preserving popular loyalty to an increasingly outmoded autocracy. As historian Richard Pipes writes,..."the incompatibility of capitalism and autocracy struck all who gave thought to the matter."The first major event of the Russian Revolution was the February Revolution of 1917, a chaotic uprising fueled by over a century of civil and military unrest between the common people and the Tsarist regime. Among the long-term causes were the harsh treatment of peasants by landowners, poor working conditions for industrial laborers, and the spread of Western democratic ideals by political activists. These developments contributed to a growing political and social consciousness among the lower classes.
Dissatisfaction among the proletariat was compounded by food shortages and military failures. These factors, along with the massacre on Bloody Sunday and Russia's humiliating defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, culminated in the Revolution of 1905.
Short-term causes
The 1917 Revolution was provoked by Russian military failures during the First World War. In August 1914, all classes supported and virtually all political deputies voted in favour of the war. The declaration of war was followed by a revival of nationalism across Russian society, which temporarily reduced internal strife. The army achieved some early victories but also suffered major defeats, notably Tannenberg in August 1914, the Winter Battle in Masuria in February 1915 and the loss of Russian Poland during May to August 1915. By early 1917, the Russian military had suffered catastrophic losses: approximately 1.7 million killed, 4.95 million wounded, and around 2.5 million missing or taken prisoner, totaling about 9.15 million casualties. Mutinies sprang up more often, morale was at its lowest, and the newly called-up officers and commanders were at times very incompetent. Like all major armies, Russia's armed forces had inadequate supply. The pre-revolution desertion rate ran at around 34,000 a month. Meanwhile, the wartime alliance of industry, the Duma and the Stavka started to work outside the Tsar's control.In an attempt to boost morale and repair his reputation as a leader, Tsar Nicholas announced in the summer of 1915 that he would take personal command of the army, in defiance of almost universal advice to the contrary. The result was disastrous on three grounds. Firstly, it associated the monarchy with the unpopular war; secondly, Nicholas proved to be a poor leader of men on the front, often irritating his own commanders with his interference; and thirdly, being at the front made him unavailable to govern. This left the reins of power to his wife, the German Tsarina Alexandra, who was unpopular and accused of being a German spy, and under the thumb of her confidant – Grigori Rasputin, himself so unpopular that he was assassinated by members of the nobility in December 1916. The Tsarina proved an ineffective ruler in a time of war, announcing a rapid succession of different Prime Ministers and angering the Duma. The lack of strong leadership is illustrated by a telegram from Octobrist politician Mikhail Rodzianko to the Tsar on 26 February O.S. 1917, in which Rodzianko begged for a minister with the "confidence of the country" be instated immediately. Delay, he wrote, would be "tantamount to death".
On the home front, a famine loomed and commodities became scarce due to the overstretched railroad network. Meanwhile, refugees from German-occupied Russia came in their millions. The Russian economy, which had just seen one of the highest growth rates in Europe, was blocked from the continent's markets by the war. Though industry did not collapse, it was considerably strained and when inflation soared, wages could not keep up. The Duma, which was composed of liberal deputies, warned Tsar Nicholas II of the impending danger and counselled him to form a new constitutional government, like the one he had dissolved after some short-term attempts in the aftermath of the 1905 Revolution. The Tsar ignored the advice. Historian Edward Acton argues that "by stubbornly refusing to reach any modus vivendi with the Progressive Bloc of the Duma... Nicholas undermined the loyalty of even those closest to the throne opened an unbridgeable breach between himself and the public opinion." In short, the Tsar no longer had the support of the military, the nobility or the Duma, or the Russian people. The inevitable result was revolution.
Events
Towards the February Revolution
When Rasputin was assassinated on 30 December 1916, and the assassins went unchallenged, this was interpreted as an indication of the truth of the accusation Nicholas' wife relied on Rasputin The authority of the tsar, who now stood as a moral weakling, sank further. On the Emperor dismissed his Prime Minister, Alexander Trepov. On a hesitant Nikolai Golitsyn became the successor of Trepov. Golitsyn begged the Emperor to cancel his appointment, citing his lack of preparation for the role of Prime Minister. On Mikhail Belyaev succeeded Dmitry Shuvayev as Minister of War, likely at the request of the Empress.The Duma President Mikhail Rodzianko, Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna and British ambassador Buchanan joined calls for Alexandra to be removed from influence, but Nicholas still refused to take their advice. Many people came to the conclusion that the problem was not Rasputin. According to Rodzianko the Empress "exerts an adverse influence on all appointments, including even those in the army." On 11 January O.S. the Duma opening was postponed to the 25th.
On 14 January O.S. Georgy Lvov proposed to Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich that he should take control of the country. At the end of January/beginning of February major negotiations took place between the Allied powers in Petrograd; unofficially they sought to clarify the internal situation in Russia.
On 8 February, at the wish of the Tsar, Nikolay Maklakov, together with Alexander Protopopov, drafted the text of the manifesto on the dissolution of the Duma. The Duma was dissolved and Protopopov was proclaimed dictator.