AREA 4 : 1917 : REASONS FOR THE FALL OF THE TSAR AND THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

Key areas:

n       Why did the Tsar fall from power in 1917?

n       Why was the Provisional Government unable to survive?

 

KEY INFORMATION:

NB : Also see the notes on Area 3 for information about the fall of the Tsar.

·       During the war more and more people had crowded into Petrograd to find work in the munitions factories. They lived squashed together in working class districts near the city centre.

·       The effects of inflation and shortages of food were most severe in Petrograd because the population had grown very quickly and the city was relatively isolated. By early 1917 food prices had risen 300% since the beginning of the war.

·       The unpopularity of the Royal family and Rasputin was strongest in Petrograd. The reputation of the royal family fell to an all time low. Even the murder of Rasputin did nothing to save the Imperial Family.

·       By January 1917 there was increasing unrest in Petrograd, then on 22 February the temperature improved by 20 degrees C.

·        International Women’s Day was held on 23 February; there were parades and demonstrations. This led to strikes and by 25 February half the workers were on strike.

·        Nicholas also failed to appreciate the deteriorating situation in Petrograd. The Tsar was kept informed by his wife and Rodzianko, the Chairman of the Duma. The Tsarina told him that all was well and that there were only minor disturbances. Rodzianko said that there was a serious crisis and that a new government must be formed. The Tsar believed his wife. He thought that Rodzianko was just trying to use the situation to become prime minister.

·       By 27th and 28th February there were many demonstrations by workers and when troops were sent to stop the unrest, the Garrison of Petrograd supported the strikers. There were 340,000 troops in the city but they were mostly recruits.

·       When the Tsar tried to return on 1 March it was too late. He was forced to abdicate on 2 March in favour of his brother, Michael. His brother abdicated on 3 March.

 

What happened between February and October?

·       Two organisations were formed in Petrograd. The Provisional Government, and the Petrograd Soviet.

 

The problems facing the Provisional Government and its failures

·    In February 1917 the Provisional Government was established to replace the Tsar. The Provisional Government was a temporary government created by members of the Duma until a general election could be held. The first prime minister was Prince Lvov.

·    As soon as possible elections would be held to establish a Constituent Assembly.

·    The members believed that they could take no major decisions until a proper government had been elected, so they continued the war against Germany.  However, the Russian people had lost faith in the war and many soldiers were deserting.

·    The Provisional Government had been set up by middle class and aristocratic men and was not elected or representative of the population.

·    Soldiers and workers had begun to set up their own organisations, soviets, to represent them rather than accepting the authority of the Provisional Government. The main soviet was the Petrograd Soviet.

·    The national minorities, like the Poles, were looking for independence now that the Tsar was gone.

·    People were looking for food shortages to end

·    The peasants were seizing the land of the landowners and law and order was breaking down in the countryside.

 

What was the Petrograd Soviet?

·    The Petrograd Soviet was elected by the soldiers and workers of Petrograd, so it had far more authority than the Provisional Government. It governed Petrograd and was controlled at first by the Socialists-Revolutionaries.

·    It issued Military Order Number One; this stated that orders from the Provisional Government were only to be obeyed if they were approved by the Soviet. For the next eight months the Provisional Government always had to gain the approval of the Soviet.

 

This created chaos in Petrograd.

·    The Provisional Government became more and more unpopular because it did not end the war. The members did not believe that they had the authority to make peace an did not want to let down the western Allies. However, it was not only the members of the Provisional Government that favoured war. even some members of the Bolsheviks, like Stalin and Kamenev, wanted the war to continue. Yet defeats brought desertions and soldiers returned home to seize land and support revolutionary movements. Russia was descending into chaos.

·    The Provisional Government made no attempt to introduce land reform, which many peasants wanted. The Provisional Government did try to tackle the problems of shortages and inflation, but, during the summer of 1917, rations in Petrograd fell.

·       The main problem facing the Provisional Government was Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks. The smallest of the revolutionary parties in Russia in 1914. Lenin was in exile in Switzerland. the Germans agreed to help him return and gave him money, in the hope that he would pull Russia out of the war and German troops could then be moved to the Western Front against Britain and the Americans. Lenin arrived in Petrograd in April 1917 and immediately called for the overthrow of the Provisional Government.

 

Did The Provisional Government do anything good?

·      The Provisional Government did carry out some reforms:

       (a) It allowed freedom of religion. Religious minorities, like the Jews, had been persecuted under the Tsar.

       (b) It limited the working day for industrial workers to 8 hours.

       (c) It granted an amnesty to political prisoners and released hundreds imprisoned under the Tsar

       (d) It allowed trade unions

       (e) It allowed freedom of speech. People could no longer be arrested for criticising the government.

       (f) It abolished the secret police

      (g) It promised to hold elections for a new parliament

 

How events went against the Provisional Government

·    The Provisional Government carried on with the war, but the Russian army was defeated and the Germans pushed further into Russia.

·    In July, thousands of soldiers had returned to Petrograd and for three days there was chaos in the city. Some soldiers and the Bolsheviks tried to overthrow the Provisional Government in what is called THE JULY DAYS.

·    Kerensky, the Minister for War, moved loyal troops to the capital and crushed the rebellion. Lenin was forced to flee to Finland and other leading Bolsheviks, such as Trotsky, were arrested. It looked as if the Bolsheviks were finished and the Provisional Government might survive.

·    Kerensky now became leader of the Provisional Government. He accused the Bolsheviks of being German  agents as they were funded by the Germans. The Bolsheviks were denounced as traitors, their newspaper, Pravda, was closed down.

·    However Lenin was safely in Finland and directing opposition to the Provisional Government from there. Lenin also now realised that the peasants were important and so changed his view about the government taking all the land : he now encouraged peasants to seize land. He coined the phrase "land to the peasants" and urged Bolsheviks to help them.

·    Lenin also knew that the soldiers were tired of the war and that he could win over many of them with his anti-war stance. He coined the phrase "Peace, Bread and Land". Peace offered an end of the war and was designed to win over soldiers; Bread was designed to win over workers in the cities by offering to end the food shortages; land was designed to win over the peasants by offering them land. This slogan help to build up support for the Bolsheviks.  

·   Things were about to go the Bolshevik way just as it looked as if they were finished and he Provisional Government was safe. In August 1917 Kerensky made a fatal mistake : he appointed General Kornilov as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. Kornilov believed that the country was going downhill due to the revolutionaries and so decided to use the army to overthrow the government and restore order. He planned to march on Petrograd. Kerensky panicked and asked Trotsky and the Bolsheviks to help. Trotsky set up the Red Guard, armed Bolsheviks, and Kerensky supplied them with weapons. The Red Guard stopped Kornilov and the workers prevented his troops from using the railways.

·     The Bolsheviks now appeared heroes having stopped Kornilov, whilst Kerensky and the Provisional Government looked weak. The Bolsheviks won elections to city councils and the Moscow and Petograd Soviets came under their control and the Bolsheviks were now armed. Lenin planned to return to Russia. Kerensky had turned the Bolsheviks from a spent force into a dangerous one.

 

Key Question: Why did the Tsar fall from power in 1917?

1 – You need to make it clear that there were long-term and short-term factors. Long-term are ones that build up over a long period of time; short-term ones are ones that lead directly to an event.

2 – Long term factors. Even before the war, the popularity of the Tsar had fallen and there were serious threats to his position. Why was this?

3 – Look at each long-term factor in turn: (a) The weakness of Russia. It was too large to be run effectively by one man as it covered 1/6th of the world. The Tsar’s attempt to keep power in his hands led to delays and inefficiency and a feeling that things had to change. The peasants were suffering under the existing system as they did not own land, had to pay high rents, had no protection, barely existed and were prone to starvation in bad harvests, and were heavily taxed. There was a growing feeling among them that the Tsar had let them down. Poverty was endemic within Russia. The workers suffered from low pay and poor living and working conditions. They barely had enough money to survive from day to day. Unrest in the cities was growing and revolutionary movements were emerging. People were tired of the corrupt system that ruled Russia. The Tsar and his family, as well as his advisers, were seen as corrupt. The Tsar was the richest man in the world with thousands of servants, several palaces, yachts and trains, but his people were living in squalor. People had no right to protest. Trade unions were banned and the Okrana kept an eye on anyone suspected of being disloyal. Censorship meant people were not free to protest. All this led to growing discontentment with the Tsar and the autocracy within Russia.

4 – Next long-term factor : (b) The growing demand for reform. Only the Tsar exercised power. He could sack anyone and did not have to listen to anyone. People felt excluded from the running of the country and felt that if power was shared, then the country would be run better. The middle classes, wanted a liberal democracy. The Tsar would still be the ruler but his power would be limited and real power would lay with an elected parliament (the Duma). This would give them power. After the Tsar agreed to a Duma in 1905 these people came to dominate it and became known as the Cadets. However, the Tsar went back on his promises and allowed the Duma very little power. This angered the Cadets and turned many of them against him. Other groups also wanted to change the political system. The Social Revolutionary party wanted the peasants to take power through rebellion and campaigned against the Tsar for peasant power. Then there were the Marxist revolutionary groups, like the Bolsheviks, who wanted to totally get rid of the Tsar and replace him with workers’ power. Political campaigns were becoming more active and threatening the autocracy of the Tsar. As a result the Duma, the middle-classes, and many peasants and workers had lost faith in him and wanted a major political change.

5 – Next long-term factor : (c) failure at reforms. Some of the Tsar’s ministers had urged reform to deal with the growing unrest. One of them Stolypin had even introduced reforms to help the peasants, but he had been assassinated in 1911. This convinced the Tsar to abandon reforms and to rely on coercion and force instead. It led to the alienation of many of his subjects and the hardening of opposition.

6 – Next long-term factor : (d) The discrediting of the Imperial Family. Nicholas had never wanted to be Tsar and was not fit for the job. A number of incidents during his reign convinced people that he was an uncaring ruler. Firstly at his coronation many people were trampled to death but the Tsar then went to a party that evening and the police chief who had failed to protect the crowd was given a huge pension whereas the families of the dead received hardly anything. The Tsar had started his reign badly. The events of Bloody Sunday in 1905 when peaceful men, women and children were slaughtered by the Tsar’s troops earnt him the nickname Bloody Nicholas. People began to lose faith in him. This was not helped by rumours about his wife and Rasputin. Even before the war people had lost faith in, and respect for, the Imperial Family. In 1914 they had seemed willing to forget all this and unite around the war, but the disastrous conduct of the war brought all the old feelings to a head.

7 – Now the short-term factors  : (e) The war. The conduct of the war was a disaster. The army was badly led by men appointed because of their rank rather than through ability and many soldiers lacked guns and ammunition. Two major defeats at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes led to desertions and a lack of faith in Russia’s generals. There was growing anger and unrest in the army. As long as the army was blamed, the Tsar was still safe but when he took command of the war, people now blamed him and he became hated and despised.

8 – Next short-term factor : (f) Alexandra and Rasputin. With Nicholas away, Alexandra was left in charge and she was unpopular as she was German. Her connection with Rasputin exacerbated the feeling of unrest and disquiet and made the Imperial Family very unpopular. By 1917 the Tsar and Alexandra were despised.

9 – Next short-term factor : (g) Famine. The war meant there was less food grown and so people began to starve. Trains carrying food were often diverted to carry troops leading to even less food and rising costs. The bad winter of 1916-17 made people even more discontented as many were freezing and starving. This led to demonstrations and bread riots and the Tsar was blamed. The troops refused to open fire and the politicians and the army turned against the Tsar. He was finished.

 

Key Question : Why did the Provisional Government fall from power in 1917?

1 – It is important that you know who was ruling Russia and when:

            Up to 1917 = Tsar Nicholas II

            February – October 1917 = The Provisional Government

            October 1917 – January 1924 = Lenin and the Bolsheviks (or communists)

2 – When looking at the fall of the Provisional Government you need to :

                (a) Explain why people turned against it

                (b) Explain why the Bolsheviks were able to overthrow it

3 – So why did people turn against the Provisional Government?

    (a) It was meant to be Provisional. It was to hold power only until new elections could be held for a new parliament, to be called the Constituent Assembly, but the Provisional Government kept delaying the elections. It looked as if they were trying to keep power and would never hold elections. Led many to lose faith in it.

   (b) It knew that most Russians were hostile to the war but it felt that Russia had a duty to carry on with the war to help the democratic countries against Germany. The campaigns were a disaster and the Russian army was defeated. This increased opposition to the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government sent death squads to execute deserters, but this failed and only increased the anger of soldiers, who returned to the farms and cities determined to resist the new government.

   (c) Most of the people running the Provisional Government had served the Tsar. People began to see it as nothing more than a continuation of the Tsarist system, especially as they used the Winter Palace and Kerensky, who became the leader of the Provisional government, even slept in the Tsar’s bed. They came to be seen as rich people trying to protect themselves rather than helping the peasants and workers. As a result the workers set up an alternative government, the Petrograd Soviet. This meant there was an alternative government hostile to the Provisional Government and the Soviet controlled the workers which made life hard fro the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government did nothing to try to overcome the Soviet and so looked weak. The Soviet even issued Order Number 1 telling soldiers not to obey the Provisional Government.

   (d) Although the Provisional Government did carry out some reforms, such as releasing political prisoners, it failed to distribute land to the peasants. This led to many peasants seeing it as a government determined to protect landowners against them. Many peasants began to seize land and order broke down in the countryside. The Provisional Government actually sent troops to try to get the land back for the landowners. Peasants fought back.

   (e) The food shortages continued and the Provisional Government was unable to do anything as the war was continuing and the peasants were disobeying them. The government looked weak.

   (f) The Provisional Government appointed General Kornilov in command of the army, but instead he tried to use the army to overthrow the Provisional Government. The Provisional Government were forced to arm their opponents the Bolsheviks and ask for their help in stopping Kornilov. The government looked weak, the Bolsheviks looked strong and now the Bolsheviks had weapons.

4 – Having looked at why people turned against the Provisional Government, you now need to show why they the Bolsheviks were able to overthrow the Provisional Government.

5 ––   (a) Lenin returned from exile and began to organise for revolution. His attempt to seize power in July failed and he fled whilst other leaders were imprisoned. It looked as if the Bolsheviks were finished. However, Kornilov’s revolt meant the Provisional Government had to release and arm the Bolsheviks. They defeated Kornilov but kept the weapons.

                (b) The Bolsheviks looked strong and they won elections and took over the Soviet. The Bolsheviks set up their own newspaper Pravda to spread their propaganda and the Germans gave money to the Bolsheviks to cause trouble in Russia. They had money to promote their revolution.

                (c) Lenin coined several phrases that inspired people:

-- Peace, Bread and Land --- seemed to offer end to war, famine and land for peasants. This was in contrast to the Provisional Government’s failure to offer any of these.

-- All Power to the Soviets – seemed to promise power for the ordinary workers of Russia, whereas the Provisional Government seemed to want to keep power for itself.

(d) The Bolsheviks were well-organised. Lenin ordered the revolution and inspired the party but Trotsky actually carried it out. He set up the Red Guard, he sent in squads to stir up the workers and he planned the seizure of power. The Bolsheviks seized the key points of the city. Kerensky fled and the Provisional Government took refuse in the Winter Palace, where their troops deserted them. The Bolsheviks opened fire on the Palace from the Cruiser Aurora and attacked the Palace and arrested the Provisional Government. Lenin then announced that a new government was in power, but he had only succeeded in winning control of Petrograd.

 

 

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