1. The February Revolution
Learning Objectives: Identify what were the causes and consequences of the
February Revolution?
Key Terms, Events,
Names: Winter of
1916-17, Leon
Trotsky,
International
Women’s Day,
General Khabalov,
Army Mutiny, Mikhail
Rodzianko,
Petrograd Soviet,
Provisional
Government, Tsar’s
abdication
2. Effects of the War: Soldiers
• After heavy defeats at
Tannenberg and the
Masurian Lakes, losses
mounted very quickly.
• 8 million soldiers killed,
wounded or taken prisoner
by March 1917.
• Many soldiers died without
weapons or boots and the
blame was often placed with
Army leaders.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
What can we learn from the
source about the problems in
the Army by 1917?
SOURCE A: “In recent battles, a third of
the men had no rifles. The poor devils
had to wait patiently until their comrades
feel before their eyes and they could
pick up weapons. The army is drowning
in its own blood” General Belaiev
SOURCE A: “As early as the beginning
of the second year of the war
desertions (of soldiers) at the front and
on their way to the front became
commonplace, and the average number
of deserters reached 25 per cent. I
happen to know of three cases when
the train was stopped because there
were no passengers on it; all, with the
exception of the officer in command,
had run away” Chairman of the Military
Commission of the Duma
3. Effects of the War:
Russians at home
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
4. Effects of the War:
Russians at home
• The winter of 1916-17 was
particularly severe with
temperatures reaching -35
degrees Celsius.
• Snow blizzards blocked the
remaining working train lines.
• Food and fuel were in short
supply in cities and factories
started to close.
• The country had the supplies but
lacked the organisation to
transport it to the cities.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
5. Effects of the War:
Russians at Home
• The weather also cut railway
connections between the war front,
the cities and rural areas, limiting
the movement of resources and
troops around Russia.
• Bread shortages, not unknown in
Russian cities ordinarily, became
endemic.
• Ministers responded by rationing
bread in February, however this
caused an increase in unrest,
protests and looting
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
What can we learn from the source about
the problems in the Army by 1917?
“The industrial Proletariat of the
capital is on the verge of
despair...the smallest outbreak will
lead to uncontrollable riots...Even
if we assume that wages have
increased by 100 per cent, the cost
of living had risen by 300 per cent.
The impossibility of obtaining food,
the time wasted in spending hours
waiting in queues outside shops,
the increasing death rate due to
inadequate diet and anti-sanitary
lodgings, cold and dampness as a
result of lack of coal and firewood -
all these conditions have created
such a situation that the mass of
industrial workers are quite ready
to let themselves go to the wildest
excesses of a hunger riot…” Police
report at the end of 1916.
6. Effects of the War:
Russians at home
• Analyse the short term factors that lead
to the revolution of 1917. Compare
these against the mid & long term
factors that we have discussed over the
last few weeks.
• Justify which factors you feel had the
greatest significance in causing the
revolution.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
In 1917 The Russian calendar was still 13 days
behind other countries. Therefore, what were
called the February and October revolutions in
Europe were called the March and November
revolutions in Russia!
7. International Women’s
Day: February 23, 1917
• According to Leon Trotsky, mass
demonstrations began when
women textile workers in several
factories in the city's Vyborg district
decided more or less
spontaneously on a day of protest.
• Appealing for support, they enlisted
other militant workers, labour
organizers, and political agitators,
many of whom were male.
• By day's end about 90,000
workers of both sexes had taken
to the streets in what by all
accounts were essentially peaceful
protests demanding equality and
more bread.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
8. International Women’s
Day: February 23, 1917
• The biggest individual action seems
to have been a women-dominated
march on the Tavrichan (Tauride)
Palace that afternoon to protest
Petrograd abysmal food situation.
• There was also some anti-Tsarist
and anti-War sentiment.
• Public order deteriorated into
haphazard rioting and looting as
strikes and demonstrations
continued over the following days.
• By the 25th February, virtually all
factories in Petrograd were closed
and 300,000 workers were
protesting on the streets.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
9. The Tsar’s Response
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
• General Khabalov responded
by banning public gatherings
in Petrograd and warning that
troops would fire on crowds
who disobeyed.
• Crowds reacted by defying the
order and continued to protest
resulting in some bloodshed.
10. The Tsar’s Response
• Petrograd police told the Tsar the situation was minor and
controllable.
• The strikes and the unrest should have caused great concern
for the tsarina, who was effectively in control, however she
wrote to her husband and described the protesters as "a
hooligan movement... if the weather was cold they would
probably stay at home".
• With this in mind, the Tsar wrote from the front to General
Khabalov (in charge of Petrograd military garrison) “I order you
to stop tomorrow the disorders in the capital, which are
unacceptable at the difficult time of war with Germany and
Austria”
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
11. The Army Mutiny
• 27 February, the only group
capable of enforcing the Tsar’s
authority, mutinied.
• The Petrograd garrison were
housed in barracks designed for
20,000 men but there was
160,000 of them squeezed in
there waiting to be sent to the
front.
• This group of mostly peasants
and worker soldiers had
witnessed the shootings ordered
Khabalov.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
12. The Army Mutiny
• Rather than supporting the
shooters, they took the side
of the protestors shouting
“To arms! To arms! They
are killing innocent
people, our brothers and
sisters” Fedor Linde, a
sergeant in the barracks.
• This defection by the
160,000 soldiers deprived
the tsar of any military
authority in the capital.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
13. The Duma
• Meanwhile the Duma, which had been growing in confidence
with its demands to the tsar, insisted on the replacement of
ministers.
• Mikhail Rodzianko, the Duma president, told the tsar that
"...there is anarchy in the capital. The government is
paralysed. It is necessary immediately to entrust a
person who enjoys the confidence of the country with
the formation of the government. Any delay is death".
• In his last fatal mistake, Nicholas ordered the dissolution of
the Duma,
• However this time the Duma refused, forming a committee of
12 with a view to installing it as a temporary government.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
14. Petrograd Soviet and the
Provisional Government
• On the same day (February 28) the Petrograd Soviet
reformed, made up predominantly of Mensheviks and Social
Revolutionaries.
• Russia now had two new political entities: one not elected but
emanating from the Duma (Provisional Government), the
other with no political authority but enjoying popular support
from the workers and soldiers (Petrograd Soviet).
• Fearing an outbreak of civil war should the army fire on the
people, the newly-formed Provisional Government urged the
tsar's commanders not to carry out his orders.
• They needn't have worried: most battalions sent to deal with
protestors and rioters either did nothing - and some actually
joined the people they were supposed to be shooting.
• One platoon, given the order to fire on demonstrators, instead
chose to shoot their commanding officer.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
15. Nicholas II Abdicates
• Nicholas, finally realising the danger of
the situation, boarded a train back to
Petrograd
• Finding the lines impassable, his train
was delayed on a siding at Pskov, just
across the Estonian border.
• On March 2 he was met in his railway
car by a delegation from the Duma,
insisting on his abdication.
• When the tsar said he would consider it
after consulting with his generals, the
delegation showed him telegrams from
many of the general's, urging Nicholas to
abdicate.
• He relented and signed the instrument of
abdication, ending more than 300 years
of Romanov autocracy.
LO: Identify what
were the causes and
consequences of the
February Revolution?
