February Revolution 1917

Question 1

By winter 1917

Answer 1

→ serious discontent = ppl starving + desperate
150,000 workers on strike in Petrograd on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday

Question 2

Thursday 23rd February

Answer 2

International women’s day → workers join their march + militant students
→ 50 factories closed
240,000 in the street = chaos = order restored by evening

Question 3

Saturday 25th February

Answer 3

250,000 go on strike = half the capitals workforce = standstill
Factories + shops closed + no newspaper + no transport
Violence increases → police chief murdered

Question 4

Cossacks

Answer 4

Cossacks refuse to attack civilians striking when ordered = sig as Cossacks had maintained state authority for centuries but had now turned against the autocracy

Question 5

Monday 27th February - Role of army

Answer 5

Role of army is crucial
Tsar orders Petrograd military district to restore by force

However → mutiny in Volynskii regiment where Sergent shoots commanding officer
66,000 soldiers mutiny + join protesters + armed with 40,000 rifles
Police attacked + prisoners released

Question 6

Monday 27th February - Role of the Duma

Answer 6

Duma sets up 12-man Provisional Gov → army supports
Revolutionaries set up Petrograd Soviet → intends to takeover gov

Question 7

Thursday 28th February

Answer 7

Tsar says he’s willing to share power with Duma = too late
Petrograd Soviet agree they’d recognise Provisional Gov + suggested Tsar resign in favour of his son Alexie with Tsars bro Mikhail acting as regent

Question 8

What happens on the 2nd of March?

Answer 8

• Tsar’s train is stopped on its way back to Petrograd by revolutionaries.
• Tsar announces his abdication on the same day

Question 9

Outcome

Answer 9

Tsar has no other choice but to abdicate
Tsar agreed to demand but appointed Grand Duke Mikhail as Tsar
Mikhail refused = 304yr Romanov Dynasty ended

Question 10

long terms causes of the February 1917 Revolution

Answer 10

• Nicholas
• Little reforms since 1905
• Poor living conditions + unemployment
• Neglect of government
• Duma = appealed to the ppl after Tsars failure

Question 11

short terms causes of the February 1917 Revolution

Answer 11

• Failure in WW1
• Tsarina and Rasputin
• Food shortages
• Inflation
• Mutiny of the soldiers
• Tsar’s orders to shoot crowds

Question 12

impacts of the February Revolution

Answer 12

• peasants took landowners’ estates
• military saw a purge of unpopular officers
• spread of soviets in towns, army + navy

Petrograd Soviet recognised as the top of the Soviet pyramid