February Revolution

Question 1

Collapse of support - duma cut off

Answer 1

• radical socialist deputies called for alliance with masses (had to move closer to moof on streets to become effective)
• 8 November Strumer dismisses - A F Trepov appointed (supported by Duma, pursued concessions (‘final chance for the liberals to make their peace with the govt’), Tsarina opposed (wanted him hanged)
• Miluykov speech 1 Nov 1916 ‘is this stupidity or treason’, banned from press = more radical than it was, cautious statesman, set off public reaction, ‘storm signal for the revolution… not my intention’
• urged to let Duma appoint govt, United Nobility supported (firmest pillars), 7 Nov Grand Duke Nikolai

Question 2

Collapse of support - Rasputin’s death

Answer 2

• drew Tsar closer to Tsarina, resisted calls for refor, banished 4 dissident grand dukes for Petrograd
• retreated to Tsarskoe Selo

Question 3

17 October strikes

Answer 3

• New Lessner and Rusian Renault Vyborg factories
• police with whips
• soldiers defended protesters, 130 arrested

Question 4

23 Feb strikes

Answer 4

IWD protest, acess to bread

• 100 000 workers joined (‘compared with earlier demonstrations, not many workers’ Balk)
• Cossacks would ride up and retreat(had no whips, horses new to streets, reserves) this emboldened workers

Question 5

25 Feb strikes

Answer 5

300 000, all factories closed

Question 6

26 Feb strikes

Answer 6

Znamenskaya square, 50 killed, galvanised

Question 7

27 February strikes

Answer 7

Petrograd Garisson mutinied
- older reservists + evacuees from front (anti war)
- space for 20,000, 160,000 there
‘- ‘more like flammable material than a prop for the regime
- no more military authority and more capacity for protestors

• 8000 cirminals release
• Prov Comm formed (12 members)
  1500 killed overall

Question 8

tsarist response to disorders in Petrograd

Answer 8

• Khabalov banned public gatherings
• ‘put down disorders by tomorrow’
• Protopopov played down situation
• 28 Feruary Council of Ministers stepped down

Question 9

Abdication

Answer 9

• 2 March 1917, Pskov

- wanted to return to Petrograd, railways controlled by mutinous workers

Question 10

Reason for abdication - political ciris

Answer 10

• Neither at the front nor at the rear was there a brigade or regiment preapred to do battle for Nicky – Trotsky

Question 11

Abdication - inevitability

Answer 11

• The tsarist regime’s downfall was not inevitable, but its own stupidity made it so’Figes
• ‘There is not one decent man in your entourage. All the decent people have either been dismissed or left’ Rodzianko, 14 Feb
• “[N]o one, positively no one – we can assert this categorically upon the basis of all the data – then thought that February 23 was to mark the beginning of a decisive drive against absolutism.” Trotsky

Question 12

Abdication - Tsar’s fault?

Answer 12

• the general situation and not his perosnality had enfeebled the regime’s reaction to the assaults made upon it – Service

Question 13

Abdication - rev pressure?

Answer 13

• The Tsar yielded not to a rebellious populace, but to generals and politicians, and he did so from patriotic duty – Pipes
• The strikes did not in themselves cause the revolution. It was the defection of the Tsar’s previous supporters in a moment of crisis – Lynch
• Tsardom collapsed from within. Revolutionary pressure for the outside had not direct effect – Lynch