The February Revolution - Timeline

Question 1

18th February

Answer 1

A full scale strike at Putilov steel works. Politically active strikers were joined in the streets by workers who had been angered by the further cut in bread supplies.

Question 2

23rd February

Answer 2

A march to commemorate International Woman’s Day joined by Putilov strikers. They demanded food and an end to war.

Question 3

Saturday 25th February

Answer 3

Bigger crowds gather and strikes occur throughout Petrograd. Police cannot contain the protest and worries about police sympathy occur, particularly the Cossacks, an elite force for the Tsar.

Question 4

26th February

Answer 4

The transport service has broken down, food and fuel supplies are disorganised. Discontent is general, and wild shootings occur where troops are firing on eachother. The duma ordered the duma to dissolve - the first constitutional defiance of the Tsar. Provision committee of 12 members set up. Alexander Kerensky called the Tsar to stand down.

Question 5

From 27th February

Answer 5

150,000 troops now supported the revolution and the protests turned into a goal to overthrow the government. The winter palace was seized, while prisons were broken into and burned.

Question 6

27th February

Answer 6

The ‘Petrograd Soviet of soldiers Sailors and workers deputies’ was formed, and met at the same place as the provisional committee. The two self appointed bodies represented the reformist ideas of the old Duma and the soviet speaking for the protestors.

Question 7

28th February

Answer 7

Remaining ministers in the Tsar’s cabinet abandoned their responsibilities under the pretext of an electricity failure and slipped out of the capital. The Tsar’s train is diverted by mutinous troops and abdication is advised.