Provisional Government

• February Revolution: What occured on January 14th - 100,000 person workers strike in petrograd
• February Revolution: What happened on February 18th - pulitov strikes began in petrograd
• February Revolution: What happened on the 23rd February - International womens day celebrations merge with Pulitov strikes
• February Revolution: What happened on February 26th - Officers ordered troops to fire on protestors on Nicholas' orders, they refused and joined the protestors becoming the petrograd mutiny
• February Revolution: What happened on February 27th (2) - Dumas Progressive bloc formed the temporary committee for restoration of order, proclaiming themselves the supreme authority in Russia - the petrograd then did the same
• February Revolution: What happened on March 1st - Soldiers of Petrograd garrison agree to soviet order No1 - only recognising the authority of petrograd soviet, not the temporary committee
• February Revolution: What happened on March 2nd - Nicholas formally abdicates, dual power with the petrograd soviet is established
• February Revolution: What are some of the problems faced by the provisional government (4) - led by prince Lvov, a noble, contradicting the idea of leaving behind tsardom - Compiled various political factions, of which had potentially contradicting policies - No legitimacy, cannot call an election until after the war, and when they were elected in 1912 they were so on a restricted franchise - Petrograd soviet held power were soviet order no1
• Policies of the Provisional Government: What were the provisional governments policies (5) - Continuing the war - Liberalisation - Land - Economic issues - National Minorities
• Policies of the Provisional Government: Describe the provisional governments policy of continuing the war (4) - Peace would have resulted in loss of land, and the provisional government felt they had an obligation with Britain and France - The continuation of the war led to the April Crises - Involved the June Offensiv, sparking the July Days - The provisional governments policy radicalised soldiers by threatening the petrograd soviet with being sent to the frontline
• Policies of the Provisional Government: Describe the April Crises (18th April) as a result of the continuation of war policy (20 - Milyukov, minister of foreign affairs demanded the continuation of the war, leading to massive protests by workes and soldiers and the resignation of Milyukov - A new government was then formed by Kerensky on the 22nd April, which allowed 6 socialists including Tsereteli, the leader of the mensheviks, to join the cabinet
• Policies of the Provisional Government: Describe the June Offensive as a result of the provisional governments continuation of the war (2) - Kerensky ordered a mass offensive to prepare for an assault to push Germans out of Russia - the offensive then failed after 3 days, sparking massive protests in the form of the July days
• Policies of the Provisional Government: Describe the impact of the continuation of the war policy on soldier desertion - 365,000 deserted between march and may, in comparison to 195,000 between 1914-1917 as a result of the government removing the death penalty for desertion
• Policies of the Provisional Government: Describe Liberalisation policy (2) - Aimed to gain support from the soviets and represent a new russia by becoming the freest country in the world for the breifest of moments - Bolsheviks were released from prisoners, Okhrana abolished, and creating an environment where lenin felt free to retunr from exile in switzerland
• Policies of the Provisional Government: Describe Land policy (3) - Minister of Agriculture, Chernov, proposed to give land from private estates to solve food crisis, this was rejected due to the provisional governments inaction policy - if they accepted this they wouldve gained support from peasantry - Provisional government held an inaction policy, because they felt that these issues should be sorted by a elected assembly, and making any changes would have led to soldiers returning from the front line to take land - 1600 land seizures took place in July alone, proving their policy of inaction...
• Policies of the Provisional Government: Describe Policy towards economic issues (3) - All problems previously blamed on the tsar now blamed on the provisional government - Legalised trade unions and introduced 8hr working day - Did nothing to tackle the 569 factory closures in petrograd, leading to 100,000 job losses and 1400% inflation
• Policies of the Provisional Government: Describe policies towards national minorities (2) - National minorities wanted independance, the provisional government denied this - Ukraine formed their own provisional government the RADA, finland even declared independance
• KD1: Whats the argument that the provisional government WAS doomed from the start (4) - Shared authority with the petrograd soviet, disagreed over policies like the involvement in the war - Petrograd soviet had real power with Soviet Order No1 - Lacked Legitimacy, was a temporary committee who couldnt hold elections due to the war - hence was made up of old fourth duma members - Members of the provisional government were not representative, some were extremely wealthy, masons, and Lvov was the procurator of the holy synod
• KD1: How did the petrograd soviets view surrounding involvement in the war differ from those of the petrograd soviet in terms of why the provisional government was doomed from the start - Petrograd soviet wanted peace without annexations or indemnities
• KD1: Why was the provisional government not doomed from the start (3) - Its policies led to its downfall - Popularity - made up of members of the fourth duma, the most successful duma, full of reforming ministers who would bring change to russia - Kornilov affair led to its downfall
• KD1: Describe why the provisional governments policies led to its downfall in terms of why the provisional government wasnt doomed from the start (3) - 8 liberal principles - included freedom of speech and allowed proliferation of groups like the bolsheviks - Peasant land issue - provisional government argued only an elected body should deal with it - Attempt to unite provisional government by removing Prince Lvov and adding 6 socialists into the cabinet - resulted in further conflict amongst government
• KD1: Describe why the Kornilov Affair led to its downfall with regards to how the provisional government was not doomed from the start (2) - Kornilov was a military commander who marched troops to petrograd with the intention of forcefully closing down the petrograd soviet, out of fear he may do the same to the provisional government, Kereksnky armed the bolsheviks - The affair ended because railway workers went on strike, making it seem as though bolsheviks were the heroes even though they didnt end it
• KD2: Why was the provisional government overthrown - The weakness of the provisional government - Strengths of the Bolshevik opposition
• KD2: What were the events that led to the overthrow of the provisional government (5) - Lenins April Theses - Bolsheviks remaining distant from the failures of the provisional government - July Crisis - Kornilov Affair - Worker and soldier radicalisation
• KD2: Describe how Lenins April Theses contributed to the overthrow of the provisional government (3) - Outlined the parties aims, offering a clear radical alternative to the provisional government - use of clear slogans like 'peace,bread and land' and 'all power to the soviets' - Membership grew because of this from 26,000 in February to 250,000 in October
• KD2: Describe how the Bolsheviks keeping their distance from the failures of the provisional government contributed to the overthrow of the provisional government (2) - All other radical parties had some for of association with the provisional government - For example - the mesheviks leader Tseretelli became part of the provisional government cabinet in april under Kerensky
• KD2: Describe how the July Crisis contributed to the overthrow of the provisional government (2) - Followed the failure of the june offensive, where kerensky ordered the krondstadt sailors to the front line to join an offensive to push germany out of russia - They refused due to the military being underequipped, soldiers now looked to the bolsheviks to end the war
• KD2: Describe how worker and soldier radicalisation contributed to the overthrow of the provisional government (2) - Food shortages and inflation now led soldiers and workers to vote for bolsheviks - Bolsheviks did the best in Municipal elections (like the moscow municipal elections where the bolsheviks secured 51%) - however in the all russian congress of soviets national election in June 1917, the bolsheviks got the lowest vote (105 seats)
• KD2: Describe why the weakness of the provisional government is the reason why they provisional government was overthrown (3) - Political position, lacking legitimacy, dual authority and soviet order no1, and the addition of 6 socialists to the government following april crisis, meant they couldnt make binding desicions (like on the land) - Their policies (contiuation of war, liberalisation and inaction in terms of land) - Kerensky's mistakes
• KD2: Describe kerenskys mistakes in terms of why the weakness of the provisional government was the reason why it was overthrown (3) - He worsened economic conditions by ignoring the 567 factory closures - Armed the Bolsheviks in the Kornilov affair - Began arresting the Bolsheviks again in June 1917, hence the Bolsheviks used the excuse that kerensky was trying to seize power from the soviets
• KD2: Describe why the strengths of the Bolshevik opposition was the main reason in the provisional government being overthrown (4) - Political manoeuvres of the Bolsheviks - Policies laid out by the april theses sympathised with the people, in comparison to the provisional governments inaction policy - Role of lenin and trotsky - Pressure from the workers and soldiers, with the bolsheviks winning 51% in the moscow municipal elections in october 1917
• KD2: Describe the political manoeuvres of the Bolsheviks as to why it was the strengths of the Bolshevik opposition that led to the provisional government being overthrown (2) - Politically distanced themselves from the provisional government, and were not associated with their failures - Organised the storming of the winter palace and the october revolution
• KD2: Describe the role of Lenin and Trotsky as to why it was the strengths of the Bolshevik opposition that led to the provisional government being overthrown (4) - Lenin triggered the revolution by returning from Finland in September, writing to Bolshevik colleagues stating that if they dont act know 'history will not forgive us' - Lenin held 10 hour meeting convincing 10 of 12 members of central committee that insurrection was desirable on the 10th october - Lenins April Theses gave the party a popular image - Trotsky created and led the MRC with 150,000 members of the garrison joining on th...
• KD3: Describe why the first world war was responsible for the downfall of the provisional government (4) - Continuation of the war meant new regime struggled to establish authority, if they pulled out then it was possible the tsar could return as constitutional monarch - War was costly in terms of impact on land, labour and capital, they had invested so much the government felt they couldnt back out - Policy of inaction on land and public health came as a result of the war being a priority, causing major resentment among workers - Unlucky as it was formed late in the war, with most of the dama...
• KD3: How was the First world war not responsible for the downfall of the provisional government (3) - Provisional government was viewed as a variation of the tsarist regime, lacking legitimacy, made up of members of fourth duma - Workers actually had already campaigned for economic and social changes before the war - led to the petrograd garrison being in a position to compel prov gov to dual authority, and even superceding their authority with order no1 - Kerensky's mistakes - involving kornilov affair allowing bolsheviks to be seen as heroes, the june offensive and july days
• KD4: How can the october revolution be considered a coup d'etat (2) - Bolsheviks did not have popular support and took advantage of the decline in governmental authority - in January 1918 elections SR's won with 40% of the vote, Bolsheviks got 24% and lenin claimed it was rigged - The actions of Lenin and trotsky carefully orchestrated power with MRC, april theses and the 10 hour meeting on the 10th october
• KD4: How can the october revolution be considered a popular revolution (2) - Bolsheviks rode on a wave of popular support, justifying the bolshevik seizure of power as something legitimate - Were very popular in urban areas and amongst military, but less amongst the peasantry - hence the 51% moscow municipal election victory