The February Revolution took place in the fateful year 1917 for Russia and became the first of many coups d'etat, which step by step led to the establishment of Soviet power and the formation of a new state on the map.

Causes of the February Revolution of 1917

The protracted war created many difficulties and plunged the country into a severe crisis. Most of society opposed the monarchical system; a liberal opposition against Nicholas II even formed in the Duma. Numerous meetings and speeches under anti-monarchist and anti-war slogans began to take place in the country.

1. Crisis in the army

IN Russian army at that time, more than 15 million people were mobilized, of which 13 million were peasants. Hundreds of thousands of victims, killed and maimed, terrible front-line conditions, embezzlement and incompetence of the army's high command undermined discipline and led to mass desertion. By the end of 1916, more than one and a half million people were deserters from the army.

On the front line, there were often cases of “fraternization” between Russian soldiers and Austrian and German soldiers. The officers made many efforts to stop this trend, but among ordinary soldiers it became the norm to exchange various things and communicate in a friendly manner with the enemy.

Discontent and mass revolutionary sentiment gradually grew in the ranks of the military.

2. Threat of famine

A fifth of the country's industrial potential was lost due to the occupation, and food products were running out. In St. Petersburg, for example, in February 1917, there were only a week and a half of bread left. The supply of food and raw materials was so irregular that some military factories were closed. Providing the army with everything necessary was also at risk.

3. Crisis of power

At the top, everything was also complicated: during the war years, there were four prime ministers with a lot of strong personalities who could stop the crisis of power and lead the country, at that time there were no in the ruling elite.

The royal family always sought to be closer to the people, but the phenomenon of Rasputinism and the weakness of the government gradually deepened the gap between the tsar and his people.

In the political situation, everything pointed to the proximity of revolution. The only question that remained was where and how it would happen.

February Revolution: overthrow of the centuries-old monarchical system

Since January 1917, throughout Russian Empire strikes took place en masse, in which a total of more than 700 thousand workers took part. The trigger for the February events was the strike in St. Petersburg.

On February 23, 128 thousand were already on strike, the next day their number grew to 200 thousand, and the strike took on a political character, and already 300 thousand workers took part in it in St. Petersburg alone. This is how the February Revolution unfolded.

The troops and police opened fire on the striking workers, and the first blood was shed.

On February 26, the tsar sent troops to the capital under the command of General Ivanov, but they refused to suppress the uprising and actually sided with the rebels.

On February 27, the rebel workers seized more than 40 thousand rifles and 30 thousand revolvers. They took control of the capital and elected the Petrograd Council of Workers' Deputies, which was headed by Chkheidze.

On the same day, the Tsar sent an order to the Duma for an indefinite break in its work. The Duma obeyed the decree, but decided not to disperse, but to elect a Provisional Committee of ten people headed by Rodzianko.

Soon the tsar received telegrams about the victory of the revolution and calls from the commanders of all fronts to cede power in favor of the rebels.

On March 2, the establishment of the Provisional Government of Russia was officially announced, the head of which Nicholas II approved Prince Lvov. And on the same day, the king abdicated the throne for himself and for his son in favor of his brother, but he wrote the abdication in exactly the same way.

So the February Revolution stopped the existence of the monarchy for

After this, the Tsar, as a civilian, tried to obtain permission from the Provisional Government to travel with his family to Murmansk in order to emigrate from there to Great Britain. But the Petrograd Soviet resisted so decisively that Nicholas II and his family were decided to be arrested and taken to Tsarskoe Selo for imprisonment.

The former emperor would never be destined to leave his country.

February Revolution of 1917: results

The provisional government survived many crises and was able to last only 8 months. The attempt to build a bourgeois-democratic society was unsuccessful, since a more powerful and organized force claimed power in the country, which saw only the socialist revolution as its goal.

The February Revolution revealed this force - workers and soldiers, led by the Soviets, began to play decisive role in the history of the country.

The aggravation of the situation in Petrograd in connection with the closure of the Putilov plant on February 22, undertaken by its management in response to workers’ demands to increase prices by 50% and reinstate dismissed workers.

February 23 – meetings at Petrograd enterprises to commemorate the International women's day March 8 (according to the European calendar), which grew into rallies and spontaneous demonstrations of workers with the promotion of anti-war slogans and demands for improving their financial situation.

According to official data, about 90 thousand workers from 50 enterprises in the capital took part in the demonstrations.

February 24 – an increase in the number of striking workers in Petrograd. Their attempts to break through from the outskirts to the city center. Joining the striking students. The first clashes between the police and Cossacks and the workers, the first casualties among the workers. Spontaneous rally on Znamenskaya Square (Vosstaniya Square). Politicization and radicalization of demonstrators' slogans. Refusal of the Cossack hundred of the 1st Don Regiment to disperse the demonstrators. Meeting of the government and city authorities to discuss the situation in Petrograd. Deciding not to use firearms, focusing efforts on preventing work columns from breaking into the city center through bridges and outposts. Involvement of reserve battalions of guards regiments in ensuring order in the city.

February 25 – continuation of unrest in Petrograd. Significant increase in the number of strikers. Breakthrough of work columns into the center of the capital. Clashes between workers and police in central regions cities. Spontaneous rally on Znamenskaya Square. An attempt by the police to disperse the demonstrators and the unexpected actions of a Cossack patrol (the murder of a police bailiff by a Cossack). Nicholas II gives the order to “stop the unrest” in the capital. On the night of February 25-26, the police carried out mass arrests of active party leaders who were registered with the Security Department. Arming soldiers with live ammunition and concentrating city authorities' efforts on protecting the city center.

February 26 – concentration of the masses in the city center. Continued rallies. Radicalization of the political demands of the demonstrators. The use of weapons by troops against the people. The first cases of open disobedience of soldiers to officers. The use of weapons by soldiers against the police (4th company of the Pavlovsk regiment). Issuance of the Emperor's Decree on the suspension of the activities of the State Duma and State Council. Continuation of the arrests of active figures of opposition and revolutionary parties by the Security Department.

February 27 - the beginning of the open transition of soldiers of the reserve guards regiments to the side of the insurgent people. Riot of the “training team” of the Volyn regiment (organized by senior non-commissioned officer T. Kirpichnikov, who shot and killed officer Captain Lashkevich). Revolutionary agitation of Volynians among the soldiers of the Lithuanian and Preobrazhensky regiments. An increase in the number of soldiers who disobeyed their superiors. The beginning of the “soldier stage” of the revolution. The union of the workers' and soldiers' movements in Petrograd. The destruction of the District Court building on Liteiny Prospekt by rebel workers and soldiers. Their release of persons under investigation who were in the House of Pre-trial Detention. Arming workers with cold and firearms. The rebels storm the Kresty prison and release the prisoners. Intensification of the activities of the State Duma, which put forward political demands to Nicholas II for a change of government. The beginning of the transition of front commanders to the side of the Duma (A. A. Brusilov, N. V. Ruzsky). Continuous involvement of new ones in the rebellion against the old government military units. Transformation of the Tauride Palace into the “headquarters” of the revolution. Formation political bodies new government in the palace building. Order of Nicholas II to move the guards cavalry and combat units of the Northern Front to Petrograd. Appointment of General N.I. Ivanov as the new commander-in-chief of the Petrograd Military District to restore order in the capital. The Emperor's preparations for his return to the capital.

February 28 - Beginning of public demonstrations in Moscow. Departure of General Ivanov with a detachment of troops and the emperor to Petrograd. Their unsuccessful attempt to change the course of events.

On March 1, Nicholas II, due to the impossibility of “breaking through” to the capital, decided to move to the headquarters of the Northern Front in Pskov. In Pskov, the emperor had to, under pressure from the “general” opposition, first agree to the formation of a responsible government, and a day later (March 2) abdicate the throne, first in favor of his son Alexei, and then, changing his decision in favor of his brother Mikhail. In turn, General N.I. Ivanov, who arrived in Tsarskoe Selo, became convinced of the futility of carrying out the emperor’s order. On March 3, 1917, under the pressure of circumstances, Mikhail Romanov also refused to accept the throne.

By the evening of February 27, almost the entire composition of the Petrograd garrison - about 160 thousand people - went over to the side of the rebels. The commander of the Petrograd Military District, General Khabalov, is forced to inform Nicholas II: “Please report to His Imperial Majesty that I could not fulfill the order to restore order in the capital. Most of the units, one after another, betrayed their duty, refusing to fight against the rebels.”

The idea of ​​a “cartel expedition”, which provided for the removal of individual military units from the front and sending them to rebellious Petrograd, also did not continue. All this threatened to result in a civil war with unpredictable consequences.
Acting in the spirit of revolutionary traditions, the rebels released from prison not only political prisoners, but also criminals. At first they easily overcame the resistance of the “Crosses” guards, and then took the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The uncontrollable and motley revolutionary masses, not disdaining murders and robberies, plunged the city into chaos.
On February 27, at approximately 2 o'clock in the afternoon, soldiers occupied the Tauride Palace. The State Duma found itself in a dual position: on the one hand, according to the emperor’s decree, it should have dissolved itself, but on the other, the pressure of the rebels and the actual anarchy forced it to take some action. The compromise solution was a meeting under the guise of a “private meeting.”
As a result, a decision was made to form a government body - the Temporary Committee.

Later, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government P. N. Milyukov recalled:

"Intervention State Duma gave the street and military movement a center, gave it a banner and a slogan, and thereby turned the uprising into a revolution, which ended with the overthrow of the old regime and dynasty.”

The revolutionary movement grew more and more. Soldiers seize the Arsenal, the Main Post Office, the telegraph office, bridges and train stations. Petrograd found itself completely in the power of the rebels. The real tragedy took place in Kronstadt, which was overwhelmed by a wave of lynching that resulted in the murder of more than a hundred officers of the Baltic Fleet.
On March 1, the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Alekseev, in a letter begs the emperor “for the sake of saving Russia and the dynasty, put at the head of the government a person whom Russia would trust.”

Nicholas states that by giving rights to others, he deprives himself of the power given to them by God. The opportunity to peacefully transform the country into a constitutional monarchy had already been lost.

After the abdication of Nicholas II on March 2, a dual power actually developed in the state. Official power was in the hands of the Provisional Government, but real power belonged to the Petrograd Soviet, which controlled the troops, railways, mail and telegraph.
Colonel Mordvinov, who was on the royal train at the time of his abdication, recalled Nikolai’s plans to move to Livadia. “Your Majesty, go abroad as soon as possible. “Under current conditions, even in Crimea there is no way to live,” Mordvinov tried to convince the tsar. "No way. I wouldn’t like to leave Russia, I love it too much,” Nikolai objected.

Leon Trotsky noted that the February uprising was spontaneous:

“No one outlined the path for a coup in advance, no one from above called for an uprising. The indignation that had accumulated over the years broke out largely unexpectedly for the masses themselves.”

However, Miliukov insists in his memoirs that the coup was planned soon after the start of the war and before “the army was supposed to go on the offensive, the results of which would radically stop all hints of discontent and would cause an explosion of patriotism and jubilation in the country.” “History will curse the leaders of the so-called proletarians, but it will also curse us, who caused the storm,” wrote the former minister.
British historian Richard Pipes calls the actions of the tsarist government during the February uprising “fatal weakness of will,” noting that “the Bolsheviks in such circumstances did not hesitate to shoot.”
Although the February Revolution is called “bloodless,” it nevertheless claimed the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians. In Petrograd alone, more than 300 people died and 1,200 were injured.

The February Revolution began the irreversible process of collapse of the empire and decentralization of power, accompanied by the activity of separatist movements.

Poland and Finland demanded independence, Siberia started talking about independence, and the Central Rada formed in Kyiv proclaimed “autonomous Ukraine.”

The events of February 1917 allowed the Bolsheviks to emerge from underground. Thanks to the amnesty declared by the Provisional Government, dozens of revolutionaries returned from exile and political exile, who were already hatching plans for a new coup d'etat.

The Great Russian Revolution is the revolutionary events that occurred in Russia in 1917, starting with the overthrow of the monarchy during the February Revolution, when power passed to the Provisional Government, which was overthrown as a result October revolution Bolsheviks who proclaimed Soviet power.

February Revolution of 1917 - Main revolutionary events in Petrograd

Reason for the revolution: Labor conflict at the Putilov plant between workers and owners; interruptions in the food supply to Petrograd.

Main events February Revolution took place in Petrograd. The army leadership, headed by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General M.V. Alekseev, and the commanders of the fronts and fleets, considered that they did not have the means to suppress the riots and strikes that had engulfed Petrograd. Emperor Nicholas II abdicated the throne. After his intended successor, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich also abdicated the throne, the State Duma took control of the country, forming the Provisional Government of Russia.

With the formation of Soviets parallel to the Provisional Government, a period of dual power began. The Bolsheviks formed detachments of armed workers (Red Guard), thanks to attractive slogans they gained significant popularity, primarily in Petrograd, Moscow, in large industrial cities, the Baltic Fleet, and the troops of the Northern and Western Fronts.

Results of the revolution and dual power

October Revolution of 1917 main events

During October revolution Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, established by the Bolsheviks led by L.D. Trotsky and V.I. Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government. At the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, the Bolsheviks withstood a difficult struggle with the Mensheviks and right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries, and the first Soviet government was formed. In December 1917, a government coalition of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries was formed. In March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with Germany.

By the summer of 1918, a one-party government was finally formed, and the active phase of the Civil War and foreign intervention in Russia, which began with the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps. Ending Civil War created the conditions for the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Provisional Government of Russia in 1917

Heads of the Russian government in 1905 - 1917.