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03-Death of a Dynasty Episode - covers late 1916 through the Feb Rev, Abdication

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Last of the Czars - 03 - Death of the Dynasty (1996)

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Events February Revolution Formation of the Soviets April Crisis Revolution in the Army July Days Kornilov Affair Bolsheviks Seize Power First Bolshevik Decrees Constituent Assembly Treaty of Brest...

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I created the Alexander Palace website in 1997 as a resource for people who wanted to learn more about the palace, the Romanovs and Russian history. In recent years amazing progress has been made in the restoration of the palace by the museum authorities in Tsarskoe Selo. Many books have been published on the subject and hundreds of websites have been created by people all over the world. This is a fantastic ending to a long story that started with me when I was an eight-year-old kid in Mountlake Terrace, Washington.

The Alexander Palace European Royalty and Russian discussion forum is going full blast and I encourage those interested in these subjects to go there and participate.

Bob Atchison

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Alexander Palace Time Machine - Romanov and Russian History

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I created the Alexander Palace website in 1997 as a resource for people who wanted to learn more about the palace, the Romanovs and Russian history. In recent years amazing progress has been made in the restoration of the palace by the museum authorities in Tsarskoe Selo.

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Although a timeline of 1917 can be very helpful for a student of the Russian Revolutions (one in February and a second in October 1917), I don't feel it adequately conveys the context, the decades long build up of social and political pressure. Consequently, I've created a series of linked timelines covering the period 1861-1918, highlighting - amongst other things - the development of the socialist and liberal groups, the 'revolution' of 1905 and the emergence of the industrial worker.

The Russian Revolution wasn't simply the result of World War One, which just triggered the collapse of a system being eroded by tensions for several decades before, the sort of collapse Hitler thought would be repeated in the Second World War; he was a war too late for his plans, and history is rarely as easy to predict by looking back as history students have to argue in essays. While the events of 1917 were traumatic for two continents, it set in motion Europe's communist era, which filled much of the twentieth century and affected the outcomes of one hot war and the existence of another cold. No one in 1905, or 1917, really knew where they would end up, much like the early days of the French Revolution gave little clue to the later, and it's also important to remember that the first revolution of 1917 was not communist, and things might not have turned out the way they had a lot of different paths been taken.

Of course, a timeline is primarily a reference tool, not a substitute for a narrative or discursive text, but because they can be used to quickly and easily grasp the pattern of events, I've included more detail and explanation than is normal. Consequently, I hope this chronology will be more useful than simply a dry list of dates and unexplained statements. However, the focus is very much on the revolutions in 1917, so events key to other aspects of Russian history have frequently been omitted from the earlier eras.

Where the reference books disagree over a particular date, I have tended to side with the majority. A list of texts with timelines and further reading is given below.

The Timeline

Texts used in compiling this timeline

A People's Tragedy, The Russian Revolution 1891 - 1924 by Orlando Figes (Pimlico, 1996)
The Longman Companion to Imperial Russia 1689 - 1917 by David Longley
The Longman Companion to Russia since 1914 by Martin McCauley
The Origins of the Russian Revolution Third edition by Alan Wood (Routledge, 2003)
The Russian Revolution, 1917 by Rex Wade (Cambridge, 2000)
The Russian Revolution 1917 - 1921 by James White (Edward Arnold, 1994)
The Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes (Vintage, 1991)
Three Whys of the Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes (Pimlico, 1995)

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An Introduction to our Time of the Russian Revolution (with booklist)

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Although a timeline of 1917 can be very helpful for a student of the Russian Revolutions (one in February and a second in October 1917), I don't feel it adequately conveys the context, the decades long build up of social and political pressure.

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BBC Bitesize - Aimed at British High School Students

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BBC Bitesize - Aimed at British High School Students

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Factors that led to the February Revolution, 1917 - Reasons for the February Revolution, 1917 - Higher History Revision - BBC Bitesize

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For Higher History learn how political and economic problems combined with disaster in World War One brought about the February Revolution.

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Revolutionary Russia polarised British opinion, provoking fascination, admiration and fear which directly affected British domestic politics, and foreign and economic policy. The archives at the Modern Records Centre include significant primary sources relating to the relationship between the two countries in the decade following the Russian Revolution, particularly regarding the response of the British labour movement. More than 650 documents from our collections have been digitised and are now freely available online.

You can explore the full collection by choosing the options to search or browse all sources. Groups of documents on key subjects have been gathered together in our 'selected sources by theme', together with a series of contemporary maps which provide useful background information.

A smaller selection of documents on the Soviet Union after 1928 are included in our online resources for the University of Warwick module on Stalinism in Europe.

Selected sources by theme:

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The Russian Revolution and Britain, 1917-1928

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Revolutionary Russia polarised British opinion, provoking fascination, admiration and fear which directly affected British domestic politics, and foreign and economic policy. The archives at the Modern Records Centre include significant primary sources relating to the relationship between the two countries in the decade following the Russian Revolution, particularly regarding the response of the British labour movement.

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Scroll down towards the bottom for primary sources

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Sections

In September, 1915, Tsar Nicholas II decided to replace Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich Romanov as supreme commander of the Russian Army fighting on the Eastern Front. He was disturbed when he received the following information from General Alexei Brusilov: "In recent battles a third of the men had no rifles. These poor devils had to wait patiently until their comrades fell before their eyes and they could pick up weapons. The army is drowning in its own blood." (1)

As the Tsar spent most of his time at GHQ, Alexandra Fedorovna now took responsibility for domestic policy. Rasputin served as her adviser and over the next few months she dismissed ministers and their deputies in rapid succession. In letters to her husband she called his ministers as "fools and idiots". According to David Shub "the real ruler of Russia was the Empress Alexandra". (2)

As Nicholas II was supreme command of the Russian Army he was linked to the country's military failures and there was a strong decline in his support in Russia. George Buchanan, the British Ambassador in Russia, went to see the Tsar: "I went on to say that there was now a barrier between him and his people, and that if Russia was still united as a nation it was in opposing his present policy. The people, who have rallied so splendidly round their Sovereign on the outbreak of war, had seen how hundreds of thousands of lives had been sacrificed on account of the lack of rifles and munitions; how, owing to the incompetence of the administration there had been a severe food crisis."

Buchanan then went on to talk about Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna: "I next called His Majesty's attention to the attempts being made by the Germans, not only to create dissension between the Allies, but to estrange him from his people. Their agents were everywhere at work. They were pulling the strings, and were using as their unconscious tools those who were in the habit of advising His Majesty as to the choice of his Ministers. They indirectly influenced the Empress through those in her entourage, with the result that, instead of being loved, as she ought to be, Her Majesty was discredited and accused of working in German interests." (3)

In January 1917, General Aleksandr Krymov returned from the Eastern Front and sought a meeting with Michael Rodzianko, the President of the Duma. Krymov told Rodzianko that the officers and men no longer had faith in Nicholas II and the army was willing to support the Duma if it took control of the government of Russia. "A revolution is imminent and we at the front feel it to be so. If you decide on such an extreme step (the overthrow of the Tsar), we will support you. Clearly there is no other way." Rodzianko was unwilling to take action but he did telegraph the Tsar warning that Russia was approaching breaking point. He also criticised the impact that his wife was having on the situation and told him that "you must find a way to remove the Empress from politics". (4)

The Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich shared the views of Rodzianko and sent a letter to the Tsar: "The unrest grows; even the monarchist principle is beginning to totter; and those who defend the idea that Russia cannot exist without a Tsar lose the ground under their feet, since the facts of disorganization and lawlessness are manifest. A situation like this cannot last long. I repeat once more - it is impossible to rule the country without paying attention to the voice of the people, without meeting their needs, without a willingness to admit that the people themselves understand their own needs." (5)

The First World War was having a disastrous impact on the Russian economy. Food was in short supply and this led to rising prices. By January 1917 the price of commodities in Petrograd had increased six-fold. In an attempt to increase their wages, industrial workers went on strike and in Petrograd people took to the street demanding food. On 11th February, 1917, a large crowd marched through the streets of Petrograd breaking shop windows and shouting anti-war slogans.

Petrograd was a city of 2,700,000 swollen with an influx of of over 393,000 wartime workers. According to Harrison E. Salisbury, in the last ten days of January, the city had received 21 carloads of grain and flour per day instead of the 120 wagons needed to feed the city. Okhrana, the secret police, warned that "with every day the food question becomes more acute and it brings down cursing of the most unbridled kind against anyone who has any connection with food supplies." (6)

Harold Williams, a journalist working for the Daily Chronicle reported details of serious food shortages: "All attention here is concentrated on the food question, which for the moment has become unintelligible. Long queues before the bakers' shops have long been a normal feature of life in the city. Grey bread is now sold instead of white, and cakes are not baked. Crowds wander about the streets, mostly women and boys, with a sprinkling of workmen. Here and there windows are broken and a few bakers' shops looted." (7)

It was reported that in one demonstration in the streets by the Nevsky Prospect, the women called out to the soldiers, "Comrades, take away your bayonets, join us!". The soldiers hesitated: "They threw swift glances at their own comrades. The next moment one bayonet is slowly raised, is slowly lifted above the shoulders of the approaching demonstrators. There is thunderous applause. The triumphant crowd greeted their brothers clothed in the grey cloaks of the soldiery. The soldiers mixed freely with the demonstrators." On 27th February, 1917, the Volynsky Regiment mutinied and after killing their commanding officer "made common cause with the demonstrators". (8)

The President of the Duma, Michael Rodzianko, became very concerned about the situation in the city and sent a telegram to the Tsar: "The situation is serious. There is anarchy in the capital. The Government is paralysed. Transport, food, and fuel supply are completely disorganised. Universal discontent is increasing. Disorderly firing is going on in the streets. Some troops are firing at each other. It is urgently necessary to entrust a man enjoying the confidence of the country with the formation of a new Government. Delay is impossible. Any tardiness is fatal. I pray God that at this hour the responsibility may not fall upon the Sovereign." (9)

On Friday 8th March, 1917, there was a massive demonstration against the Tsar. It was estimated that over 200,000 took part in the march. Arthur Ransome walked along with the crowd that were hemmed in by mounted Cossacks armed with whips and sabres. But no violent suppression was attempted. Ransome was struck, chiefly, by the good humour of these rioters, made up not simply of workers, but of men and women from every class. Ransome wrote: "Women and girls, mostly well-dressed, were enjoying the excitement. It was like a bank holiday, with thunder in the air." There were further demonstrations on Saturday and on Sunday soldiers opened fire on the demonstrators. According to Ransome: "Police agents opened fire on the soldiers, and shooting became general, though I believe the soldiers mostly used blank cartridges." (10)

Morgan Philips Price, a journalist working in Petrograd, with strong left-wing opinions, wrote to his aunt, Anna Maria Philips, claiming that the country was on the verge of revolution: "Most exciting times. I knew this was coming sooner or later but did not think it would come so quickly... Whole country is wild with joy, waving red flags and singing Marseillaise. It has surpassed my wildest dreams and I can hardly believe it is true. After two-and-half years of mental suffering and darkness I at last begin to see light. Long live Great Russia who has shown the world the road to freedom. May Germany and England follow in her steps." (11)

Prince George Lvov

On 10th March, 1917, the Tsar had decreed the dissolution of the Duma. The High Command of the Russian Army now feared a violent revolution and on 12th March suggested that Nicholas II should abdicate in favour of a more popular member of the royal family. Attempts were now made to persuade Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich to accept the throne. He refused and the Tsar recorded in his diary that the situation in "Petrograd is such that now the Ministers of the Duma would be helpless to do anything against the struggles the Social Democratic Party and members of the Workers Committee. My abdication is necessary... The judgement is that in the name of saving Russia and supporting the Army at the front in calmness it is necessary to decide on this step. I agreed." (12)

Prince George Lvov, was appointed the new head of the Provisional Government. Members of the Cabinet included Pavel Milyukov (leader of the Cadet Party), was Foreign Minister, Alexander Guchkov, Minister of War, Alexander Kerensky, Minister of Justice, Mikhail Tereshchenko, a beet-sugar magnate from the Ukraine, became Finance Minister, Alexander Konovalov, a munitions maker, Minister of Trade and Industry, and Peter Struve, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Tsar Nicholas II

Ariadna Tyrkova commented: "Prince Lvov had always held aloof from a purely political life. He belonged to no party, and as head of the Government could rise above party issues. Not till later did the four months of his premiership demonstrate the consequences of such aloofness even from that very narrow sphere of political life which in Tsarist Russia was limited to work in the Duma and party activity. Neither a clear, definite, manly programme, nor the ability for firmly and persistently realising certain political problems were to be found in Prince G. Lvov. But these weak points of his character were generally unknown." (13)

Prince George Lvov allowed all political prisoners to return to their homes. Joseph Stalin arrived at Nicholas Station in St. Petersburg with Lev Kamenev and Yakov Sverdlov on 25th March, 1917. The three men had been in exile in Siberia. Stalin's biographer, Robert Service, has commented: "He was pinched-looking after the long train trip and had visibly aged over the four years in exile. Having gone away a young revolutionary, he was coming back a middle-aged political veteran." (14)

The exiles discussed what to do next. The Bolshevik organizations in Petrograd were controlled by a group of young men including Vyacheslav Molotov and Alexander Shlyapnikov who had recently made arrangements for the publication of Pravda, the official Bolshevik newspaper. The young comrades were less than delighted to see these influential new arrivals. Molotov later recalled: "In 1917 Stalin and Kamenev cleverly shoved me off the Pravda editorial team. Without unnecessary fuss, quite delicately." (15)

The Petrograd Soviet recognized the authority of the Provisional Government in return for its willingness to carry out eight measures. This included the full and immediate amnesty for all political prisoners and exiles; freedom of speech, press, assembly, and strikes; the abolition of all class, group and religious restrictions; the election of a Constituent Assembly by universal secret ballot; the substitution of the police by a national militia; democratic elections of officials for municipalities and townships and the retention of the military units that had taken place in the revolution that had overthrown Nicholas II. Soldiers dominated the Soviet. The workers had only one delegate for every thousand, whereas every company of soldiers might have one or even two delegates. Voting during this period showed that only about forty out of a total of 1,500, were Bolsheviks. Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries were in the majority in the Soviet.

The Provisional Government accepted most of these demands and introduced the eight-hour day, announced a political amnesty, abolished capital punishment and the exile of political prisoners, instituted trial by jury for all offences, put an end to discrimination based on religious, class or national criteria, created an independent judiciary, separated church and state, and committed itself to full liberty of conscience, the press, worship and association. It also drew up plans for the election of a Constituent Assembly based on adult universal suffrage and announced this would take place in the autumn of 1917. It appeared to be the most progressive government in history. (16)

▲ Main Article ▲

Primary Sources

I went on to say that there was now a barrier between him and his people, and that if Russia was still united as a nation it was in opposing his present policy. The people, who have rallied so splendidly round their Sovereign on the outbreak of war, had seen how hundreds of thousands of lives had been sacrificed on account of the lack of rifles and munitions; how, owing to the incompetence of the administration, there had been a severe food crisis, and - much to my surprise, the Emperor himself added, "a breakdown of the railways". All that they wanted was a Government that would carry on the war to a victorious finish. The Duma, I had reason to know, would be satisfied if His Majesty would but appoint as President of the Council a man whom both he and the nation could have confidence, and would allow him to choose his own colleagues.

I next called His Majesty's attention to the attempts being made by the Germans, not only to create dissension between the Allies, but to estrange him from his people. Their agents were everywhere at work. They were pulling the strings, and were using as their unconscious tools those who were in the habit of advising His Majesty as to the choice of his Ministers. They indirectly influenced the Empress through those in her entourage, with the result that, instead of being loved, as she ought to be, Her Majesty was discredited and accused of working in German interests. The Emperor once more drew himself up and said: "I choose my Ministers myself, and do not allow anyone to influence my choice."

The situation is growing worse. Measures should be taken immediately as tomorrow will be too late. The last hour has struck, when the fate of the country and dynasty is being decided.

The government is powerless to stop the disorders. The troops of the garrison cannot be relied upon. The reserve battalions of the Guard regiments are in the grips of rebellion, their officers are being killed. Having joined the mobs and the revolt of the people, they are marching on the offices of the Ministry of the Interior and the Imperial Duma.

Your Majesty, do not delay. Should the agitation reach the Army, Germany will triumph and the destruction of Russian along with the dynasty is inevitable.

All attention here is concentrated on the food question, which for the moment has become unintelligible. Long queues before the bakers' shops have long been a normal feature of life in the city. Grey bread is now sold instead of white, and cakes are not baked. Crowds wander about the streets, mostly women and boys, with a sprinkling of workmen. Here and there windows are broken and a few bakers' shops looted. But, on the whole, the crowds are remarkably good-tempered and presently cheer the troops, who are patrolling the streets.

Revolution in Moscow. Great scenes in front of Duma. Workmen and Socialists take the upper hand and encamp in Duma. Troops all come over. No bloodshed and the crowd on the whole very orderly. No news from Petrograd.

The fine weather brought everybody out of doors, and as the bridges and approaches to the great thoroughfare were for some unaccountable reason left open, crowds of all ages and conditions made their way to the Nevsky, till the miles separating the Admiralty from the Moscow Station were black with people. Warnings not to assemble were disregarded. No Cossacks were visible. Platoons of Guardsmen were drawn up here and there in courtyards and side streets. The crowd was fairly good-humoured, cheering the soldiers, and showing themselves ugly only towards the few visible police. Shortly after 3 p.m. orders were given to the infantry to clear the street. A company of Guards took up their station near the Sadovaya and fired several volleys in the direction of the Anichkov Palace. Something like 100 people were killed or wounded. On the scene of the shooting hundreds of empty cartridge cases were littered in the snow, which was plentifully sprinkled with blood.After the volleys the thoroughfare was cleared, but the crowd remained on the sidewalks. No animosity was shown towards the soldiers. The people shouted "We are sorry for you, Pavlovsky (the Pavlovsky Guards Regiment). You had to do your duty.

I was talking to friends there in the corridor on the first floor, outside the office of General Manikovsky, the Chief of the Department, when General Hypatiev, the chemical expert, and M. Tereshchenko arrived with the news that the depot troops of the garrison had mutinied and were coming down the street. I heard for the first time that a company of the Pavlovsky Regiment had fired on the police on the previous evening and had been disarmed and confined in the Preobrazhensky barracks. The Preobrazhensky and Volynsky Regiments had now mutinied.

We went to the window and waited. Outside there was evident excitement, but no sound came to us through the thick double windows. Groups were standing at the corners gesticulating and pointing down the street. Officers were hurrying away, and motorcars, my own amongst the number, were taking refuse in the courtyards of neighbouring houses.

It seemed that we waited at least ten minutes before the mutineers arrived. Craning our necks, we first saw two soldiers - a sort of advanced guard - who strode along the middle of the street, pointing their rifles at loiterers to clear the road. One of them fired two shots at an unfortunate chauffeur. Then came a great disorderly mass of soldiery, stretching right across the wide street and both pavements. They were led by a diminutive but immensely dignified student. There were no officers. All were armed, and many had red flags fastened to their bayonets. They came slowly and finally gathered up in a compact mass in front of the Department.

Soon we heard the windows and doors on the ground floor being broken in, and the sound of shots reached us. The telephone rang and Manikovsky took up the receiver. "They are shooting at the Sestroresk Works, are they?" he roared in his great voice. "Well, God be with them! They are shooting at the Chief Artillery Department too!"

An excited orderly rushed in: "Your High Excellency! They are forcing their way into the building. Shall we barricade your door?" But Manikovsky had kept his nerve, and said: "No. Open all doors. Why should we hinder them?"As the orderly turned away, astonished at this new complaisance, Manikovsky sighed, and said to me with the characteristic Russian click of worried anger: "Look what our Ministry has brought us to!"

In a short time the whole of the city was aglow with the glare from the burning buildings which, in addition to the heavy firing, made the situation appear far worse than it actually was, and had the effect of clearing the streets of the more serious-minded and nervous citizens. The mobs presented a strange, almost grotesque appearance. Soldiers, workmen, students, hooligans and freed criminals wandered aimlessly about in detached companies, all armed, but with a strange variety of weapons. A student with two rifles and a belt of machine-gun bullets round his waist was walking with another with a bayonet tied to the end of a stick. A drunken soldier had only the barrel of a rifle remaining, the stock having been broken off in forcing an entry into some shop. A steady, quiet-looking business man grasped a large rifle and a formidable belt of cartridges.

The crowds commenced to commandeer every automobile in the city, no matter to whom it might belong. These automobiles they filled with armed men, with at least two soldiers lying on the mudguards with loaded rifles and fixed bayonets. These formidable units then rushed all over the city shooting wildly, but with the chief object of hunting down the police, especially those in the outlying districts who had not yet become aware of the true state of affairs in the city.

(15) General Lukomsky, assistant to the Chief of Staff, letter (3rd March, 1917)

The Tsar entered the hall. After bowing to everybody, he made a short speech. He said that the welfare of his country, the necessity for putting an end to the Revolution and preventing the horrors of civil war, and of directing all the efforts of the State to the continuation of the struggle with the foe at the front, had determined him to abdicate in favour of his brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich.

The astounding, and to the stranger unacquainted with the Russian character almost uncanny, orderliness and good nature of the crowds of soldiers and civilians throughout the city are perhaps the most striking features of the great Russian Revolution. At the Taurida Palace yesterday it was wonderful to see the way in which the huge gathering of soldiers and civilians managed to avoid collision. Inside the building the work of the various Parliamentary Committees went on day and night with unflagging intensity.

(17) Edward T. Heald, letter to his wife (3rd March, 1917)

Probably the predominant impression that an American received from the events of the day was the self-restraint and order of the soldiers, as well as the workingmen. There were cases of killing and bloodshed, and during the day many were taken to the hospitals; but considering the size of the revolution and the number of men and soldiers engaged in the struggle, the amount of bloodshed was small. Outside of the destruction of property of the police districts, the officer's quarters, and the homes of the suspected aristocracy, there was little looting.

The composition of the new government is extraordinarily moderate in the circumstances. There has been, and still is, danger from extremists, who want at once to turn Russia into a Socialist republic and have been agitating amongst soldiers, but reason has been reinforced by a sense of danger from the Germans and the lingering forces of reaction gaining the upper hand.

In numberless talks I have had with soldiers I have been struck by their fundamental reasonableness, their sense of order and discipline. They wish to be free men, but very strongly realize their duty as soldiers. The more moderate Socialists, the so-called Plekhanov party, who stand for war, are very useful as mediators, and as soon as the new Government secures its ground the influence of the extremists will be diminished.

It is a wonderful thing to see the birth of freedom. With freedom comes brotherhood, and in Petrograd today there is a flow of brotherly feeling. Everywhere you see it in the streets. The trams are not yet running, and people are tired of endless walking. But the habit now is to share your cab with perfect strangers.

The police have gone, but the discipline is marvelous. Everyone shares the task of maintaining discipline and order. A volunteer militia has been formed and 7,000 men enrolled as special constables, mostly students, professors, and men of the professional classes generally. These, with the help of occasional small patrols of soldiers, control the traffic, guard the banks, factories, and Government buildings, and ensure security.

Soldiers, with all their freedom, are displaying a sense of order and discipline that would be hardly conceivable in any other nation. Throughout the revolution, when the city was actually under the control of thousands of soldiers, they behaved with few exceptions like thorough gentleman. We heard of no cases of cold-blooded murder. Only those officers or police were killed who opened fire on the soldiers. Private property nearly everywhere was scrupulously respected, and in most cases robbery was due to criminals disguised as soldiers.

Good news comes this evening that the moderate group in the Soviet is gaining the upper hand, and the prospects are brighter than ever. Prince Kropotkin (now living in Brighton) and Plekhanov, veteran Socialist exiles, who the champion war as a war of defence and liberation, have been urgently invited to return to help in the work of reconstruction.

(21) Nicholas II, abdication statement (7th March, 1917)

Today, I am addressing you for the last time, my dearly loved armies. I have abdicated for myself and for my son, and I am leaving the throne of the Emperors of Russia. Much blood has been shed, many efforts have been made, and the hour of victory is approaching when Russia and her Allies will crush, in the common effort, the last attempts of the enemy. The unprecedented war must be conducted to the final victory. Those who think of peace and wish it now are twice traitors to their country. Every honest soldier must think that way. I urge you to fulfill your duty and to valiantly defend your Russia. Obey the Provisional Government!

Student Activities Russian Revolution Simmulation
Bloody Sunday ( Answer Commentary)

1905 Russian Revolution ( Answer Commentary)

Russia and the First World War ( Answer Commentary)

The Life and Death of Rasputin ( Answer Commentary)

The Coal Industry: 1600-1925 ( Answer Commentary)

Women in the Coalmines ( Answer Commentary)

Child Labour in the Collieries ( Answer Commentary)

Child Labour Simulation ( Teacher Notes)

The Chartists ( Answer Commentary)

Women and the Chartist Movement ( Answer Commentary)

Road Transport and the Industrial Revolution ( Answer Commentary)

Canal Mania ( Answer Commentary)

Early Development of the Railways ( Answer Commentary)

Health Problems in Industrial Towns ( Answer Commentary)

Public Health Reform in the 19th century ( Answer Commentary)

Richard Arkwright and the Factory System ( Answer Commentary)

Robert Owen and New Lanark ( Answer Commentary)

James Watt and Steam Power ( Answer Commentary)

The Domestic System ( Answer Commentary)

The Luddites: 1775-1825 ( Answer Commentary)

The Plight of the Handloom Weavers ( Answer Commentary)

1832 Reform Act and the House of Lords ( Answer Commentary)

Benjamin Disraeli and the 1867 Reform Act ( Answer Commentary)

William Gladstone and the 1884 Reform Act ( Answer Commentary)

References
(7) Michael Rodzianko, President of the Duma, telegram to Nicholas II (26th February, 1917)

(9) Morgan Philips Price, letter to Anna Maria Philips (13th March 1917)

(10) Nicholas II, diary entry (15th March, 1917)

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Sections In September, 1915, Tsar Nicholas II decided to replace Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich Romanov as supreme commander of the Russian Army fighting on the Eastern Front. He was disturbed when he received the following information from General Alexei Brusilov: "In recent battles a third of the men had no rifles.

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New York Public Libraries: Russian Revolution

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New York Public Libraries: Russian Revolution

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The Russian revolution--events and personalities: an album of photographs - NYPL Digital Collections

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Content: Photos. mounted on plates ; issued in case. 14 plates numbered in manuscript without captions. Captions in Russian and English. Contains Photographs and postcards. The album was apparently compiled in the 1940s or later. Approximately 154 separate images on 79 plates (marked 1-91, missing 12 plates as above), stored in 2 boxes.

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General Overview: In 1917 Russia went through two revolutions: February 24-29 and October 24-25. The first revolution overthrew the tsarist government and replaced it with a Provisional Government of members (mostly members of the Cadet party), who allowed a Contact Commission of the Petrograd Soviet to advise the government. Protests and strikes against the new government quickly grew as Russia's involvement in lingered on, and the Provisional Government responded by establishing a Coalition Government with the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet. This Dual Power however, created a confused bureaucratic quagmire, leading the government to inaction on urgent issues such as the widespread famine and slaughter on the front. Such crisis resulted in opportunities for some to seize autocratic power, as Kerensky and General Kornilov attempted.

On October 24-25 the party led Russian workers and peasants to revolution, under the slogan of: "All power to the ". On October 25-26, the Second All-Russia Congress of Soviets met and created the Soviet Government through the elections of a new Council of People's Commissars and Central Executive Committee. The new government resolved to begin construction on a society, but soon encountered extreme obstacles: while attempting to come to peace with all warring nations, only Germany agreed to peace (see the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk). When World War I ended, fresh off the battlefields of the Western Front, the Entente powers (US, UK, France, Japan, etc.) invaded Russia from all directions, assisted by tsarist generals and provisional government politicians. A four year ravaged the country with catastrophic famine and casualties, forcing the government to adopt War Communism in order to survive. By the end of the war, a devastated Russia began to slowly rebuild with such programs as the .

Eye Witness Reports

Ten Days that Shook the World, by John Reed 1919

Six Red Months in Russia, by Louise Bryant 1918

History of the Russian Revolution to Brest-Litovsk, by Leon Trotsky, 1918

From July to October, from My Life, by Leon Trotsky, 1930

The History of the Russian Revolution, by Leon Trotsky, 1930

The October Revolution, by J.V. Stalin, 1918

The October Days, from Krupskaya's Reminiscences of Lenin, 1933

The Years of Revolution, from Alexandra Kollontai's autobiography, 1926

Women Fighters in the Days of the Great October Revolution, Alexandra Kollontai, 1927

Great October in the Ukraine, Nestor Makhno, 1927

Smolny on the Night of the Storm, Anatoly Lunacharsky

Contemporary accounts of the Russian Revolution

The Revolution against Capital, Antonio Gramsci, December 1917

The Russian Revolution, Karl Kautsky, November-December 1917

The Bolsheviki Rising, Karl Kautsky, March 1918

The Russian Revolution, Rosa Luxemburg, 1918

Capitalist Europe and Socialist Russia, Morgan Philips Price, November 1918

The Truth about Russia, Arthur Ransome, 1918

The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Government, Peter Kropotkin, April 1919

Third Anniversary of the Russian Revolution, Georgi Dimitrov, 3 November 1920

The Russian Revolution, William Z. Foster, 1921

Is the Russian Revolution a Bourgeois Revolution?, Karl Radek, 1921

The Paths of the Russian Revolution, Karl Radek, 1922

On the Russian and German Revolutions, Eduard Bernstein, December 1922

My Disillusionment in Russia, Emma Goldman, 1923

Lessons of October, Leon Trotsky, 1924

Year One of the Russian Revolution, Victor Serge, 1925-1928

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General Overview: In 1917 Russia went through two revolutions: February 24-29 and October 24-25. The first revolution overthrew the tsarist government and replaced it with a Provisional Government of members (mostly members of the Cadet party ), who allowed a Contact Commission of the Petrograd Soviet to advise the government.

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In this module you will learn:

* FIVE strengths and SEVEN weaknesses of the Tsar's Government in 1913

* Events on the SIX days of the March Revolution

* Events of the Provisional Government, March - November 1917

* THREE days of Bolshevik Revolution, 6-8 November 1917

* SEVEN events of the Civil War, 1918-1921.

* The New Economic Policy[ NEP]

* A timeline of Collectivisation

* THREE failures [] of Collectivisation

* FOUR reasons Stalin introduced the 5-Year Plans

* TEN ways the 5-Year Plans industrialised Russia

* THREE successes and THREE failures of the 5-Year Plans

* Why Stalin started the Purges []

* FOUR characteristics of Stalin's Terror []

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FIVE strengths and SEVEN weaknesses of the Tsar's Government in 1913 * Events on the SIX days of the March Revolution * Events of the Provisional Government, March - November 1917 * THREE days of Bolshevik Revolution, 6-8 November 1917 * SEVEN events of the Civil War, 1918-1921.

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Alpha History - summary, primary quotes and links

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Alpha History - summary, primary quotes and links

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Nicholas II's demise began in February 1917, after two-and-a-half years of total war and more than two decades of dissatisfaction with tsarist rule. Like the unrest of 1905, the February Revolution began spontaneously, a popular revolt rather than an organised insurrection. At the heart of this unrest were shortages of food and fuel. Russian cities had begun to suffer food shortages just months after the outbreak of war. In April and May 1915, both Petrograd and Moscow were paralysed by so-called 'food pogroms', as women and workers rioted in protest against the unavailability of meat and bread. But these marches were a shadow of what was to come. By 1916 urban food shortages were even more critical. The war had increased demand but food production had fallen away significantly, prompting St Petersburg to authorise grain requisitioning in 31 different provinces. Some historical research suggests that Russian farmers were producing enough to feed the nation - but this food was just not reaching the cities.

These food shortages became perilous during the winter of 1916-17. Severe weather cut railway connections between the frontline, the cities and rural areas, affecting the movement of resources and personnel. This disruption was most keenly felt in the cities, where much-needed food supplies failed to arrive by rail. According to one source, Moscow required 120 freight cars of grain a day to feed itself but at the start of 1917 was receiving just one-sixth of this amount. Bread shortages, not unknown in Russian cities even at the best of times, became endemic. In February government ministers responded by rationing bread, which triggered an increase in unrest, protests and looting. By the end of the month, almost 200,000 people were on strike in the cities. All this should have caused great concern for the Tsarina who, with the Tsar away at the front, was effectively in control of the government. But she dismissed it as "a hooligan movement", writing to her husband that "if the weather was cold they would probably stay at home". It was to prove a fatal misjudgement.

"Historians sometimes contrast the February Revolution's 'spontaneity' - the idea that it arose from popular protests without direct political leadership - to the 'conspiratorial' October Revolution, which is often described as a coup d'etat. The idea that the February Revolution occurred spontaneously also contrasts sharply with the 'party line' in histories published in the Soviet Union, which held that the Bolshevik Party led the masses in the February Revolution. But neither the socialist parties in the new Petrograd Soviet, nor the liberals in the Duma's provisional committee anticipated that the February 23rd strike would snowball into revolution."
Michael C. Hickey

For a fortnight the tsar ignored panicked messages and reports, pleading for his return to Petrograd. Nicholas instead responded as he often had before: by ordering the Petrograd garrison into the streets to enforce order. Meanwhile, the Duma, which had been growing in confidence and anti-tsarist belligerence, began to insist on the replacement of government ministers. Rodzianko, the Duma president, telegrammed the tsar and informed him that "there is anarchy in the capital. The government is paralysed. It is necessary immediately to entrust a person who enjoys the confidence of the country with the formation of the government. Any delay is death". Annoyed by what he considered to be Rodzianko's overreaction, Nicholas made one last fatal mistake: he ordered the dissolution of the Duma. This time, however, the Duma refused. Not only did it continue meeting, it also formed a provisional committee of 12 men and charged them with formulating plans for a temporary national government. On the same day (February 28th) the city's Soviet, which first met amid the turmoil of 1905, decided to reform. Comprised mainly of Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries, the Petrograd Soviet pledged to represent the interests of workers, soldiers and sailors. Russia now had two new political entities: one unelected but given delegated authority from the Duma; the other with no official authority but backed by the disgruntled working masses.

Whatever the importance of the Duma and the Soviet, the critical group at this time was the Imperial Army. If the army decided to obey the tsar's orders, the February Revolution would be crushed. Fearing an imminent slaughter in Petrograd, and perhaps an outbreak of civil war, the Duma's provisional committee asked military commanders not to carry out the tsar's orders. They need not have worried since few soldiers in Petrograd intended to obey them. Garrison battalions sent to deal with protestors and rioters often did nothing. Some dismounted or broke ranks and joined the protestors they had been ordered to shoot. One platoon, issued with orders to fire on demonstrators, chose instead to shoot its commanding officer.

Finally succumbing to the realities of the situation, Nicholas II boarded a train back to St Petersburg - but his journey was soon stalled by breakdowns in railway infrastructure. The tsar's train carriage was delayed on a siding at Pskov, just across the Estonian border. On March 2nd Nicholas was met in his railway car by a delegation from the Duma, which insisted on nothing less than his abdication. The tsar, still clinging to the idea that his dynasty could be saved by force, asked for time to consult his generals. But the delegation had come armed: they showed Nicholas telegrams from his generals that urged him to resign the throne. Eventually, Nicholas relented and signed the instrument of abdication, surrendering the autocratic power to Michael, his brother. Michael, however, refused to accept the crown unless an elected constituent assembly offered it to him. The throne, therefore, became empty. With the stroke of a pen, Nicholas II signed away more than 300 years of Romanov autocracy.

1. The February Revolution began as a public strike about food and fuel shortages in the Russian capital Petrograd.

2. War and domestic mismanagement had caused the transport system to fail, reducing the movement of food especially.

3. In late February food protests in Petrograd became a popular revolution, prompting the tsar to dissolve the Duma.

4. This order was ignored. The Duma instead formed a provisional committee to organise a temporary government.

5. When soldiers refused the tsar's orders to fire on civilians, and his generals refused to back him, he eventually agreed to abdicate. The document was signed in a stranded railway car in Pskov on March 2nd 1917.

© Alpha History 2014. Content on this page may not be republished or distributed without permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use.
This page was written by Jennifer Llewellyn, John Rae and Steve Thompson. To reference this page, use the following citation:
J. Llewellyn et al, "The February Revolution" at Alpha History, https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/february-revolution/, 2014, accessed [date of last access].

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Nicholas II's demise began in February 1917, after two-and-a-half years of total war and more than two decades of dissatisfaction with tsarist rule. Like the unrest of 1905, the February Revolution began spontaneously, a popular revolt rather than an organised insurrection. At the heart of this unrest were shortages of food and fuel.

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Note: Not all pages are viewable due to a paywall.

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This section covers the events from February to July 1917. In it we will be asking why and how the protests against shortages of bread turned into a full-scale revolution in February 1917? How did people react to the downfall of the Tsar? What were the aims of the Provsional Government and the Soviet? How did their Dual Power system work in the spring of 1917? How far did either represent the hopes and expectations of the peasants, workers, national minorities, sailor and soldiers? How should we account for the popular appeal of Lenin's April Theses among those who rallied to the Bolsheviks? And why did the authority of the Provisional Government collpase so quickly in the summer months of 1917? You will find some answers to these question in this sectiom, which also contains extracts from my books and photographs from 1917. Register here to get information on accessing more materials including my responses to exam questions on these themes.

Today the Russian Revolution is linked in people's minds to the events of October 1917. But the Bolshevik seizure of power was a coup d'état which depended on the social forces unleashed by the February Revolution, the real revolution of 1917.

The Downfall of the Monarchy

The Provisional Government

Lenin and The April Theses

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The February Revolution 1917 : Orlando Figes

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This section covers the events from February to July 1917. In it we will be asking why and how the protests against shortages of bread turned into a full-scale revolution in February 1917? How did people react to the downfall of the Tsar? What were the aims of the Provsional Government and the Soviet?

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Proctor - Chpt 8 The February Revolution

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Proctor - Chpt 10 - Lenin, Trotsky & Kerensky

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Proctor- Chpt 11 - The Bolshevik Revolution

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Culpin Chp 2 Russian Rev - the essentials

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Culpin Chp 3 Was Tsar to blame for 1905 Rev

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Culpin Chp 5 Why was there a Rev in Feb 1917

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Abdication begins around 49.20mins

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Empire of the Tsars Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley   03  The Road to Revolution

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All Russians..

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Peasants

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

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Comprehensive archive of Lenin's writing in 1917

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Comprehensive archive of Lenin's writing in 1917

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Index of Lenin's Collected Works by Date

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Selection of Websites about Russia's Revolutions

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Selection of Websites about Russia's Revolutions

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A few months back I posted images from 1905-1906 Russian revolutionary periodicals that I found at Yale University's digital library. Recently I (accidentally) came across a related book called Blood and Laughter: Caricatures from the 1905 Revolution that contains more illustrations of the 1905-1906 Russian underground press.

from Leshii (Woodgoblin) No. 2, 1906

"Sunday 9 January 1905: Hundreds of thousand of workers assemble in the streets of St Petersburg. They are in their Sunday best and accompanied by their elderly relatives and children. There are no banners or slogans though some carry icons or church emblems, for this is to be a peaceful demonstration led by an Orthodox priest, Father Gapon. They set off for the Winter Palace, bearing to the Tsar their petition for a constitution. 'Sire!!' it reads. 'We workers have come to you to seek justice and protection. We are in great poverty, we are oppressed and weighed down with labors beyond our strength. We are insulted, we are not recognized as human beings...'

For two cold hours they stand waiting in the snow for Tsar Nicholas to appear and receive their petition. A shot rings out, and they stamp their feet. Another, and they laugh that it must be blanks. A third, and suddenly women and children slump lifeless int eh snow. Still they assure themselves that this must be a mistake, for the Tsar would not shoot down unarmed civilians. But now the gendarmes are galloping in the crowd, and the slaughter has begun. The shooting continues all day long. The dead are counted in the hundreds, the wounded in the thousands, their blood spilt on the Schlusselberg Highway, the Troitsky Bridge and the Nevsky Gates. But the police cart away the bodies so quickly that it is impossible to know the full toll.

Bloody Sunday killed superstition, the old faith in a just Tsar, and unleashed a tumultuous rage among the masses. Father Gapon was soon forgotten, 'his priestly rode', wrote Trotsky, 'a mere prop in the drama whose true protagonist was the proletariat'. A huge wave of strikes swept the country, paralyzing more than 100 towns and drawing in a million men and women. Throughout the summer peasants rioted while terrorists struck at figures of authority.

Alongside the struggle in street and factory was the struggle for the free press. Ministers and clerics suffered assassination more by the pen than the bullet as the revolution strove for the expression of powerful emotions long suppressed. A flood of satirical journals poured from the presses, honouring the dead and vilifying the might. Drawings of frenzied immediacy and extraordinary technical virtuosity were combines with prose and verse written in a popular underground language, veiled in allegory, metaphor and reference to the past.

Russia had a rich history of satirical journalism. In the 1770s, in the reign of Katherine the Great, an elite of intellectuals close to the court developed a new 'aesopian' language - deeply subversive to the enlightened autocracy - to express their opposition to the old regime. The satire of the court flourished until the shadow of revolution in Europe drove the Empress to suppress it. Again in the 1860s highly popular satirical journals sprang up, drawing consciously on their courtly predecessors to curse the Crimean War and Tsar Alexander II's empty promises of reform. While populist revolutionaries went 'to the people' to make common causes with the peasants, radical journalist set out to collect folk-stories, popular sayings, soldiers' songs and workers' ballads. The old allegorical vocabulary was joined to the language of popular satire. By the 1870s these journals has been closed down, but this language was now part of the everyday speech. Satirical writing returned to the underground, where it flourished, rooted in popular protest, until 1905. It was then that satire achieved its full power.

Fore a few brief months the journals spoke with a great and unprecedented rage that neither arrest nor exile could silence. At first their approach was oblique, their allusions veiled, and they often fell victim to the censor's pencil. But people had suffered censorship for too long. Satirist constantly expanded their territory and their targets of attack, demolishing one obstacle after another as they went, thriving on censorship. The workers' movement grew in boldness, culminating in the birth of the St Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies, the people's government. For fifty days the Tsar and his ministers were confronted by another power, another law. Journalist and printers seized the right to publish without submitting to the censor. The satirical journals then reached their apotheosis, until the revolution died as it had risen, bathed in blood.

More clearly than any party resolution or government proclamation, the caricatures of 1905 tell the story of that heroic failure - and they are a symptom of that failure too...they chronicle with incredible vividness that moment of the transition from Tsarist despotism to Bolshevik revolution." -by Cathy Porter, from Images of Revolution: Graphic Art from 1905 Russia

from K Svetu (Towards the Light) No. 3 1906

"In the State Duma. 'Interpellation'"by Alexander Kudinov. Leshii No. 1, 1906

from K Svetu (Towards the Light) No 2, 1906

Strana Mechty (Land of Dreams) No. 1, 1906

"The Moscow Vampire" - Volshebny Fonar No. 2, 1906 (depiction of Governor-General Fedor Vasilevich Dubasov)

from Kosa No. 4, 1906

from Pchela No. 3, 1906

from Zarnitsy No. 8, 1906 (Witte and Durnovo burning the books)

Krasny Smekh (Red Laughter) No. 2 1906, by Boris Kustodiev

Satiricheskoe Obozrenie (Satirical Review) No. 1, 1906

"The Triumphant Pig" - Maski (Masks) No. 8, 1906

"The Treacherous Neva Reflected Everything" - Volshebny Fonar (Magic Lantern). No. 1, 1906

"Christmas Tree" - Burelom (Storm-Wood), Christmas 1905

"31 December 1905" Burelom (Storm-Wood), Christmas 1905. Facing is Drubasov, the Governor-General of Moscow and organizer of the suppression of the Moscow uprising, and Prime Minister Witte is shown with his back turned, playing with death.

from Zarevo (Dawn) No. 3, 1906

from Zarnitsy (Summer Lightning) No. 1, 1906

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All of the images come from David King and Cathy Porter's Blood and Laughter : Caricatures From the 1905 Revolution [ link]
I haven't yet got my hands on it but David King and Cathy Porter also published Images of Revolution: Graphic Art from 1905 Russia [ link]
also, once again, see Yale University's collection at Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library [ link]
my previous post on the subject [ link]
see Trixie Treat's post on the journals [ link]

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More from the 1905-1906 Russian Underground Press

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A few months back I posted images from 1905-1906 Russian revolutionary periodicals that I found at Yale University's digital library. Recently I (accidentally) came across a related book called Blood and Laughter: Caricatures from the 1905 Revolution that contains more illustrations of the 1905-1906 Russian underground press. from Leshii (Woodgoblin) No.