5. February Revolution

Question 1

Timeline - February (1)

Answer 1

18th February:
Workers of Petrograd’s Putilov steel factory go on strike for pay and conditions.
40,000 workers on the street.

22nd February
Putilov strike escalates and management locks workers out = workers from neighbouring factories join.

Question 2

Timeline - February (2)

Answer 2

24th February
Thousands of Petrograd’s working class women march from factories to commemorate international Women’s Day
Women suffered greatly because of food shortages, had to get up at 3:00 AM to queue for bread
Women rallied using banners, anti war and anti government slogans + bread demands
Women called out to men working in Heavy Industries to join them by throwing snowballs at windows.
Solidarity with men = 90,000 workers

Question 3

Timeline - February (3)

Answer 3

25th February
Workers not already on strike join in, as do office workers, teachers and students.
Some soldiers smiled and waved at the crowds
One Cossack unit charged up to groups of protesters and pulled back, winking at them and riding off. Encourages workers to become bolder.

Question 4

Timeline - February (4)

Answer 4

26th February
Protests swelled to 300,000 people.
Officers order soldiers to fire directly into the crowds, causing up to 200 casualties.
Morale is low, many soldiers firing on workers vowed not to do it again
Mutinies erupted among some regiments overnight.
Tsar Nicholas is unwilling or unable to accept the predicament facing his government and orders the dismissal of the Duma.

26th February
A general strike paralyses the city and there are 400,000
Most soldiers fraternise with workers, refusing to obey orders and mutiny spreads throughout the Petrograd Garrison.
By the end of the day, 70,000 soldiers joined the revolutionary movement.

Question 5

Timeline - February (5)

Answer 5

28th February
Workers and soldiers control the streets (red flags, ribbons, arm bands)
Nicholas decides that his presence will bring order to the capital, and he sets off to Petrograd by train.
His train is unable to reach its destination as revolutionary troops control sections of the line.

Question 6

Timeline - March (1)

Answer 6

1st March
The Provisional Committee resolved to take power as a Provisional government.
The Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviets have now become alternative centres of power.

Question 7

Timeline - March (2)

Answer 7

3rd March- Tsar’s Abdication.
Tsar Nicholas II attempted to get to Petrograd via train from the frontline to settle the crowds but was refused entry by mutinous groups
On 2 March 1917, the Tsar abdicated in favour of his son, Alexei, but upon hearing of Alexei’s worsening health condition, gives the throne to his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail, instead
Mikhail refused, knowing he would have no support, and so ended 300 years of Romanov rule
People rejoiced over the news with the destruction of imperial symbols and statues.

Question 8

Women’s Day March

Answer 8

Feb 18th, 1917 - Putilov Mill Strike, 20,000 workers protest
February 23rd, 1917 - Women’s Day March commences
February 26th, 1917 - Some regiments begin firing on demonstrators killing many.
February 27th, 1917 - Regiments presented with ultimatum from the civilians; either fire upon them or defend them from their fellow soldiers.
February 27th, 1917 - 170,000 soldiers mutinied
March 2nd, 1917 - The Tsar is forced to abdicate

Question 9

Women’s Day March - Facts

Answer 9

Grand Duke threatened to shoot himself if the Tsar did not abdicate
1,500 are estimated to have died
300,000 workers would revolt in the February Revolution
24 Hour bread queues led to disillusioned Woman’s Day participants

Question 10

First Hand Quotes

Answer 10

Trotsky - “…conscious and tempered workers educated in the main by the party of Lenin.”

Question 11

Historian Interpretations

Answer 11

Chamberlain - “…most leaderless, spontaneous, anonymous revolutions of all time.”
Waldron - “…accumulated over the previous half century”
Williams - “…certainly no political party organised the revolution.”
Williams - “…the initiators of the revolution were the workers and the reserve troops”
Ponomarev - “…well directed by Lenin”
Figes - “…fell under the weight of its own internal contradictions. It was not overthrown.”
McKean - “…Great War … broke the army’s loyalty”