Abstract February Revolution. Causes, course of events, consequences. February Revolution reasons and reasons for the revolution

The February Revolution of 1917 in Russia is one of the most controversial moments in Russian history. For a long time it was perceived as the overthrow of “hated tsarism,” but today it is increasingly called a coup d’etat.

Foreshadowing

Back at the end of 1916, there were all the prerequisites for a revolution in Russia: a protracted war, a food crisis, impoverishment of the population, unpopularity of the authorities. Protest sentiments were seething not only at the bottom, but also at the top.
At this time, rumors began to spread intensively about high treason, of which Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Rasputin were accused. Both were accused of spying for Germany.
Radical members of the State Duma, officers and representatives of the elite believed that with the removal of Rasputin it would be possible to defuse the situation in society. But the situation after the murder of the “Tobolsk elder” continued to escalate. Some members of the imperial house stood in opposition to Nicholas II. Particularly sharp attacks towards the tsar came from Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich (grandson of Nicholas I).
In a letter sent to the emperor, he asks to remove Alexandra Fedorovna from governing the country. Only in this case, according to the Grand Duke, would the revival of Russia begin and the lost trust of his subjects would be restored.

Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko claimed in his memoirs that there were attempts to “eliminate, destroy” the empress. He names the initiator of this idea as Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who allegedly made such a proposal in one of her private conversations.

Messages about the conspiracy are reported to Nikolai regularly.

“Ah, again about the conspiracy, that’s what I thought. Good, simple people are all worried. I know they love me and our Mother Russia and, of course, do not want any coup,” this is how the emperor responded to the fears of adjutant A. A. Mordvinov.

However, information about the conspiracy is becoming more and more real. On February 13, 1917, Rodzianko informed General V.I. Gurko that, according to his information, “a coup has been prepared” and “it will be carried out by the mob.”

Start

The reason for the mass unrest in Petrograd was the dismissal of about 1,000 workers at the Putilov plant. The workers' strike, which began on February 23 (March 8 according to the new calendar), coincided with a women's demonstration of many thousands organized by the Russian League for Women's Equality.

“Bread!”, “Down with war!”, “Down with autocracy!” - these were the demands of the action participants.

An eyewitness to the events, the poetess Zinaida Gippius, left an entry in her diary: “Today there are riots. Nobody, of course, knows anything for sure. The general version is that it started on Vyborgskaya because of bread.”

On the same day, a number of capital factories ceased their work - Old Parviainen, Aivaz, Rosenkrantz, Phoenix, Russian Renault, Ericsson. By evening, workers from the Vyborg and Petrograd sides gathered on Nevsky Prospekt.
The number of demonstrators on the streets of Petrograd grew with incredible speed. On February 23 there were 128 thousand people, on February 24 – about 214 thousand, and on February 25 – more than 305 thousand. By this time, the work of 421 enterprises in the city had actually suspended. Such a massive movement of workers attracted other layers of society - artisans, office workers, intellectuals and students. For a short time the procession was peaceful. Already on the first day of the strike, clashes between demonstrators and police and Cossacks were recorded in the city center. The capital's mayor A.P. Balk is forced to report to the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General S.S. Khabalov, that the police are not able to “stop the movement and crowds of people.”

Restoring order in the city was complicated by the fact that the military did not want to use force against the demonstrators. Many Cossacks, if they did not sympathize with the workers, were neutral.

As Bolshevik Vasily Kayurov recalls, one of the Cossack patrols smiled at the demonstrators, and some of them even “winked nicely.”
The revolutionary mood of the workers spread to the soldiers. The fourth company of the reserve battalion of the Pavlovsky Life Guards Regiment rebelled. Its soldiers, sent to disperse the demonstration, suddenly opened fire on the police. The mutiny was suppressed by the forces of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, but 20 soldiers with weapons managed to escape.
Events on the streets of Petrograd increasingly turned into armed confrontation. On Znamennaya Square they brutally killed bailiff Krylov, who tried to get into the crowd and tear down the red flag. The Cossack struck him with a saber, and the demonstrators finished him off with shovels.
At the end of the first day of unrest, Rodzianko sends a telegram to the Tsar, in which he reports that “there is anarchy in the capital” and “parts of the troops are shooting at each other.” But the king does not seem to realize what is happening. “Again, this fat man Rodzianko is writing all sorts of nonsense to me,” he blithely remarks to the Minister of the Imperial Court, Fredericks.

Coup

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:

“The intervention of the 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, post office 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 February Revolution in Russia was bourgeois-democratic in nature. It became the starting point for the collapse of a huge empire, followed by a change in ideology and political elite.

Background and causes of the February Revolution of 1917

The prerequisites for the February events in the economic field were predetermined by the fact that the Russian Empire had a large lag in development from the leading European powers. The transition of Russian entrepreneurs to the production of national products, as well as Russia’s entry into the First World War, made it possible to slightly reduce the overall tension in the country due to the fact that the entire population of Russia rallied around the external enemy. However, the national upsurge did not last long and soon the accumulated problems hit the government.

Rice. 1. Map of the Russian Empire in 19117.

The main prerequisite for the February Revolution was, of course, the First World War. The troops of the Russian Empire retreated further and further east, and a decrease in the level of discipline was noticed among the soldiers. The population was tired of the long war, which led to strikes by factory workers. The tsarist government could not resolve the main issues that had accumulated in the country, which created a revolutionary situation.

The main signs of a revolutionary situation are:

• an increase above normal in the revolutionary political activity of the masses;
• the crisis of the ruling elite, expressed in the reluctance to modernize the management system;
• a crisis of society, expressed in the desire to change the existing reality;
• deterioration of the financial situation of the people.

Rice. 2. Portrait of Nicholas II.

On June 3, 1907, a coup took place in Russia, during which Nicholas II strengthened his power, limited by the “Manifesto of October 17.” The government had 10 years to solve the main problems of Russia, which clearly manifested themselves during the First Russian Revolution. But instead, exiles and political investigation intensified in the country, censorship and the role of the state in human life increased. There was no constitutional system in the country, although the State Duma was established. Stolypin's attempt to destroy the peasant community and transfer it to individual peasant farms in order to eliminate the monolithic opposing class was unsuccessful. A revolutionary inevitability has arisen in the country.

The problem of industrialization of the country by 1917 had not been solved, since the conditions for free capitalist development in agriculture and industry had not been created in the country. Solving these problems could give the royal power time to solve other problems. Even the military-industrial complex continued to operate on feudal principles.

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Causes of the February Revolution

• the decline of the authority of the royal power;
• the terrible situation at the front;
• the plight of workers, low wages, lack of labor legislation;
• Russification policy towards other nationalities of the Russian Empire;
• unresolved agrarian-peasant issue.

The meaning of the revolution for the population of the empire was to radically change the situation in the country in their favor. Due to the fact that the government did not want to transform itself and resolve the main pressing issues, this had to be done by the people themselves. That is why the February Revolution came due to the combination of all the above factors.

February Revolution Reasons and reasons for the revolution

The causes of the revolution were the whole mass of problems facing Russian society, which were actually not resolved after the First Russian Revolution and significantly worsened during the First World War (agrarian, labor and national issues, the preservation of the class and autocratic system, the decline in the authority of the authorities, which even lost the support Duma and nobility, the economic crisis and associated social deprivations, dissatisfaction with the continuation of an unsuccessful war, the rapid growth of a mass movement, etc.).

Three reasons for the February Revolution:

• shortages of bread in Petrograd that began in the second half of February 1917 (due to transport difficulties and rumors of a sharp worsening of the food crisis, which led to a significant increase in demand for bread);
• the workers' strike at the Putilov plant in Petrograd, which began on February 18, 1917, demanding higher wages;
• February 23, 1917 - spontaneous demonstrations of women workers dedicated to International Women's Day, demanding a solution to food problems, an end to the war and the return of their husbands from the front.

Main events of the February Revolution

1. February 23-26, 1917 - a strike at the Putilov plant and a women’s demonstration escalated into citywide strikes and clashes with the police, army and Cossacks (red flags and slogans “Down with the Tsar!” and “Down with War!” appeared at the demonstrations, as a result of the clashes people are dying). Nicholas II, who was at that time at the headquarters of the high command in Mogilev, gave the order to stop the unrest in the capital.
2. February 27, 1917 - a turning point in the revolution:

• armed uprising in Petrograd: several government regiments killed their officers at night and went over to the side of the rebels, after which during the day the rebels throughout the city freed prisoners from prisons, seized weapons, occupied the Tauride Palace, where the State Duma met, and arrested the tsarist government;
• the emergence in the Tauride Palace of two bodies of new power: the Provisional Committee of the State Duma (from representatives of the “Progressive Bloc”, headed by the Octobrist M.V. Rodzianko) and the Petrograd Council of Workers’ Deputies (created on the model of the Soviets of 1905, headed by the Menshevik N. S. Chkheidze). Advice

relied on mass support and real military force in the person of the Petrograd garrison 1. However, the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries who dominated it believed that they should not take power, since the revolution was bourgeois in nature and bourgeois parties should rule, while the task of the socialists was to control them.

On the night of March 1 to 2, the creation of the Provisional Government headed by G. E. Lvov (by agreement between the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the Petrograd Soviet). Leading positions in the government were occupied by representatives of liberal parties - P. N. Milyukov, A. I. Guchkov, M. V. Rodzianko and others, the only socialist was the Minister of Justice, Socialist Revolutionary A. F. Kerensky. A dual power immediately arose between the Provisional Government (“power without force”, since it had no authority and trust in society) and the Petrograd Soviet (“force without power”, since it had broad social support of workers, soldiers, peasants, and relied on the Petrograd garrison );

Abolition of the monarchy: on the evening of March 2, Nicholas II, under pressure from the high military command, signed a Manifesto abdicating the throne in favor of his younger brother Mikhail, but on March 3, Mikhail abdicated in favor of the Constituent Assembly (the issue of the future form of government was to be decided at the Constituent Assembly).

Announcement: the revolution was not allowed to come to its senses, destroying strong Russia more and more.

CAUSES of revolutions:

1. A revolutionary situation arose when the government could not strictly restore order in the economy, and the people could not endure it any longer.
2. Defeats at the front, hunger, poverty.
3. Conspiracy against the Tsar, betrayal of the generals.
4. Contradictions between workers and capitalists, peasants and landowners.

February 1917- bourgeois-democratic revolution. Overthrow of the king. The creation of two government bodies: the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies (Petrosovet) and the Provisional Government. Arose dual power. The Petrograd Soviet controlled the army and navy. The provisional government directed politics and economics.

Constant government crises. Change of government composition 4 times in six months. Defeats at the front. In August, General Kornilov revolted in order to seize power. The head of government, Kerensky, declared him an “enemy of the Fatherland.” The Bolsheviks participate in the creation of people's defense units. The growth of the authority of the Bolshevik Party and the number of its members. There is spy mania in Russia, constant demonstrations. September 1, 1917 Kerensky declares Russia a republic. A search is underway for Lenin, Trotsky and other revolutionaries. The Bolsheviks are preparing for an armed seizure of power.

At night from 25 to 26 October 1917- armed coup, the Bolsheviks arrested the Provisional Government. At the same time it is meeting II All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The Decrees on Land and Peace were adopted. Having learned about the Bolsheviks' prank, other parties left the congress in protest. The remaining Bolsheviks accept the Decree on Power and declare the coup legal. They create a one-party government - SNK(Council of People's Commissars). Later this coup would be called the Great October Socialist Revolution.

From October 1917 to March 1918 there was a triumphal march of Soviet power. The slogans of the Bolsheviks won in all areas. Russia's democratic development was interrupted.

REASONS for the Bolshevik victory:

1. Disagreements among other parties and the weakness of the bourgeoisie.
2. The development of a development program that promises a lot for the people.
3. The growth of the number and armament of the Bolshevik Party.
4. Lenin managed to overcome differences among the Bolsheviks.

The Bolsheviks were armed, organized, strong, and therefore took power. But they will flood Russia with blood. To be continued.

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 of the October Revolution of the 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, led 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 began, which began with the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps. The end of the 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.