The February Revolution and Dual Power

The February Revolution of 1917 (March by the Western calendar) brought about the sudden and largely unexpected collapse of the Romanov dynasty after more than 300 years. The revolution was not planned by any political party — it erupted from below, driven by war-weariness, hunger, and accumulated grievances. The resulting dual power system, in which the Provisional Government shared authority uneasily with the Petrograd Soviet, proved inherently unstable and set the stage for the Bolshevik seizure of power in October.

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The Impact of the First World War

The First World War was the decisive catalyst for revolution. By 1917, Russia's military, economic, and social systems were in crisis.

Military Disaster

Problem	Detail
Defeats	Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes (1914) cost 250,000 casualties; the Great Retreat of 1915 saw Russia lose Poland, Lithuania, and parts of Latvia
Casualties	By 1917, approximately 1.7 million soldiers had been killed and 5 million wounded
Equipment shortages	Soldiers sometimes shared rifles; artillery shells were rationed
Leadership	Nicholas II's decision to take personal command in 1915 made him directly responsible for defeats
Desertion	By 1917, mass desertion was undermining military discipline

Economic Crisis

• Inflation rose by over 400% between 1914 and 1917
• The transport system collapsed under military demands — food could not reach the cities
• Petrograd and Moscow experienced severe bread shortages in the winter of 1916–17
• Industrial production initially rose but then declined as raw materials became scarce
• Real wages fell dramatically; workers were increasingly desperate

Social Impact

• Over 15 million men were mobilised, stripping the countryside of labour
• Women and children worked in factories under terrible conditions
• Refugees flooded westward, creating humanitarian crises
• The moral authority of the government collapsed

Key Definition: Dual Power (dvoevlastie) — the coexistence of two competing centres of authority after the February Revolution: the Provisional Government (representing the propertied classes and liberals) and the Petrograd Soviet (representing workers and soldiers). Neither could govern effectively without the other's cooperation.

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The Role of Rasputin

Grigori Rasputin, a Siberian mystic who claimed to heal the Tsarevich Alexei's haemophilia, gained extraordinary influence over Tsarina Alexandra during the war.

• With Nicholas at the front, Alexandra effectively governed, relying heavily on Rasputin's advice
• Ministers were appointed and dismissed on Rasputin's recommendation — the so-called 'ministerial leapfrog'
• Rasputin was widely (though falsely) rumoured to be a German spy and Alexandra's lover
• His murder by a group of nobles in December 1916 came too late to save the monarchy's reputation

The historian Orlando Figes argues that Rasputin's influence was both a symptom and a cause of the monarchy's collapse: a symptom of the Tsar's isolation and a cause of the elite's loss of faith in the regime.

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The February Revolution: Events

The Build-Up

Date (Western Calendar)	Event
23 February / 8 March	International Women's Day — women textile workers in Petrograd went on strike demanding bread
24 February / 9 March	The strike spread; over 200,000 workers were on strike across Petrograd
25 February / 10 March	A general strike shut down the city; demonstrators carried banners reading 'Down with the Tsar' and 'Down with the War'
26 February / 11 March	Troops were ordered to fire on demonstrators; some units complied, killing around 40 people
27 February / 12 March	The turning point — soldiers of the Volynsky regiment refused to fire on the crowds and mutinied; they joined the demonstrators, bringing their weapons
28 February / 13 March	The Tsar's ministers were arrested; the Petrograd garrison sided with the revolution
2 March / 15 March	Nicholas II abdicated; the Provisional Government was formed

The Spontaneous Nature of the Revolution

The February Revolution was remarkable for what it was not:

• It was not planned by any revolutionary party — Lenin was in Switzerland, Trotsky in New York
• It was not led by any single leader or organisation
• It began as a bread riot that escalated into a political revolution
• The critical moment was the army mutiny — when soldiers refused to suppress the demonstrators, the regime lost its capacity to govern

The historian Rex Wade emphasises the spontaneous and popular character of the February Revolution, arguing that it was driven from below by 'the accumulated frustrations of workers, soldiers, and ordinary people'.

Exam Tip: The spontaneous nature of the February Revolution is significant for the broader question of historical causation. It suggests that long-term structural factors (autocracy, inequality, war) created conditions in which a spark could ignite a revolutionary fire — but no one controlled the process. This contrasts sharply with the October Revolution, which was carefully planned.

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The Provisional Government

The Provisional Government was formed by members of the Duma's Provisional Committee, dominated by liberals and moderate socialists.

Key Features