February Revolution in Russia

Setting the scene

The February Revolution began on March 8, 1917 (February 23 in the Julian calendar then used in Russia), when women textile workers in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) marched for bread on International Women's Day. The protest merged with strikes over food shortages, inflation, and war weariness—Russia had lost 2 million soldiers in World War I and the economy was collapsing. Within days, 200,000 workers were on strike, and troops sent to suppress them mutinied, joining the protesters.

What happened

The revolution was spontaneous and leaderless—neither Bolsheviks nor other socialists organized it. On March 12, soldiers of the Volinsky Regiment mutinied, and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies was formed. Tsar Nicholas II, at the front, ordered troops to suppress the uprising, but his generals refused, telling him he had lost the army's support. On March 15, Nicholas abdicated, ending 304 years of Romanov rule. His brother Michael refused the throne, and Russia became a republic.

Why it still matters

The February Revolution established a Provisional Government led by liberals and moderate socialists, which shared power uneasily with the Petrograd Soviet in a system called 'dual power.' The Provisional Government continued the war and delayed land reform, losing popular support. This created the conditions for the Bolshevik October Revolution eight months later. The February Revolution demonstrated how war, food shortages, and loss of military loyalty could topple an autocracy in days, and marked the beginning of the end of the Russian Empire.

Background

A provisional government could not end the war.