The First World War had cost
Russia millions of lives. Those not actually fighting had to face serious food
shortages. The winter of 1916-17 was very cold and
fuel was in very short supply. Cold and lack of food create an environment that
lead to trouble for those blamed for these problems.
By March 1917,
discontent came to a head in Petrograd -this was St. Petersburg but the name
sounded too German so in 1914 the name was changed to the more Russian sounding
Petrograd. Petrograd became St. Petersburg.
March 4th - workers
in the city’s largest factory (the Putilov engineering factory) demanded a 50%
wage increase so that they could buy food. The management refused so the
workers went on strike.
March 8th - 30,000
workers were locked out of work. They were not paid and could not afford any
food now. The strikers persuaded other workers to come out on strike.
Demonstrations occurred throughout the city. Nicholas II was in Petrograd at
this time but he left to inspect troops at the war front thinking that the
demonstrations were the work of hooligans and that they would end shortly. He
was very wrong.
March 9th - the
riots got worse and were getting out of hand. Nicholas was informed about the
situation and the Russian Parliament (the Duma) pleaded with him to order the
release of emergency food supplies. He refused and ordered that the riots
should be put down by March 10th 1917.
March 10th - the
police tried to carry out the orders of Nicholas. Unfortunately, people got
killed and the rioters became even angrier. The rioters opened up prisons and
released those in them. For the first time there were calls for the tsar to
quit. The head of the Duma informed Nicholas that law and order had broken down
as soldiers brought in to put down the rioters had, in fact, joined them.
Nicholas then did something very foolish. He ordered that the Duma was no
longer to meet.
March 11th - the
Duma disobeyed Nicholas - this is usually considered the first act of the
Russian Revolution. The members of the Duma met in chaos. One person in the
Duma, Alexander Kerensky, shouted out that 25,000 soldiers had mutinied and
were marching to where the Duma was meeting to support them. With this support,
the Duma decided to form a temporary government (the Provisional Government) to
take the place of the tsar. In a bizarre move, Alexandra, the tsar’s wife,
phoned him to tell him that he had nothing to worry about.
March 12th - The
leader of the Duma was a man called Rodzianko. He persuaded Nicholas that
things had got very bad for the royal family. Nicholas then decided to return
to Petrograd to restore law and order. The Provisional Government by this time
had got some degree of control and they stopped the royal train outside of
Petrograd. The government wanted to talk terms with Nicholas. The first plan
was for Alexis - the son - to take over but Nicholas refused this as he felt
that the boy was too weak. The throne was offered to Grand Duke Michael but he
did not want it. It became clear to Nicholas that the Provisional Government
did not want a tsar and he was forced to give up the throne.
Royalty came to
an end in Russia in March 1917.
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