The February Revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
GQUAW_CdBds
Causes
• By February 1917 the Tsarist government was in
trouble
• The Tsarina was in charge while Nicholas commanded
the army
• And the war was having a serious effect on the
country:
*15.5M men left farms and factories to join the war
*Trains and vehicles which would transport food to the
city were now needed for the war effort causing food
shortages
*Coal supplies stopped and without fuel factories had
to stop
*Inflation saw the value of the rouble drop
Starvation = Discontent = Revolution
/February
Events
Wednesday 7th March: managers of Putilov
steel works lock out their workers 
20,000 tough and angry men in the city
Thursday 8th March: 50 factories close
and 90,000 workers strike
Friday 9th March: 200,000 workers strike
• Saturday 10th March:
250,000 workers on
strike- no public
transport or newspapers
• Sunday 11th March:
President of Duma,
Rodzianko send telegram
to Tsar informing him of
worsening situation- Tsar
orders Duma to stop
meeting
• Monday 12th March:
1. mutiny in Volinsky regiment of army,
soldiers march into centre of St
Petersburg
2. Duma set up a Provisional Committee
to take over the government
3. Revolutionaries set up a Soviet in St
Petersburg
• Tuesday 13th March: Nicholas sends
telegram to Rodzianko leader of Duma
offering to share power
• Wednesday 14th March: Leading army
generals inform Nicholas that none of
army support him
• Thursday 15th March: Nivholas agrees to
abdicate in favour of brother Grand
Duke Michael, who in turn abdiactes
Russia is now a Republic!!!
Tasks
1. Create a timeline showing the events of
the February Revolution 1917 – provide
brief detail of each event
(You may wish to use a double page)
2. Define the term “abdication”
3. What is a “Republic”?
4. Was the February Revolution more
successful than the 1905 Revolution?
Explain your answer
Source A was written by George Buchanan who met Nicholas
II at the Imperial Palace on 12th January, 1917. He later
wrote about this meeting in his book, My Mission to Russia
and Other Diplomatic Memories (1922).
I went on to say that there was now a barrier between him and
his people, and that if Russia was still united as a nation it
was in opposing his present policy. The people, who have
rallied so splendidly round their Sovereign on the outbreak
of war, had seen how hundreds of thousands of lives had
been sacrificed on account of the lack of rifles and
munitions; how, owing to the incompetence of the
administration, there had been a severe food crisis, and much to my surprise, the Emperor himself added, "a
breakdown of the railways". All that they wanted was a
Government that would carry on the war to a victorious
finish.
1. Evaluate the usefulness of Source A as evidence of the
causes of the February revolution of 1917.
1.a) Who wrote Source A?
b) Who wrote Source B
c) Are they likely to have the same opinion about the seriousness of the February
Revolution?
2. a) What evidence is there in Source A that the author believes that the revolution
is not a threat to the power of the Tsar? (2 points from the source)
b) What evidence is there in Source B that the author believes that the revolution is a
threat to the power of the Tsar? (2 points from the source)
3. Overall, do sources A and B agree on the seriousness of the February Revolution of
1917?