Outline of the February Revolution

February Revolution
Part of the Russian Revolution and the Revolutions of 1917–1923
Protests in Petrograd, March 1917
Date 23 February – 3 March 1917 O.S. [8–16 March N.S.] Location Petrograd, Russian Empire Result Revolutionary victory End of the monarchy Period of dual power between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet Proclamation of the Republic October Revolution and start of the Russian Civil War

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the February Revolution in Russia.

The February Revolution (Russian: Февральская революция), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution, was the first of two revolutions in Russia in 1917. Its main events unfolded in and around Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg), then the Russian capital, where long-standing discontent with the monarchy erupted into mass protests over food shortages and rationing.

The revolution lasted a little over a week and was marked by mass demonstrations and violent clashes with the police. On 27 February O.S. [12 March N.S.], most of the capital's garrison went over to the revolutionaries, and Duma members formed the Provisional Committee of the State Duma to fill the vacuum left by the collapsing imperial government. The committee seized the railway telegraph and issued orders announcing that the Duma had taken control, followed by a second telegram barring trains from approaching Petrograd, which prevented troops loyal to the Tsar from arriving by rail. Three days later Nicholas II, stranded aboard his train at Pskov after failing to reach the capital, was forced to abdicate, ending Romanov dynastic rule. That same day the committee, acting together with the Petrograd Soviet, established the Russian Provisional Government under Georgy Lvov, which replaced the Council of Ministers.

Overview

• February Revolution – overview of the 1917 February Revolution in Russia.
• Russian Revolution – the revolutionary period of 1917, comprising the February Revolution and the October Revolution.
• Dual power – the period in which authority in Russia was split between the Russian Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet.

Background

• World War I – major armed conflict between the Allied Powers and the Central Powers. Russia suffered social upheaval during the war, followed by a political and military collapse in 1917 that led to the abdication of Nicholas II and the revolution.
• Eastern Front (World War I) – the Russian theater of World War I.
• 1905 Russian Revolution – wave of political and social unrest that preceded the revolutions of 1917.

Events

• Putilov strike of 1917 – 18 February 1917 O.S. [3 March N.S.] – a workers' strike at the Putilov Works in Petrograd.
• International Women's Day Protests – 23 February 1917 O.S. [8 March N.S.] – women's demonstration and bread riot in Petrograd in opposition to government food rationing.
• 1917 Kronstadt Mutiny – 28 February 1917 O.S. [13 March N.S.] – a revolt of sailors stationed at the Kronstadt Naval Base.
• Abdication of Nicholas II – 2 March 1917 O.S. [15 March N.S.] – Nicholas II renounces the throne while stranded aboard his train at Pskov.

People

Monarchists

• Nicholas II – (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; born 6 May 1868 O.S. [18 May N.S.] – executed 17 July 1918) – Emperor of Russia from 20 October 1894 O.S. [1 November N.S.] until his abdication in 1917. Executed by the Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg.
• Alexandra Feodorovna – (born 6 June 1872 N.S. – executed 17 July 1918) – born Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine; as the wife of Nicholas II she became deeply unpopular in wartime Russia. Executed with her family by the Bolsheviks.

Socialists

• Alexander Kerensky – (born 22 April 1881 O.S. [4 May N.S.] – 11 June 1970) – socialist minister who became Minister-Chairman of the Provisional Government. He later left Russia and died in exile in New York City.

Places

• Petrograd – the Russian capital, known as Saint Petersburg before 1914 and again from 1991.
• Kronstadt – a Russian port city and naval base in the Kronshtadtsky District of Saint Petersburg, on Kotlin Island.

Organizations

• Russian Provisional Government – provisional government of the Russian Empire and later the Russian Republic, which took control on 2 March 1917 O.S. [15 March N.S.] after the abdication of the Tsar.
• Petrograd Soviet – council of workers' and soldiers' deputies formed in Petrograd in February 1917, and a key revolutionary body alongside the Provisional Government.
• Imperial Russian Army – the army of the Russian Empire.
• Imperial Russian Navy - the navy of the Russian Empire.

Bibliography

• Bibliography of the Russian Revolution and Civil War § February

The works below all cover the February Revolution and carry extensive bibliographies for further research.

• Smith, S. A. (2017). Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890 to 1928. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Engelstein, L. (2017). Russia in Flames: War, Revolution, Civil War, 1914–1921. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Figes, O. (1996). A People's Tragedy: A History of the Russian Revolution. New York: Viking.
• McMeekin, S. (2017). The Russian Revolution: A New History. New York: Basic Books.
• Smele, J. (2016). The "Russian" Civil Wars, 1916–1926: Ten Years That Shook the World. New York: Oxford University Press.

See also

• Category:February Revolution
• Index of articles related to the Russian Revolution and Civil War

References

External links

• "Russian Revolution: The February Revolution" at Encyclopædia Britannica
• "What Was The February Revolution?" at the Imperial War Museums
• "February Revolution" by Lewis Siegelbaum, Seventeen Moments in Soviet History