The February Revolution in Petrograd

The correct answer is A. During February 1917, wartime disruption, inflation, fuel shortages, and failures in the supply system made bread difficult to obtain in Petrograd. Urban workers faced long queues and worsening living conditions, so an economic grievance became a political protest. Women workers and residents joined demonstrations demanding bread, and strikes spread through factories. The movement soon expanded beyond food to include demands for an end to the war and opposition to Tsarist rule. Thus, bread shortage acted as an immediate trigger that transformed social and economic discontent into organised street action. The other choices are incorrect because the Tsar did not strengthen democracy, workers clearly reacted to the shortage, and the crisis affected ordinary people rather than only the palace.

The Tsarist state depended heavily on the army and police to suppress strikes and demonstrations. At first, the authorities expected troops to disperse the crowds in Petrograd. However, many soldiers were themselves exhausted by war, angry about shortages and drawn from peasant families suffering at home. When soldiers refused to fire and began joining the protesters, the government lost its most important instrument of coercion. The demonstrations could therefore expand instead of being crushed. This change also showed that the monarchy no longer possessed reliable support within the armed forces, making abdication and the formation of a Provisional Government possible. Option A is correct because it identifies the breakdown of military loyalty as the decisive loss of state power. The Land Decree belonged to the later Bolshevik period, and the other alternatives are unrelated or false.

The February Revolution should be explained through several connected causes rather than a single event. Food shortages and rising prices created anger among urban workers; strikes and demonstrations expressed that anger; soldiers, many of whom were themselves drawn from the peasantry, increasingly refused to fire on protesters and joined the uprising; and political opposition weakened the authority of the Tsar. The Duma also played a role, but it did not act alone or without popular pressure. Therefore option A gives the most balanced, multi-causal conclusion. Options B, C, and D reduce a complex revolution to one isolated actor or cause and are historically inadequate.

The city layout explains class division and the route of the movement. Exam tip: connect geography with politics.

Workers moving to the centre brought protest before power. Exam tip: connect movement of place with political impact.

The left bank was linked with power and elites while the right bank was a workers' area. Exam tip: treat it as an example of class division.

The governing historical concept is the connection between material hardship and political mobilisation during the February Revolution. In Petrograd, shortages of bread and other necessities affected workers and their families, while queues, hunger and wartime difficulties revealed the inability of the Tsarist administration to manage the crisis. The grievance therefore moved beyond a demand for food: demonstrations and strikes increasingly challenged the legitimacy and competence of the regime. Option D is correct because it captures this transformation from daily suffering into opposition to failed rule. Option A is contrary to the evidence, since scarcity weakened confidence in the Tsar. Option B ignores the political response of workers, and option C exaggerates the Duma’s authority; the bread crisis did not itself immediately give it full power.

The lockout inspired other workers to strike in support. Exam tip: see it as the beginning of movement expansion.

Sympathy strikes showed workers' collective awareness. Exam tip: make labour unity the key point.

The strike of women workers pushed the movement forward. Exam tip: write women as an active force of revolution.

Women workers turned life crisis into public protest. Exam tip: study everyday hardship and politics together.

At the beginning the movement spread through spontaneous public action. Exam tip: see it as a sign of deep social unrest.

The governing concept is the weakening of state authority when coercive measures fail to restore order. A curfew is intended to restrict movement and discourage public assembly. If demonstrations continue despite it, the event suggests that popular anger has become stronger than the government’s immediate ability to enforce obedience. Option B is correct because it shows the limits of Tsarist repression and the depth of public dissatisfaction. Option A says the opposite of what continued protest indicates. Option C is unsupported; the Duma did not end the movement simply because demonstrations continued. Option D is also illogical, since ongoing unrest is consistent with unresolved shortages and grievances, not proof that the bread crisis had disappeared.

The government chose repression not negotiation. Exam tip: write it as an example of state response.

The governing concept is the relationship between representative institutions, executive repression and political legitimacy. The Duma was a representative body, so suspending it during a period of growing protest reduced an institutional channel through which grievances could be expressed. The decision indicated that the Tsarist government was trying to control the crisis by limiting representative participation rather than resolving the underlying shortages and unrest. Therefore option A is correct. Option B reverses the meaning of suspension: closing a representative institution is not the introduction of full democracy. Option C describes an event that had not occurred merely because the Duma was suspended, while option D is an anachronistic conclusion and did not follow immediately from this action.

Opposition by Duma leaders shows the isolation of Tsarism. Exam tip: see it as a sign of political support breaking.

Returning to the streets on 26 February, despite repression and restrictions, demonstrates that ordinary people continued to participate in the struggle. This persistence shows both continuity and determination. It contradicts the claim that the movement collapsed or was confined to the palace. The Duma’s alleged abandonment is not the evidence described, so option C is correct.

The police headquarters was a symbol of repression so its fall showed weakness of rule. Exam tip: treat 27 February as a turning point.

The direct answer is B: economic life and labour rights were both linked in the movement. Bread concerned the ability of ordinary families to obtain food. Wage demands concerned income and purchasing power, while demands for shorter working hours concerned working conditions and labour rights. When these demands appeared together, the movement was about daily economic survival as well as the treatment of workers. Step by step: shortages and high prices affected families; low or inadequate wages made food harder to buy; long hours added to exploitation; therefore workers and other people protested for both livelihood and rights. Option A is wrong because the movement was not for the royal family; it challenged the existing authority. Option B is correct because it captures both economic hardship and labour demands. Option C is wrong because foreign policy was not the main meaning of these demands. Option D is wrong because workers and ordinary people played a central role. Exam cue: bread, wages and hours together indicate economic grievances plus labour rights.

The demand for democracy gave the movement the form of a political revolution. Exam tip: write the link between economic and political demands.

Once army loyalty broke the regime's grip weakened. Exam tip: connect soldiers' mutiny with the fall of monarchy.

The direct answer is A: the state was losing control over its own instruments of repression. During the February Revolution, the government called soldiers to suppress protesting workers and crowds. If those soldiers obeyed, the government could still use force to maintain order. However, when soldiers refused to fire, joined the protesters or mutinied, the government lost control of a central instrument of coercion. This showed a deep internal crisis, not merely a street protest. Step by step: public demonstrations grew; the government called troops; troops refused or rebelled; state authority weakened; the old regime could no longer rely securely on its army. Option A is correct. Option B is wrong because the government had not fulfilled all demands. Option C is wrong because the statement about a new police order does not explain the soldiers’ mutiny. Option D is wrong because workers had not simply left; their movement continued and gained strength. Exam cue: army mutiny means the state’s coercive power is breaking from within.

The Petrograd Soviet was more than an office or committee because it represented striking workers and soldiers who had become important political actors during the February Revolution. Through the Soviet, these groups could discuss demands, organise collective action and influence decisions about authority, food, war and public order. Its existence created a second centre of power alongside the Provisional Government, producing the situation often called dual power. Option A is correct because it identifies this new popular political authority. Options B and D are absurd institutions, while option C is incorrect because the war continued after the Soviet was formed.

The formation of the Soviet in the Duma building signalled a new form of power. Exam tip: remember the symbolism of place.

Nicholas II’s abdication must be understood as the outcome of a broad political and social crisis, not as a private character defect. In Petrograd, workers protested against shortages, inflation and war conditions; soldiers increasingly refused to suppress the crowds and many joined the uprising. The Duma and other political forces also lost confidence in the Tsar’s government, leaving him isolated. These combined pressures made continued autocratic rule impossible. Option A is correct because it identifies mass action, military mutiny and political isolation together. The other options are historically false or irrelevant: the Tsar did not seek peasant life, Brest-Litovsk came later, and the USSR was not created that day.