The February Revolution in Petrograd

Correct answer: A. February removed Tsarism, but Bolshevik power came in October

The two revolutions brought different immediate political outcomes. The February Revolution of 1917 overthrew the Romanov monarchy after mass protests, strikes and the loss of military support. A Provisional Government was then formed, while the Petrograd Soviet also exercised influence, creating dual power. The October Revolution occurred later, when the Bolsheviks led an armed uprising and removed the Provisional Government, claiming power in the name of the soviets. Therefore option A is correct: February ended Tsarist rule, whereas October brought the Bolsheviks to power. Options B, C and D confuse the sequence or deny the major political changes.

Correct answer: A. Because Soviets also remained influential and dual power emerged

The Provisional Government had formal administrative authority after the Tsar’s fall, but it did not control political life by itself. Soviets continued to represent workers and soldiers and possessed strong influence over public action and military opinion. This created competing centres of authority. The government had to function alongside the Soviets, so its decisions were contested and its power remained limited. The resulting arrangement made the new order unstable.

Option A is correct because continuing Soviet influence produced dual power. The Tsar did not immediately recover complete authority, workers did not leave politics, and Petrograd did not become empty. The problem was not the absence of a government but the presence of another powerful political centre beside it. This explains why the February settlement did not bring lasting stability.

Correct answer: A. They showed supply failure of rule and public anger in the city

Bread queues turned daily crisis into public political unrest. Exam tip: connect food crisis with crisis of rule.

Correct answer: A. They became centres of worker organisation strikes and political protest

Factories produced collective worker action. Exam tip: treat factories as centres of labour politics.

Correct answer: A. It shows working women were also in the front line of the movement

The role of women workers gave the movement a broad social base. Exam tip: write women as active participants.

Correct answer: A. It brought life crisis and demand for change in rule together

Economic demands concern the conditions in which people live and work. In Petrograd, demands connected with bread, wages, shortages, and relief from hardship expressed the immediate suffering of workers and families. Political demands concerned rights, representation, and a change in the form of government. When these demands came together, the movement challenged both the material causes of dissatisfaction and the political system that people believed was unable or unwilling to solve them.

Option A is correct because it explains this combined character: the life crisis and the demand for a change in rule were connected. The movement was not religious, so B is irrelevant. It did not stabilise Tsarist rule; rather, it weakened that rule, making C wrong. The workers were active in political events, so D reverses the historical meaning. The best interpretation is that the revolution had several connected causes.

Correct answer: A. The relation between soldiers and protesters moved from opposition to support

Soldiers changing sides weakened repression. Exam tip: write the army people relation as decisive.

Correct answer: A. The old police system weakened and the Petrograd Soviet formed

On one side a symbol of repression broke and on the other a new people's council formed. Exam tip: treat 27 February as a decisive turning point.

Correct answer: A. By organising them in a common representative council

The Petrograd Soviet became important because it brought workers and soldiers together in one representative body. Instead of remaining separate groups with limited influence, they could choose representatives, discuss urgent issues, and express their common demands. This gave ordinary people an organised political voice during the crisis of 1917. The Soviet therefore represented popular participation rather than rule by the Tsar or by a small privileged group.

The correct choice is A because it describes this process of organisation in a common representative council. Sending people to villages would not create a political institution, and making them the Tsar’s private army would strengthen the old regime. Removing them from politics would have the opposite effect. The important idea is that a scattered mass became a coordinated political force through representation.

Correct answer: A. It showed military leadership also could not save the Tsar

The advice of military commanders shows the depth of power crisis. Exam tip: connect it with the final pressure on monarchy.

Correct answer: A. Workers' strikes soldiers' mutiny and pressure of political leadership

Events in Petrograd turned into a wider crisis of rule. Exam tip: write the link between local event and national result.

Correct answer: A. Questions of bread, war, land and power still remained

The Provisional Government represented a change in political authority, but it did not solve the main problems that had driven the February Revolution. Russia still faced food shortages, rising prices, unemployment and the enormous burden of the First World War. Peasants continued to demand land, workers sought better conditions and greater control, and soldiers wanted an end to the war. At the same time, the Soviets remained influential, so the question of who should exercise power was unresolved. Option A is correct because it brings together the central unfinished demands. Options B, C and D contradict the historical situation: Tsarism did not fully return, Soviets mattered, and workers did not abandon factories.

Correct answer: A. It removed Tsarism but divided power into two centres

The Provisional Government and Soviets both became influential. Exam tip: understand dual power through both opportunity and instability.

Correct answer: A. Principle of autocratic and hereditary power

The demand for democracy opposed the Tsar's autocratic power. Exam tip: see it as a key political side of the Revolution.

Correct answer: A. Economic crisis and military discontent together weakened the regime

The February Revolution cannot be understood through one isolated event. Bread shortages and rising prices created anger among workers and families, while soldiers were tired, poorly supplied, and unhappy with the war and its conditions. When soldiers refused to continue defending the old order and joined the protesters, the government lost an important instrument of control. Economic suffering and military discontent therefore reinforced each other.

Option A is correct because it explains this combination. Trade policy alone, the Duma alone, or Church reform does not adequately account for the collapse of Tsarist authority. Bread protests showed the depth of social and economic crisis, while the soldiers’ mutiny weakened the regime’s ability to suppress it. Together, these developments helped turn demonstrations into a revolution and made the fall of the monarchy possible.

Correct answer: A. They show active political participation of the working class and women

Women workers brought both labour and gender participation forward. Exam tip: write it with double significance.

Correct answer: A. It created a route of movement from workers' areas to power centres

The social layout on the banks of the Neva shaped the spread of the movement. Exam tip: write the relation between place and society.

Correct answer: A. Protest became visible directly before symbols of power

The city centre had official buildings and symbols of power. Exam tip: connect visible protest with legitimacy crisis.

Correct answer: A. Government imposing curfew and people returning to streets

People returning despite curfew shows disagreement with rule. Exam tip: understand it as state society conflict.

Correct answer: A. Both the repressive machinery and military loyalty were breaking

Tsarism depended heavily on coercive institutions, especially the police and the army, to maintain autocratic rule. When protesters attacked symbols of police authority and soldiers mutinied or refused to obey orders, both major supports of the regime were weakening at the same time. This meant that the government could no longer rely confidently on force to suppress demonstrations. The events therefore revealed a breakdown of state control and military loyalty, making the continuation of Tsarist rule extremely difficult. Option A is correct. Option B reverses the evidence, option C is false because shortages continued, and option D is incorrect because the Duma did not simply end the popular movement.

Correct answer: A. Deep unrest turned into a crisis of rule in a short time

In a few days the situation moved from lockout to soldiers' mutiny and Soviet formation. Exam tip: date sequence is important.

Correct answer: A. The army sent to suppress the mass movement itself joined the rebels

In February 1917, many soldiers sent to suppress workers and public demonstrators in Petrograd refused to fire and joined them. This weakened the Tsar’s main instrument of repression, the army, making regime change possible. Option C is incorrect because the New Economic Policy was introduced by Lenin in 1921, not by the Tsar. Exam tip: remember that the soldiers’ mutiny was decisive in the fall of Tsarism during the February Revolution.

Correct answer: A. The beginning was spontaneous but later Soviet and Duma leaders entered political roles

The movement began spontaneously but later institutions and leaders emerged. Exam tip: understand leadership as a changing process.

Correct answer: A. It made Soviets a central base of power struggle

Soviets became central in later dual power and October politics. Exam tip: study February and October together.

Correct answer: A. Legitimacy from Duma leaders and challenge from Soviets

The direct answer is A: the Provisional Government gained legitimacy from Duma leaders and faced challenge from the Soviets. After the Tsar abdicated, leading members of the Duma formed a Provisional Government to run the state. Its connection with the representative Duma gave it an institutional basis and some public legitimacy. At the same time, workers and soldiers formed Soviets, especially the Petrograd Soviet, which had strong influence over people and troops. Therefore authority was divided: the Provisional Government officially governed, but the Soviets could support, pressure or challenge it. This situation is called dual power. Option A is correct. Option B is wrong because the Tsar had abdicated and the Church was not the main challenger. Option C is wrong because foreign banks did not provide the central political legitimacy, and the option misstates the main challenge. Option D is wrong because police and the palace were not the sources described. Exam cue: Duma-based government plus Soviets’ influence equals dual power.