The February Revolution in Petrograd

Factories gave workers a base for organised action. Exam tip: treat factories as centres of labour politics.

Women workers brought both labour and gender participation forward in the movement. Exam tip: write the double significance.

Demands for bread and democracy linked life crisis with change in rule. Exam tip: make the combination of demands the key point.

The decisive turning point came when soldiers in the Petrograd garrison joined the demonstrators. Tsarist rule depended on the police and army to suppress unrest, so the refusal of soldiers to fire and their support for protesters destroyed the regime’s power of repression. Ordering the dissolution of the Duma was an attempt to control the crisis, not proof that repression had failed. Exam tip: remember the soldiers’ mutiny as a key immediate cause of the fall of Tsarism in the February Revolution.

At the same time a symbol of repression weakened and a new council formed. Exam tip: connect 27 February with direction of power change.

The Soviet gave workers and soldiers an independent popular platform. Exam tip: treat it as the basis of dual power.

The local movement turned into a wider state crisis. Exam tip: write the link between local event and national result.

The Provisional Government replaced the Tsarist administration after the February Revolution, but it was only a transitional authority. It continued Russia’s participation in the First World War and did not immediately solve the urgent problems of food shortages, land redistribution or the question of who should hold political power. Consequently, option A is correct. The Tsar did not simply return as an unrestricted monarch, the Soviets remained highly influential, and the working class certainly did not disappear. These unresolved demands weakened public confidence and created conditions for further revolutionary change in October.

Dual power described the coexistence of the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet after the fall of Tsarism. It was an achievement because the old autocratic monarchy had been removed and representative bodies of workers and soldiers had gained political influence. At the same time, it was a crisis because authority was divided between two institutions with different social bases and priorities. Therefore option A gives both parts of the explanation. The arrangement did not restore unlimited Tsarist power, exclude ordinary people, or end the war immediately.

Tsarism rested on the idea that the monarch possessed hereditary and largely autocratic authority. The democratic slogan challenged that foundation by asserting that political legitimacy should come from the people, representation and accountable institutions rather than from birth and absolute royal power. Thus option A is correct. The slogan was primarily a political demand, not a proposal limited to bread prices or church taxation. It certainly did not strengthen the Tsar’s complete authority. In the context of the February Revolution, democracy therefore represented a direct ideological challenge to the old order.

Food crisis and breaking army loyalty both weakened the regime. Exam tip: write a multi causal analysis.

Women workers turned life crisis into political protest. Exam tip: write women's participation as active.

Spatial division influenced the direction of the movement. Exam tip: connect urban geography with the background of the event.

Protest before official areas created a legitimacy crisis. Exam tip: connect visible protest with challenge to power.

People returning after a curfew indicates that they were unwilling to accept the state's restrictive order. Hence, it shows a conflict between state authority and popular will. Option A is incorrect because full acceptance would not have led people to return and continue public action after the curfew. Exam tip: In the February Revolution, popular mobilisation signalled the weakening authority of the Tsarist state.

Tsarist rule depended heavily on coercive institutions, especially the police, the army and the officials who enforced royal orders. An attack on police headquarters disrupted the machinery of repression, while soldiers’ mutiny weakened the military force that could have been used to suppress demonstrations. Therefore option A is correct. The combined events represented a breakdown in the state’s capacity to control the capital. They did not primarily concern agricultural production, foreign trade or religious education. Once both police authority and military obedience were damaged, the foundations of Tsarist rule became extremely fragile.

Events moved rapidly from lockout to Soviet formation. Exam tip: connect date sequence with cause and result.

The combination of mass movement and soldiers' mutiny became decisive. Exam tip: connect combined pressure with fall of monarchy.

The February Revolution began through spontaneous strikes, bread protests and demonstrations, so it did not start under one centrally planned leader. However, describing it as completely leaderless ignores the later emergence of organised political authority. Duma leaders helped form the Provisional Government, while the Petrograd Soviet organised workers and soldiers and became an important centre of representation. Hence option A is correct. The Tsar did not lead the revolution, foreign powers did not organise every strike, and peasants did not create the entire government in Petrograd. Leadership developed during the revolutionary process.

The influence of Soviets remained decisive in later 1917 politics. Exam tip: treat February and October as linked stages.

The direct answer is A: dual power. Dual power describes a situation in which authority is divided between two competing centres. After the February Revolution, the Provisional Government received formal political legitimacy from Duma leaders, while Soviets, especially the Petrograd Soviet, represented workers and soldiers and could challenge or influence government decisions. The reasoning is: the Provisional Government existed as the official government; Soviets possessed strong support and practical influence; neither side completely controlled political power; therefore the situation was called dual power. Option A is correct because it names this divided and unstable arrangement. Option B is wrong because complete autocracy means one ruler has concentrated authority, whereas the Tsar had fallen and power was contested. Option C is wrong because the main issue was an internal struggle among Russian political bodies, not foreign rule. Option D is wrong because agrarian collectivity concerns agricultural organisation and has nothing to do with two competing political authorities. The arrangement was temporary and unstable, which helped create later conflict in 1917. Memory cue: official government plus powerful Soviets equals dual power.

In February 1917, protests in Petrograd grew because of food shortages and discontent caused by the war. Repression did not stop them: many soldiers refused to fire on the demonstrators and joined them. This rapidly weakened the government’s control. Options B and C are incorrect because force neither ended the strikes nor restored soldiers’ loyalty. Exam tip: remember that the soldiers’ revolt was a major reason for the fall of the government.

February removed monarchy but left the question of power open. Exam tip: connect the result with later politics.

The Revolution came from a combination of social economic and political causes. Exam tip: write a combination not one cause.

People connected hardship of life with failure of rule. Exam tip: write economic and political dimensions together.