The February Revolution in Petrograd

The governing concept is the geographical beginning of the February Revolution of 1917. The uprising began in Petrograd, the capital of the Russian Empire, when women workers and other workers organised protests over bread shortages and worsening wartime conditions. Strikes expanded, and soldiers increasingly refused to fire on demonstrators or joined them. This combination of popular protest, labour action, and military defection forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate. Paris, London, and Berlin were important European capitals, but none was the centre of this Russian uprising. Therefore, option C, Petrograd, is correct.

Food shortages and the hardships of the First World War were major causes of public discontent in Russia before February 1917. The war brought huge military losses, inflation, transport disruption and shortages of fuel and bread, especially in cities. Workers faced declining real wages and difficult living conditions, while peasants and soldiers also carried heavy burdens. These problems weakened confidence in Tsar Nicholas II and helped trigger strikes and demonstrations in Petrograd. Option A is therefore correct. The other choices describe conditions that would reduce unrest or contradict the historical situation: the Tsar was increasingly unpopular, wages were not generally very high, and peasants demanded more land rather than possessing too much.

The Petrograd Soviet was a council representing workers and soldiers, formed during the upheaval of the February Revolution in 1917. Delegates from factories and military units discussed political decisions, controlled important forms of local support and claimed to speak for ordinary people. Its existence alongside the Provisional Government created the situation known as dual power. Option A is correct because the Soviet’s social base was primarily workers and soldiers, although its influence affected wider groups. It was not a body of landlords, foreign monarchs or church officials; those groups did not define the Soviet’s representative character.

The governing historical concept is the February Revolution of 1917 and its urban setting. The revolution began in Petrograd, the city then known as St Petersburg and later renamed Leningrad during the Soviet period. In February, strikes and demonstrations—especially those involving workers and women protesting food shortages—spread through the city. Soldiers eventually joined the protesters, weakening the government and forcing Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate. Therefore option B, Petrograd, is correct. Moscow was important in Russian history and later revolutionary events, but it was not the principal centre of the February uprising. Kazan and Kiev were significant cities but were not the main location of this revolution. The city’s name is a useful chronological clue for the 1917 events.

The governing historical concept is the February Revolution of 1917 and its immediate urban setting. The revolution began in Petrograd, the capital of the Russian Empire, when demonstrations over bread shortages, war conditions, and economic hardship developed into mass strikes. Soldiers in the city increasingly refused to suppress the crowds and joined the movement, which weakened the Tsarist government and led to Nicholas II’s abdication. Therefore, option B is correct. Moscow was important in later revolutionary events but was not the initial centre named in this question. Vladivostok is a distant eastern port, and Vienna was the capital of Austria-Hungary, not Russia.

Option A is correct. During the Russian Civil War, several foreign powers intervened on the side of the anti-Bolshevik Whites because they opposed the revolution, the Bolsheviks’ withdrawal from the First World War and the threat that revolutionary ideas might spread. The Red Army was the Bolshevik force, while the Petrograd Soviet was a revolutionary institution rather than the broad foreign-backed side in this question. A peasant mir was a village commune, not a unified military camp. Although foreign intervention was varied and did not determine the final result, its general political alignment was with forces opposed to Bolshevik rule.

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.

Russia's participation in the First World War intensified an already serious political and economic crisis. Military defeats caused enormous casualties and damaged confidence in the Tsarist government. The army needed more men and supplies, while transport was disrupted and cities faced shortages of grain, fuel and other necessities. Inflation reduced the value of wages, so workers and families found daily life increasingly difficult. Soldiers, many of whom were peasants, became tired of the war and less willing to defend the autocracy. These connected pressures produced strikes, demonstrations and mutinies in Petrograd in February 1917. Option A is correct because it links military failure, food crisis and army discontent. The other options are opposite to the evidence: the war did not stabilise Tsarism, stop strikes or solve the land question.

Bread was a basic necessity, so its shortage affected ordinary urban families immediately and visibly. In Petrograd, wartime transport difficulties, inflation, fuel shortages and the diversion of supplies to the army made it difficult for people to obtain bread. Long queues became public evidence that the government could not organise provisioning or protect living standards. Women workers and other residents began protesting, and their demands for bread quickly joined demands for an end to the war and the Tsarist regime. Thus an economic grievance became a political challenge: people judged the state by its failure to meet an essential need. Option A is correct because it explains how a daily problem exposed administrative and political failure. The other options are factually false and do not explain the connection between scarcity and the collapse of authority.

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.

In the winter of 1917 Petrograd faced food shortage and severe cold. Exam tip: treat winter as background to the February Revolution.

Workers' quarters and factories were on the right bank of the Neva. Exam tip: connect city layout with class division.

The Winter Palace and official buildings were in the fashionable part of the city. Exam tip: remember the class division of Petrograd.

Food shortage was strongly felt in workers' quarters. Exam tip: connect the demand for bread with the February Revolution.

According to the NCERT account of the February Revolution, a lockout occurred at a factory on the right bank of the Neva on 22 February 1917. A lockout means that the management closed the workplace and prevented workers from working, often during a labour dispute. This event contributed to the tense atmosphere in Petrograd and was followed by broader demonstrations, strikes, and demands for bread and political change. Therefore, option A is correct. A coronation, land distribution, and treaty signing are not the events described in this sequence and do not explain the immediate beginning of the February revolutionary movement.

The next day workers from many factories joined the strike. Exam tip: connect sympathy strike with spread of movement.

Women workers led strikes in many factories. Exam tip: connect women's role with the beginning of the February Revolution.

The strikes of 23 February were linked with International Women's Day. Exam tip: remember the role of women workers.

The February movement grew from spontaneous workers' unrest. Exam tip: connect it with people's spontaneous action.

Workers moved from the right bank toward the centre. Exam tip: connect movement of place with spread of protest.