The February Revolution in Petrograd

The governing concept is the combination of economic and coercive power in a state crisis. Workers occupied the production base of the capital: strikes disrupted factories, transport and supplies. Soldiers formed the military base that the Tsarist government needed to enforce orders and suppress opposition. When these groups acted together, the regime faced pressure from below and could no longer rely confidently on either production or armed obedience. Option A is correct because it identifies the weakening of both pillars. Options B, C and D are unrelated: palace decoration, migration abroad and increased support for war do not explain the political impact of worker-soldier unity.

Soldiers weakened the Tsar's authority by not obeying orders. Exam tip: focus on obedience more than orders.

The governing concept is the collapse of political authority during the February Revolution. A ruler can continue formally only when the army, administration, and political institutions obey him. When senior military commanders advised Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate, they were signalling that he had lost effective support even within the state machinery. This meant that his legitimacy and practical control were both failing. Therefore, option B is correct. Option A says the opposite of the historical situation. Option C is incorrect because the Soviets had not been abolished, and option D is irrelevant because the Duma had not won a war. The commanders’ advice helped make abdication unavoidable and marked the end of Romanov rule.

The abdication ended Tsarist power. Exam tip: connect 2 March with the result of the February Revolution.

The governing concept is the constitutional meaning of a provisional government. The word provisional indicates that the institution is temporary and is expected to govern only until a more permanent political arrangement is created. After the Tsar’s removal in 1917, the Provisional Government was expected to administer the country and organise elections for a Constituent Assembly, which would decide the future constitutional structure. Hence option A is correct. It was not a private council of the Tsar’s family, so option B is false. It did not exist simply to begin a war, making option C incorrect, and it was not based only on Church rules, so option D is also wrong. Its temporary character and unresolved political questions made it an incomplete solution.

Both represented different sources of power. Exam tip: connect instability after February with dual power.

The Constituent Assembly was linked with representatives chosen by people. Exam tip: write it as a democratic hope.

The February Revolution of 1917 led to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and ended Romanov rule. A Provisional Government was then formed. In October 1917, the Bolsheviks overthrew this Provisional Government and took power. Option B is incorrect because the February Revolution ended, rather than restored, Tsarism. Exam tip: remember February as the fall of the Tsar and October as the Bolshevik takeover.

Economic hardships intensified public unrest. Exam tip: connect life crisis with political protest.

The governing concept is the dependence of repression on military obedience. Governments can suppress demonstrations only when soldiers remain willing to follow orders and use force against protesters. During the February Revolution, many workers and women demonstrated over food shortages, war conditions, and political oppression. A section of the Petrograd garrison refused to continue firing on the people and joined the movement instead. This weakened the government’s coercive power and allowed the uprising to expand rapidly. Therefore, option B is correct. Workers did not abandon their demands, so A is false. The Duma did not provide complete support to the Tsar, and the food crisis certainly had not ended; hence C and D are both inconsistent with the historical situation.

The soldiers' refusal to obey showed the weakening of Tsar's legitimacy. Exam tip: link legitimacy with support and obedience.

Factory protest became political pressure in the city. Exam tip: write the political meaning of spatial movement.

The governing concept is spontaneity in mass political action. A spontaneous movement develops from popular grievances and collective participation rather than being completely planned or controlled by one political party. In Petrograd, demonstrations began around food shortages and International Women’s Day, but workers, women, and soldiers quickly expanded the action. The movement spread despite the absence of a single, fully controlling party command and eventually forced the Tsar to abdicate. Thus option A is correct. Option B reverses the relationship because the Tsar opposed the movement. Option C invents foreign control, while option D is false because the movement produced a major political change: the fall of the monarchy.

Bread was linked with life crisis and democracy with power crisis. Exam tip: identify the dual nature of demands.

Soldiers' mutiny directly challenged the power of rule. Exam tip: remember the army's attitude as a turning point.

The Soviet gave the movement an organised representative form. Exam tip: treat institution-building as an achievement of the Revolution.

In Petrograd in February 1917, shortages of bread and fuel intensified public anger. Workers went on strike and demonstrated, political opposition to Tsarism was already strong, and the soldiers’ mutiny weakened the regime’s power to suppress the movement. Thus, Tsarism fell through the interaction of all these causes. Option B reduces the crisis to a narrow military grievance and ignores the wider popular movement and food shortage. Exam tip: link food shortages, workers’ protests, and soldiers’ mutiny in answers on the February Revolution.

The governing concept is dual power, a situation in which two institutions claim or exercise important political authority at the same time. After the February Revolution, the Tsar had been removed, but power did not pass smoothly to one body. The Provisional Government, formed through the Duma, handled formal state administration, while the Petrograd Soviet represented workers and soldiers and possessed strong influence over the streets and the garrison. This coexistence created tension and competing centres of authority. Therefore, option B is correct. The Tsar no longer ruled, so A and D are incorrect. Option C names institutions that did not constitute the central arrangement in Petrograd.

The February Revolution is judged by the political change it achieved, not by later events that did not belong to it. Its immediate and decisive result was the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. This ended the centuries-old Romanov autocracy and opened the way for the formation of the Provisional Government and the emergence of Soviets as important political bodies. It therefore transformed the structure of power in Russia.

Option C is correct because forcing Nicholas II to give up power was the clearest success of the February Revolution. It did not start the First World War, which had begun earlier. It also did not immediately distribute all land to peasants or end the Soviet Union. Those alternatives confuse February with other events or make claims unsupported by the revolution’s immediate outcome.

Bread shortage was linked with administrative and wartime crisis. Exam tip: connect food crisis with weakness of rule.