The February Revolution in Petrograd

Military advice shows that the base of power had broken. Exam tip: understand it as final pressure on monarchy.

Events in Petrograd turned into a full crisis of rule. Exam tip: connect local event with national result.

The governing concept is the incomplete nature of the February Revolution and the temporary character of the Provisional Government. It ended Tsarist rule, but it did not solve the major problems that had brought workers, soldiers and peasants into revolt. Russia remained in the First World War, food shortages and inflation continued, peasants still demanded land, and authority was contested by the Soviets. Therefore, option A is correct. Option B is false because the Tsar abdicated and did not immediately return. Option C is false because the Soviets were highly influential, while option D reverses the historical situation: popular demands remained strong. These unresolved issues prepared the ground for further revolutionary conflict in October.

The governing concept is dual power, a situation in which the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet existed together after the fall of Tsarism. It was an achievement because the revolution created representative institutions and showed that workers and soldiers could influence national politics. It was also a crisis because neither centre possessed uncontested authority. The government claimed formal state power, while the Soviet had substantial popular support and influence over soldiers and workers. Thus option A correctly includes both sides. Option B is wrong because the Tsar had abdicated. Option C is wrong because the war continued, and option D is wrong because workers and soldiers became more politically active, not less.

The governing concept is the ideological conflict between democracy and Tsarist autocracy. Tsarism claimed that the ruler possessed hereditary, near-unlimited authority and that obedience to the dynasty was natural and legitimate. The democratic demand challenged this foundation by asserting that political power should be accountable to citizens and expressed through representative institutions. Therefore, option A is correct: it directly rejects both autocratic rule and the hereditary basis of political authority. Option B is the opposite of democracy. Option C refers to an economic grievance rather than a political ideology, although bread shortages helped fuel unrest. Option D is also incorrect because the revolutionary movement brought soldiers into political decision-making instead of excluding them.

Food crisis weakened public patience and soldiers' mutiny weakened the regime. Exam tip: write a multi causal answer.

The governing concept is the relationship between gender, class and political mobilisation. The February Revolution was not made only by famous male politicians; women workers also acted collectively. On International Women’s Day, women textile workers in Petrograd joined demonstrations demanding bread and an end to hardship, and their action helped trigger wider strikes and unrest. Thus option B is correct because it shows how everyday experiences of hunger, shortages and low wages could become public political action. Option A ignores women’s agency, while option C is factually opposite. Option D wrongly confines women to the palace and overlooks their central place in urban working-class life.

Spatial division affected the direction and visibility of the movement. Exam tip: write the relation between space and politics.

Protest before official areas showed weakness of power. Exam tip: connect visible protest with legitimacy crisis.

Police and army were key tools of state control. Exam tip: connect their breakdown with collapse of power.

Events moved quickly from lockout to soldiers' mutiny and Soviet formation. Exam tip: connect sequence with cause and effect.

Public energy and breakdown of army loyalty came together. Exam tip: connect combined pressure with fall of monarchy.

The governing concept is the changing and collective nature of revolutionary leadership. The February movement began through spontaneous protests by workers, including women textile workers, and was not directed by one single party or leader from the first day. However, describing it as completely leaderless is inaccurate. As the movement expanded, members of the Duma formed a committee, and workers and soldiers organised the Petrograd Soviet. These institutions helped negotiate power and shape the direction of events. Therefore, option A is correct because it recognises both spontaneous mass action and later organisational leadership. The Tsar did not lead the revolt, foreign traders did not organise every strike, and the Church did not establish the Soviet.

The influence of Soviets remained in dual power and October politics. Exam tip: treat February and October as linked stages.

The Provisional Government could not become the only power. Exam tip: connect it with the unstable power structure of 1917.

In February 1917, force was used to suppress demonstrations in Petrograd, but it did not reduce discontent. Many soldiers refused to fire on protesters and joined the people. As a result, the government began to lose support from both the public and the army, rapidly weakening its position. Repression did not solve the food crisis or meet workers' demands. Exam tip: link the soldiers' mutiny with the collapse of government authority in the February Revolution.

The governing concept is historical causation: major revolutions usually arise from interacting political, social, economic and military pressures rather than from one isolated cause. In February 1917, food shortages, inflation and war exhaustion created economic distress; workers and women mobilised in the streets; soldiers increasingly refused to defend the old order; and the Tsarist regime lost legitimacy. Their combination produced the collapse of Tsarism and the formation of new centres of authority. Therefore, option A gives the most balanced analysis. Option B is trivial and false, option C reduces a mass revolution to a parliamentary action, and option D confuses the February Revolution with the later Bolshevik seizure of power in October.

Protest in the capital directly pressured the legitimacy of rule. Exam tip: remember Petrograd as a centre of power.

Opposition by both workers and leaders shows Tsarism's isolation. Exam tip: make widening opposition the key point.

On 27 February old power weakened and new popular power emerged. Exam tip: write it as a turn in the balance of power.