The February Revolution in Petrograd

The correct answer is A because the February Revolution grew from the interaction of material suffering and political oppression. Workers and families wanted bread, fairer wages, relief from shortages and safer working conditions, while many citizens also demanded an end to autocratic rule, responsible government and greater political representation. Wartime inflation and food scarcity made daily life difficult, but the Tsarist system limited effective participation and failed to solve these problems. Economic grievances therefore encouraged people to protest, and political demands explained whom they blamed and what kind of change they wanted. Options B, C and D reduce the movement to narrow or unrelated demands and do not describe the broad revolutionary programme.

The city centre had official and important buildings. Exam tip: connect place with political impact.

With soldiers' mutiny the government's repressive power began to break. Exam tip: treat army role as decisive.

Suspending the Duma showed the repressive tendency of Tsarism. Exam tip: connect it with political unrest.

The Petrograd Soviet emerged as a new council of the people. Exam tip: understand Soviet as a new centre of power.

Mass movement and breaking army support forced the Tsar to abdicate. Exam tip: remember both causes together.

After the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and a Provisional Government was established. It was called provisional because it was intended to govern temporarily until a more permanent political arrangement could be decided. It was not a restored monarchy, foreign administration, or exclusively peasant government. Hence option B is correct.

Strikes and movement began from factories. Exam tip: connect factory workers with the beginning of the Revolution.

The government wanted soldiers to suppress the movement. Exam tip: understand that the regime weakened when army loyalty broke.

Protesters were dissatisfied with Tsarism and its repression. Exam tip: connect opposition with autocratic rule.

The correct answer is A because the Neva River was an important geographical feature of Petrograd, and its banks helped shape the city’s social and political geography. Industrial workers, factories and working-class neighbourhoods were concentrated in particular areas, while government buildings and wealthier districts lay elsewhere. When demonstrations moved through bridges, streets and public spaces, the river and its crossings affected how groups connected and how protests reached important centres of power. Geography therefore helps explain both class divisions and the route by which the movement spread. The Neva was not a border, a treaty or an army; it was a real river whose location made the events easier to understand spatially.

Industrial workers began strikes and demonstrations. Exam tip: see workers as the early force.

The movement grew from lockout to strikes and soldiers' mutiny. Exam tip: remember the sequence of events.

Petrograd is linked with modern Saint Petersburg. Exam tip: do not get confused by name changes.

The correct answer is A because the February Revolution involved broad participation by several sections of society rather than a small conspiracy or a palace decision. Women workers began important demonstrations over bread and shortages, industrial workers joined strikes and marches, and soldiers increasingly refused to fire on protesters or supported the uprising. Other ordinary residents also took part in the unrest. This combination gave the movement a mass character and weakened the Tsarist state across the capital. The Tsar, foreign diplomats and a narrow elite could not by themselves represent such a broad mobilisation. Option D directly contradicts the historical evidence, since popular action was central to the fall of the monarchy.

Both the Provisional Government and Soviets became influential. Exam tip: connect dual power with instability of 1917.

The correct answer is A because 27 February 1917 marked a decisive escalation of the February Revolution in Petrograd. On this date, protesters and mutinous soldiers attacked or took control of important state and police centres, including the police headquarters, while representatives of workers and soldiers organised the Petrograd Soviet. These developments showed that the old authorities were losing control and that a new revolutionary power was emerging. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk belonged to the later revolutionary period, and the Soviet Union was created only after further political developments. The Tsar did not win the war on this date. Therefore, 27 February is remembered as a major turning point in the collapse of Tsarist authority.

Workers' unity helped the movement spread quickly. Exam tip: connect sympathy strikes with expansion of the movement.

The attack on the police headquarters showed the breakdown of state control. Exam tip: connect it with the important event of 27 February.

The Petrograd Soviet was a council of workers and soldiers. Exam tip: remember it as a new popular power.