The Russian Revolution

Once army support broke Tsarist rule could not survive. Exam tip: connect soldiers' mutiny with the end of monarchy.

Nicholas II's abdication was not merely a private choice made by one ruler. In February 1917, strikes and demonstrations grew because of shortages, war hardships, and dissatisfaction with the government. Soldiers in Petrograd began to support or join the protesters instead of defending the Tsar. The Duma and the wider political crisis also weakened his authority, making continued rule impossible.

Option A is correct because it connects the abdication with mass protest, military mutiny, and a crisis of the state. Option B gives an imaginary personal motive. Option C is historically wrong, and option D confuses the February events with later developments. The abdication was therefore a result of the February Revolution and the collapse of Tsarist support. The answer is A.

Two centres of power weakened decisions. Exam tip: connect dual power with the background to October.

People wanted peace and land but the government was not decisive. Exam tip: connect the weakness of the Provisional Government with incomplete decisions.

The April Theses linked the Bolshevik programme with people's demands. Exam tip: see it as a turning point in Bolshevik strategy.

The correct answer is A. After the February Revolution, the Provisional Government formally held state authority, but workers’, soldiers’, and later peasants’ soviets represented organised popular groups. The slogan “All power to the Soviets” demanded that real political authority move away from the ministers and be transferred to these councils. It therefore challenged both the legitimacy and the survival of the Provisional Government, especially because the government continued the war and did not immediately solve demands for land, food, and peace. The slogan did not support Tsarism, foreign trade, or merely a grain tax. Its central issue was the location of political power and the identity of the institutions entitled to exercise it.

The correct answer is A. The slogan “Peace, Land, and Bread” was politically powerful because it united urgent demands arising from different sections of Russian society. Soldiers and war-weary citizens wanted peace and an end to the First World War. Peasants demanded land from large estates, while workers and urban families needed bread, fair supplies, and relief from shortages. By combining these demands in a short and memorable programme, the Bolsheviks could appeal to several groups at the same time and present themselves as an alternative to the Provisional Government. The slogan did not serve the royal family, did not call for prolonging the war, and did not separate workers from the land question. Its strength lay in its broad mass appeal.

After the July events Bolsheviks faced repression. Exam tip: see it as failed haste before October.

The Kornilov Affair increased Bolshevik influence. Exam tip: treat it as an event of rising support before October.

The committee prepared strategic points and armed action. Exam tip: connect it with organisation and planning.

The Winter Palace was a power symbol linked with the Provisional Government. Exam tip: understand it as an event of power change.

Soviets gave a popular base to the Bolshevik claim to power. Exam tip: see Soviets as centres of people's power.

The Land Decree was important for gaining peasant support. Exam tip: connect it with solving the land question.

The Decree on Peace gave direction and Brest Litovsk put it into practice. Exam tip: remember the difference between declaration and treaty.

The governing concept is the trade-off between ending a war and protecting national territory. After the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, they promised peace and therefore negotiated with Germany. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed in March 1918, withdrew Russia from the First World War, but Russia had to surrender or lose control of extensive western territories and accept serious economic and political disadvantages. This created a difficult choice: continuing the war could destroy the new revolutionary government, while accepting peace meant sacrificing land and population. Therefore, option A is correct. Option B reverses the outcome, and C and D describe issues that the treaty did not solve.

Nationalisation was a step toward socialist economy. Exam tip: connect it with control over private capital.

Bolsheviks wanted to show workers as the base of new power. Exam tip: connect workers' control with labour support.

Bolsheviks placed their power structure above the elected assembly. Exam tip: connect it with centralisation of power.

Cheka was formed to control opponents and counter revolution. Exam tip: understand it through both security and repression.

Foreign support strengthened anti Bolshevik sides. Exam tip: write the Civil War as both internal and external conflict.