On March 8, 1917 (February 23, old style), mass rallies began in Petrograd, which later developed into a general strike under anti-monarchist slogans.
From this moment, historians usually count the beginning of the February Revolution in Russia.
Experts do not have a common opinion regarding the assessment of the causes and consequences of these events.
Some believe that the revolution was a natural response to the political and economic crisis in the country and was of a progressive nature, while others see it as an accidental destructive event.
Causes and background
According to historians, the origins of the events of 1917 should be sought at the beginning of the 20th century, when social and political contradictions sharply aggravated in the Russian Empire, aggravated against the backdrop of Russia's defeats in the Russo-Japanese War.
These processes led to the Revolution of 1905-1907, which, however, could not radically change the situation in the country.
“The economic reforms of the early 20th century improved the well-being of the broad masses of the people, and the illusion arose that the pace of improvement could have been faster if not for the tsarist bureaucracy.
Many believed that it was enough to remove the government and bureaucrats to start living even better.
The peasants wanted to get more land in the European part of Russia, and not go to the Far East or Siberia for it.
The workers demanded higher wages, ”said Alexander Krushelnitsky, associate professor at the Russian State Humanitarian University, in an interview with RT.
According to the historian, in addition, the government spent colossal funds on the war with Japan, the defeat in which offended the national feelings of the Russian population.
“All this led to a series of chaotic and unsystematic rebellions,” Krushelnitsky noted.
In October 1905, under the influence of what was happening, Nicholas II signed a manifesto “On the improvement of the state order”, which promised people political freedoms.
“This was a terrible tactical mistake, since there was no consolidated opinion in society that expressed the interests of all major social groups.
Some demanded minor concessions, others demanded radical changes, others wanted to remove the king.
It was impossible to combine all the requirements.
The king promised that everything would be fine, and as a result did not satisfy anyone.
His promises were contrary to formal logic and could not be fulfilled.
However, the revolution of 1905 turned out to be a sub-revolution, which did not lead to a radical change in the political regime,” Alexander Krushelnitsky emphasized.
According to the associate professor of Moscow State University.
M.V.
Lomonosov Yuri Shchetinov, the Russian authorities at the beginning of the 20th century tried to accelerate the political and economic modernization of the country and wanted to catch up with the Western powers in terms of industrial development.
“But political progress was played back in 1907, when, according to the regulation on elections to the State Duma, unequal quotas were introduced for various social groups.
Modernization, on the whole, was catching up, jerky, inorganic, ”Shchetinov emphasized in a commentary on RT.
Another knot of contradictions, according to historians, was tied up in the sphere of international relations.
As Alexander Krushelnitsky noted, the German authorities expected to receive Russian resources through the Polish border and deliver their goods to Russia, while incurring minimal transport costs.
However, the rapprochement between St. Petersburg and Berlin was thwarted by Great Britain, which competed with Germany for influence in Europe and the colonies.
At the same time, London tried to put Russia in a position dependent on itself.
The line at the hotel for workers in St. Petersburg
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“The British bankers and France, after the Russo-Japanese War, credited Russia at stripping interest rates and under the most difficult conditions.
By lending funds, London demanded that in the event of war, Russia would be on its side, ”Krushelnitsky emphasized.
According to Andrei Sementkovsky, a researcher at the Victory Museum, after the outbreak of the First World War, the contradictions in Russian society escalated even more.
The increase in the wages of workers could no longer keep pace with inflation, and the peasants began to grumble because of the mass departure of able-bodied men to the front and the requisition of horses for the needs of the army.
Prayer on Red Square in Moscow for the granting of victory in 1915
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“Germany, Great Britain and France had extensive networks of agents in Russia who tried to influence the minds of the population in the interests of their masters, because of which the contradictions escalated even more,” Sementkovsky said in an interview with RT.
As Alexander Krushelnitsky said, socio-economic changes led to an increase in the number of outcasts and an increase in the level of crime.
The impoverished workers at the same time watched the luxurious life of the urban elite.
“The situation in the troops was also difficult.
The cadre army was ground down during the first year and a half of the war.
A significant part of the guard was also killed, which, instead of protecting the authorities, was sent to the front.
In the officer corps, the number of people with radical sentiments grew, who believed that the war could be won without a tsar.
Radical sentiments were also transmitted to the soldiers, recruited mainly from illiterate peasants.
Many generally lost their understanding of what they were fighting for, ”the expert emphasized.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna
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According to historians, the irritation of a significant part of Russian society was directed at the wife of Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who was a native of the German Empire, and the "old man" Grigory Rasputin.
There were rumors that they allegedly were in an intimate relationship and had a huge influence on the management of the empire in the interests of Germany.
There was talk that Nicholas II should be removed from the political arena, which led to the emergence of political conspiracies.
The beginning of the revolution
The winter of 1916-1917 was extremely cold.
Due to low temperatures, railway locomotives began to fail, and this negatively affected the performance of the entire transport infrastructure of the country.
In February 1917, there were interruptions in the supply of bread in Petrograd.
Historians estimate the reasons ambiguously.
According to some, flour supplies have decreased in the city due to transport problems.
Others argue that there was enough flour, but there were not enough qualified bakers mobilized to the front.
If earlier the introduction of cards for sugar was announced in the city, then in February there were rumors that bread would also be sold using cards.
The population rushed to create stocks of food.
There were queues at the bakeries, which in those days were called "tails".
According to historians, the communication of disgruntled people while standing in the "tails" heated up the situation even more.
On March 3, 1917, a large enterprise, the Putilov Plant, stopped in Petrograd due to lack of fuel.
Left without a livelihood, people openly expressed their dissatisfaction.
The idea of suppressing popular uprisings by force was popular in the government.
However, according to historians, there were not enough resources for this.
About 150,000 servicemen stood in Petrograd and its environs, but these were mostly not very reliable units, staffed by reservists and conscripts of the second wave.
“The Petrograd garrison itself has become a fertile environment for the spread of revolutionary ideas,” Andrey Sementkovsky noted.
At the same time, against the background of the aggravation of the situation in Petrograd, Nicholas II left for Headquarters in Mogilev and did not control the situation either in the capital or in the country as a whole.
Emperor Nicholas II
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On March 8, 1917, on International Women's Day, thousands of workers of the capital's enterprises took to the streets of Petrograd, the slogans "Bread!"
and "Down with hunger!".
They were massively supported by the workers of the Petrograd factories.
About 90 thousand workers joined the strike in a short time.
The next day, the number of protesters increased, according to historians, to about 200 thousand people.
The strike in the city became general.
In addition to demands to provide the people with bread, anti-war and anti-monarchist slogans were heard among the demonstrators.
Red flags fluttered over the crowd.
The educational process at universities has stopped.
Students joined the protesters.
According to Andrey Sementkovsky, opposition political parties were holding meetings at that time to discuss how to use what was happening in Petrograd to change the regime.
Demonstration during the February Revolution of 1917
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The authorities began to bring soldiers of the Guards reserve regiments and reinforced police detachments to the streets of Petrograd, trying to block the main highways and stop the advance of the demonstrators, but the situation quickly became uncontrollable.
A revolution began in Petrograd.
“The elite proved unable to lead Russia along the path of modernization.
No one unraveled the tight tangle of social contradictions, and sooner or later everything was bound to explode.
And so it happened, ”summed up Yuri Shchetinov.
According to Alexander Krushelnitsky, the first events in Petrograd on March 8, 1917 were taken advantage of by the bourgeois parties, who entered into an agreement among themselves and maintained close contact with the Anglo-French elites.
“The current situation was used to remove Nicholas II from the political arena, but this victory turned out to be pyrrhic.
The bourgeois parties did not have a broad social base, could only count on external support, and soon demonstrated their helplessness.
This made the seizure of power in October 1917 by radical left forces inevitable,” summed up Krushelnytsky.