Paper Topic:

`the provisional government wsa the arichitect of its own demise` to what extent do you agree with this statement?

THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT 'S FAILURE IN THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

The Provisional government that took power in Russia in February 1917 promised to bring democracy and much-needed reforms , but before the year ended a second Bolshevik-led revolution toppled it . Much of the blame rests with the Provisional government itself , because its failures to provide the Russian people with peace and further reforms doomed its already-fragile hold on power . Its errors and miscalculations made it somewhat easy for the much more savvy Bolsheviks to take control only nine months later

Russia 's autocratic

monarchy finally collapsed in February 1917 , a dozen years after the 1905 revolution brought some reforms , such as bringing a national parliament (the Duma ) into existence . The new government assumed a dual power ' form , in which the two chief factions behind the February revolution - the liberals who controlled the Provisional government , and the Marxist-influenced radical Bolsheviks - shared power . However , this ultimately backfired on the Provisional regime , because the Bolsheviks were determined to seize full control and knew how to capitalize on the Provisional government 's errors , which mounted during 1917

However , the Provisional government immediately made several fatal blunders , the first of which was agreeing to continue fighting in World War I . The Russian public generally greeted news of Russia 's entry into the war with patriotic enthusiasm , but the poorly-equipped and ill-led Russian army soon suffered numerous reverses , starting with a devastating loss at Tannenberg in 1914 . Over the next three years Russia suffered five million casualties in the war , and public frustration at the government 's battlefield blunders worsened an already tense situation (Fitzpatrick , 1994 ,

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The Provisional government that took over in February 1917 ignored growing discontent with the conflict . Determined to honor Russia 's commitment to its allies and continue fighting Germany and Austro-Hungary , several key Provisional leaders (particularly Alexander Kerensky ) believed that the new government could strengthen its position and win public favor with military success - failing to realize that the Russian army was badly overmatched . Continued defeats led to more loss of confidence in the Provisional government , driving the disintegrating army mutinied in mid-1917 . Aware that the Russian people wanted to withdraw from the fighting , the Bolsheviks capitalized on the Provisional government 's misjudgment by pursuing a separate peace with Germany after Lenin assumed control

In addition to its mishandling of the war , the Provisional government also alienated much of the urban working public by failing to heed its demands . The Marxists had already built solid support among the small urban working class , particularly in St . Petersburg , and since the 1905 revolution , workers launched numerous strikes against the city 's larger employers . By 1917 , the working class was thus considerably more radicalized than the more moderate , largely liberal Provisional government

Historians Diane Koenker and William Rosenberg maintain that the strikes did not simply vent frustration in a spontaneous , leaderless way , but were instead a form of collective action , one involving difficult objective tasks of organization and mobilization as well as subjective elements...

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