The February Revolution ended Romanov dynastic rule in Russia and set the stage for the Bolshevik October Revolution and the eventual formation of the Soviet Union.
Key Facts
- Start of mass protests
- 23 February O.S. (8 March N.S.) 1917
- Duration of revolutionary activity
- Approximately 8 days
- Total killed during protests
- Over 1,300 people
- Tsar's abdication
- Nicholas II abdicated on 2 March O.S. (15 March N.S.) 1917
- Successor government
- Russian Provisional Government under Georgy Lvov
- Location of abdication
- Pskov, after failing to reach Petrograd
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Russia faced severe economic and social strain exacerbated by World War I, including food shortages, mass unemployment, and widespread disillusionment with Tsar Nicholas II. Long-standing discontent with autocratic rule combined with wartime hardships drove workers, soldiers, and women in bread lines to the breaking point by early 1917.
Beginning on 23 February O.S. 1917, mass protests erupted in Petrograd over food rationing and quickly escalated into violent clashes with police. Within days, most of the capital's garrison defected to the revolutionaries. A Provisional Government was formed by Duma members, the rail network around Petrograd was seized to block loyalist troops, and Nicholas II was forced to abdicate on 2 March O.S., ending over three centuries of Romanov rule.
The Provisional Government, deeply unpopular and forced into dual power with the Petrograd Soviet, failed to resolve food shortages, unemployment, or Russia's role in World War I. Its inability to govern effectively led directly to the Bolshevik October Revolution later in 1917, triggering the Russian Civil War and ultimately resulting in the formation of the Soviet Union.