The beginning of the February revolution of 1917. February Revolution: day by day

The Great Russian Revolution is the revolutionary events that occurred in Russia in 1917, starting with the overthrow of the monarchy during the February Revolution, when power passed to the Provisional Government, which was overthrown as a result of the October Revolution of the Bolsheviks, who proclaimed Soviet power.

February Revolution of 1917 - Main revolutionary events in Petrograd

Reason for the revolution: Labor conflict at the Putilov plant between workers and owners; interruptions in the food supply to Petrograd.

Main events February Revolution took place in Petrograd. The army leadership, headed by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General M.V. Alekseev, and the commanders of the fronts and fleets, considered that they did not have the means to suppress the riots and strikes that had engulfed Petrograd. Emperor Nicholas II abdicated the throne. After his intended successor, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich also abdicated the throne, the State Duma took control of the country, forming the Provisional Government of Russia.

With the formation of Soviets parallel to the Provisional Government, a period of dual power began. The Bolsheviks formed detachments of armed workers (Red Guard), thanks to attractive slogans they gained significant popularity, primarily in Petrograd, Moscow, in large industrial cities, the Baltic Fleet, and the troops of the Northern and Western Fronts.

Results of the revolution and dual power

October Revolution of 1917 main events

During October revolution Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, established by the Bolsheviks led by L.D. Trotsky and V.I. Lenin, overthrew the Provisional Government. At the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, the Bolsheviks withstand a difficult struggle with the Mensheviks and right-wing Socialist Revolutionaries, the first Soviet government. In December 1917, a government coalition of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist Revolutionaries was formed. In March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed with Germany.

By the summer of 1918, a one-party government was finally formed, and the active phase of the Civil War and foreign intervention in Russia began, which began with the uprising of the Czechoslovak Corps. The end of the Civil War created the conditions for the formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Provisional Government of Russia in 1917

Heads of the Russian government in 1905 - 1917.

The publication was prepared within the framework of the project “Russian Revolution: Lessons from History”*

February 1917 was a turning point in the history of Russia, when every day brought new shocks

Since according to Gregorian calendar This date corresponds to March 8, when International Women's Day was celebrated. At 9:00, the first to take to the streets of Petrograd were the workers of the Vyborg side - the Nevka paper spinning factory and the Sampsonievskaya paper spinning mill. Workers from nearby enterprises and women standing in lines for bread began to join them. This protest action did not surprise anyone. Artist Alexander Benois wrote in his diary: “There were big riots on the Vyborg side due to grain difficulties (one must only be surprised that they have not happened yet!).”

People stand in line for bread. Petrograd, 1917 / RIA Novosti

Rallies began in other areas of Petrograd. According to the historian's calculations Igor Leiberov, on February 23, 128,388 people from 49 enterprises took part in the protests, which accounted for 32.6% of total number capital workers. With slogans “Bread!” and “Down with war!” demonstrators rushed into the city center, which was prevented by the police. By 16:00, some of the workers, in groups on the ice of the river or individually across bridges, finally reached the center of Petrograd, where the protesters were met by reinforced detachments of mounted police and Cossacks.

According to police reports, at about 18:00 “the crowd, heading along Suvorovsky Prospekt to Nevsky, pursued by a foot police squad sent from the station, managed to break 8 glasses in 3 stores along the way and take 5 keys from the carriage drivers.” At this time, in the mechanical workshop of the Franco-Russian plant, “workers from all departments, numbering 3,000 people, gathered and staged a rally.” “The speakers spoke mainly about the lack of bread, speeches were made both for and against the war, as well as for and against the riots. The final decision on the issue of protest was postponed, and the workers calmly dispersed,” the police recorded.

Late in the evening, a meeting of the military and police authorities of Petrograd was held in the city administration building, chaired by the commander of the Petrograd Military District, Lieutenant General Sergei Khabalov. Having discussed the report of the mayor of Petrograd, Major General Alexandra Balka Based on the events of the day, the members of the meeting decided to transfer responsibility for order in the capital to the military from February 24.

On the same day at a meeting of the State Duma, a Menshevik deputy Matvey Skobelev stated: “These unfortunate half-starved children and their mothers, wives, housewives, for more than two years resignedly, humbly standing at the doors of the shops and waiting for bread, finally lost patience and, perhaps helplessly and still hopelessly, went out peacefully into the street and They cry hopelessly: bread and bread. And behind them are their husbands, workers, who Lately, going to the factory early in the morning, they cannot stock up on a miserable crumb of bread.” Soon deprived of the word by Duma Chairman Mikhail Rodzianko, Skobelev made a reminder that became a prophecy: “We know in history cases when the government, having completely decomposed the country, forced the population to starve, and the indignant population cruelly punished those who starved the population.”

The number of strikers exceeded 160 thousand people. The demonstrations also became more crowded. The process took on an avalanche-like character. At the Mariinsky Palace, chaired by Prime Minister Prince Nikolai Golitsyn A meeting was held on the issue of food supply to Petrograd. Having found out that the capital had a reserve of 460 thousand pounds of rye and wheat flour and the supply of food was proceeding as usual, the meeting gave control over the distribution of bread to the City Duma. Khabalov tried to reassure the residents of Petrograd by publishing an announcement that there was enough bread in the city and the supply of flour was being carried out without interruption.

Znamenskaya Square during the days of the February Revolution. 1917

The strike covered 240 thousand workers. At about 10:00, at the corner of Finsky Lane and Nizhegorodskaya Street, a hundred Cossacks and a platoon of dragoons blocked the way for a crowd of workers. “Police Chief Shalfeev came there with a detachment of mounted police of 10 people,” Major General wrote in his memoirs Alexander Spiridovich. - Having approached the crowd, he began to persuade the workers to disperse. The Cossacks and dragoons left. The crowd understood this as the reluctance of the troops to work with the police and rushed at Shalfeev. He was pulled from his horse, seriously wounded with an iron and beaten. The police squad rushing to the rescue was crushed. There were single shots from both sides. They threw stones and pieces of iron at the police. The squads arrived in time and finally dispersed the crowd. Shalfeyev was taken to the hospital in an unconscious state.” At 17:20, as noted in the reports Security department, near Gostiny Dvor, “a mixed detachment of the 9th Reserve Cavalry Regiment and a platoon of the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment opened fire on the crowd of demonstrators.” During the dispersal of the rally on Znamenskaya Square, several dozen people were killed and wounded. Shots were fired at demonstrators on Sadovaya Street, Liteiny and Vladimirsky Avenues. At about 21:00, Nicholas II gave an order from Headquarters to Khabalov: “I command you to stop the unrest in the capital tomorrow, which is unacceptable during the difficult time of the war with Germany and Austria.”

On the same day in the evening the Minister of Internal Affairs Alexander Protopopov sent a telegram to Headquarters summarizing the events three days. “The rumors that suddenly spread in Petrograd about the upcoming supposed limitation of the daily supply of baked bread for adults by a pound, and for minors by half the amount, caused an increased purchase of bread by the public, obviously in reserve, which is why there was not enough bread for part of the population,” the minister reported. - On this basis, on February 23, a strike broke out in the capital, accompanied by street riots.

Alexander Protopopov

The first day about 90 thousand workers went on strike, the second - up to 160 thousand, today - about 200 thousand. Street unrest is expressed in demonstrative processions, some with red flags, destruction of shops in some areas, partial cessation of tram traffic by strikers, and clashes with the police.<…>This afternoon, more serious riots took place near the monument to Emperor Alexander III on Znamenskaya Square, where bailiff Krylov was killed. The movement is of an unorganized, spontaneous nature; along with excesses of an anti-government nature, rioters in some places greet the troops. Energetic measures are being taken by the military authorities to stop further unrest.”

In the morning, residents of the capital read an announcement posted around the city signed by Khabalov: “ Last days In Petrograd, riots occurred, accompanied by violence and attacks on the lives of military and police officials. I prohibit any gathering on the streets. I preface the population of Petrograd that I have confirmed to the troops to use weapons, stopping at nothing to restore order in the capital.”

From the very morning, bridges, streets, and alleys leading from working-class neighborhoods to the city center were occupied by reinforced police and military units. During the day, demonstrators were fired upon near the Kazan Cathedral. The number of dead and wounded reached dozens. However, not everyone was ready to shoot at the people. In the afternoon, the 4th company of the reserve battalion of the Pavlovsky Life Guards Regiment refused to open fire on the demonstrators and fired at the police, according to Khabalov’s order, “stopping at nothing to restore order.” The Preobrazhensky soldiers who arrived soon surrounded and arrested the company soldiers, and 19 of the instigators were sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Despite this incident, the events of the day suggested that, on the whole, the government was managing to control the situation in the capital. According to the cadet Vladimir Nabokov, “On the evening of the 26th we were far from thinking that the next two or three days would bring with them such colossal, decisive events of world-historical significance.”

Late in the evening, during a government meeting in Prince Golitsyn’s apartment, the majority of ministers spoke in favor of dissolving the State Duma, within the walls of which flowed an endless stream of criticism against the authorities. Golitsyn entered the date on the form of the tsar’s decree specially left to him by the emperor to terminate Duma meetings. Its chairman was notified of the dissolution of the Duma. Mikhail Rodzianko I learned that on the basis of Art. 99 Basic State Laws Russian Empire Nicholas II dissolved the State Duma and the State Council, setting a date for resuming their work in April “depending on emergency circumstances.”

In the same day Mikhail Rodzianko exaggerated his colors in a telegram to the emperor: “There is anarchy in the capital. The government is paralyzed. Transport of food and fuel was in complete disarray. Public discontent is growing. There is indiscriminate shooting on the streets. Troop units shoot at each other. It is necessary to immediately entrust a person enjoying the confidence of the country to form a new government.”

Mikhail Rodzianko

The Chairman of the Duma sent another telegram to the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Mikhail Alekseev, where he declared “the necessary and only way out of the current situation is the urgent calling of a person whom the whole country can trust and who will be entrusted with forming a government that enjoys the trust of the entire population.”

The order to shoot at demonstrators caused discontent among the soldiers and unrest in many parts of the capital's garrison, especially in the reserve battalions of the guard regiments. In the morning, the training team of the Life Guards Volyn Regiment rebelled. “It is interesting that in 1905–1907 this regiment had a reputation as one of the most conservative regiments of the guard: for brutal reprisals against rioters, the Volynians received the reputation of Black Hundreds,” notes the historian Oleg Airapetov. - Now unrest began in his training team, which the day before fired at demonstrators several times. Its soldiers and non-commissioned officers were clearly unhappy with the role they had to play on the streets of Petrograd. Staff Captain Lashkevich, who arrived at the regiment, formed a training team in the barracks and greeted them. There was no answer. Even the right-flank non-commissioned officers did not greet the commander. Lashkevich went down the stairs and went out onto the parade ground, heading to the regimental office. Then a shot was fired from the windows of the training team - the officer was killed on the spot. After this, the soldiers no longer had a choice. Armed, they went out into the street, dragging the rest with them.”

The Volyn residents headed to the barracks of the Preobrazhensky and Lithuanian regiments. Soon they were joined by demonstrators and soldiers from other units of the garrison, including the 6th reserve engineer battalion. The movement grew like a snowball. Smashing the police stations they met along the way, the crowd reached the Kresta prison, broke into it and freed the prisoners - both political and criminals. They all rushed to the Tauride Palace. Deputies of the Duma, which had been dissolved the day before, had been there since 11:00.

Cadet Leader Pavel Milyukov recalled that day: “From the evening, the members of the seigneurial convention knew that a decree had been received to adjourn the meetings State Duma. <…>The meeting took place as planned: the decree was read in complete silence from the deputies and isolated shouts from the right.<…>But what next? You can’t disperse in silence - after a silent meeting! Members of the Duma, without prior agreement, moved from the meeting room to the adjacent semi-circular hall. This was neither a meeting of the Duma, which had just closed, nor a meeting of any of its commissions. It was a private meeting of Duma members.”

Life Guards Volyn Regiment was the first to go over to the side of the revolution

The debate there was heated. sounded different offers, including not dispersing and declaring the Duma a Constituent Assembly. As a result, they decided to elect a Provisional Committee of the State Duma to “establish order in the city of Petrograd and to communicate with institutions and individuals.” As Miliukov later admitted, this decision partly predetermined the composition of the Provisional Government.

In turn, at 13:15 the Minister of War Mikhail Belyaev telegram notified Headquarters: “The unrest that began in the morning in several military units is firmly and energetically suppressed by the companies and battalions that remained faithful to their duty. Now it has not yet been possible to suppress the rebellion, but I am firmly confident in the imminent onset of calm, to achieve which merciless measures are being taken. The authorities remain completely calm."

Belyaev was clearly wishful thinking, misinforming the emperor. Deputy of the Fourth State Duma Vasily Shulgin subsequently wrote about this day: “The point was that in this entire huge city it was impossible to find several hundred people who would sympathize with the authorities... And that’s not even the point... The point was that the authorities did not sympathize with themselves...<…>The class of former rulers was fading away... None of them was able to slam their fist on the table... Where did Stolypin’s famous “you won’t be intimidated” go?”

Belyaev was not capable of this either. At 19:22, he reported to Headquarters that the “military mutiny” he had “has not yet been able to be extinguished by the few units remaining faithful to duty,” and asked for the urgent dispatch to the capital of “really reliable units, and in sufficient numbers, for simultaneous actions in various parts of the city."

Badge of the Volyn Regiment of the Provisional Government period

While the Duma, at a private meeting from a circle of deputies, was creating a body of new power, the socialists liberated from Kresty and the soldiers and workers who came with them appeared at the Tauride Palace at about 14:00. Nikolay Sukhanov, a non-factional Social Democrat, later testified: “Soldiers actually broke into the palace in greater and greater numbers. They gathered in heaps, spread through the halls, like sheep without a shepherd, and filled the palace. There were no shepherds." At the same time, they “flocked to large number Petersburg public figures of various persuasions, ranks, calibers and specialties,” among whom there were plenty of contenders for the role of “shepherds.” Initiative group led by a Menshevik Nikolai Chkheidze announced the creation of the Provisional Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies (Petrosovet). The Executive Committee appealed to the workers to immediately elect deputies to the Petrograd Soviet - one per thousand. At the suggestion of the Bolshevik Vyacheslav Molotov, it was decided to contact parts of the capital’s garrison with a proposal to send their representatives to the Petrograd Soviet - one from a company.

At 16:00, the last meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Russian Empire began in the Mariinsky Palace.

And at 21:00 the non-factional Social Democrat Nikolay Sokolov opened the first meeting of the Petrograd Council of Workers' Deputies, which included representatives of socialist parties, trade unions, and non-party workers and soldiers. On general meeting The Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet was elected, headed by Chkheidze. He, like the leader of the Duma Trudovik faction who became his deputy, Alexander Kerensky, by that time was already a member of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma.

Thus, in one day, two authorities arose within the walls of the Tauride Palace, the relations between which still had to be streamlined. Alexander Shlyapnikov, then a member of the Bolshevik Russian Bureau of the Central Committee of the RSDLP, recalled: “From the first day of occupation by troops and the Council of Workers’ Deputies of the Tauride Palace, a territorial division of the building and premises of the former State Duma took place. One half of the palace, to the right of the entrance, including the buffet, Catherine's Hall and rooms on both sides Great Hall meetings, was involved in the Executive Committee of the Council, its bodies and party organizations. The left part of the Tauride Palace, the library, the offices of the chairman and other services of the State Duma were at the disposal of the Provisional Committee.”

Meanwhile, at about 20:00, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and Mikhail Rodzianko arrived at the Mariinsky Palace. Together with Golitsyn, Rodzianko began to persuade the emperor’s younger brother to declare himself regent and appoint the prince as head of government Georgy Lvov. Mikhail Alexandrovich refused, demanding that Headquarters be notified about this conversation. Having contacted General Alekseev via direct wire, he asked to report Nicholas II, that the only way out of this situation is the creation of a “responsible ministry” headed by Georgy Lvov. While Alekseev reported this to the emperor, the Grand Duke was waiting for an answer from the apparatus. According to the testimony of the Quartermaster General of Headquarters Alexander Lukomsky, “the sovereign listened and told the chief of staff to tell the Grand Duke that the sovereign thanks him for his advice, but that he himself knows what to do.”

In stating this, Nicholas II was unlikely to have information that the Chairman of the State Council was arrested on that day Ivan Shcheglovitova, killed the head of the Petrograd provincial gendarmerie department Ivan Volkova, they plundered and set fire to the building of the Security Department and lowered the imperial standard from the Winter Palace.

On the night of February 28, an appeal “To the Population of Russia” was drawn up by the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, in which he stated that “under difficult conditions of internal devastation caused by the measures of the old government, I found myself forced to take into my own hands the restoration of state and public order.”

On February 27, the old government in the capital collapsed, and the contours of a new one emerged. The further development of events and their outcome largely depended on Nicholas II, who had already lost Petrograd, but not all of Russia.

On the same day at 12:40 Mikhail Rodzianko telegraphed to Headquarters: “The sessions of the State Duma have been interrupted by Your Majesty’s decree until April. The last bastion of order has been eliminated. The government is completely powerless to suppress the disorder. There is no hope for the garrison troops. The reserve battalions of the guard regiments are in revolt. Officers are being killed. Having joined the crowd and the popular movement, they head to the house of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the State Duma. The civil war has begun and is flaring up. Order to immediately call on a new government on the principles I conveyed to Your Majesty in yesterday’s telegram. Order the legislative chambers to be reconvened to repeal your highest decree. Announce these measures without delay with the highest manifesto. Sir, do not hesitate. If the movement spreads to the army, the German will triumph, and the collapse of Russia, and with it the dynasty, is inevitable. On behalf of all of Russia, I ask Your Majesty to fulfill the above. Hour, fate decider Yours and the Motherland, it has come. Tomorrow may be too late."

At 5:00 the imperial train departed from Mogilev. Nicholas II, concerned about the events taking place in the capital, decided to return to Tsarskoe Selo.

At 6:00, Mikhail Rodzianko sent a telegram to Alekseev and all front and fleet commanders, saying that “due to the removal of the entire staff from control former Council ministers, government power has now transferred to the Temporary Committee of the State Duma.”

In the morning, with the sanction of Rodzianko, a member of the State Duma, engineer Alexander Bublikov with a team of soldiers occupied the building of the Ministry of Railways and arrested the minister. As commissioner of the Ministry of Railways, he sent to all railway stations A telegram to Russia, signed by him and Rodzianko: “Railroad workers! The old government, which created devastation in all areas state life, turned out to be powerless. The State Duma Committee, having taken into its own hands the equipment of the new government, addresses you on behalf of the Fatherland: the salvation of the Motherland now depends on you. The movement of trains must be maintained continuously with redoubled energy.”

With his second telegram, Bublikov prohibited the movement of any military trains at a distance of 250 versts from Petrograd. In addition, he ordered not to allow the emperor’s train “north of the Bologoe-Pskov line” (including the telegram: “Dismantling the rails and switches, if he decides to pass by force”).

In Petrograd, the rebels captured the Mariinsky and Winter Palaces, the Admiralty, the Peter and Paul Fortress, destroyed and set fire to the buildings of the District Court, the Gendarmerie Department, the House of Pre-trial Detention and many police stations, and also took the Arsenal, which made it possible to arm the workers.

Those who were obliged to fight the unrest began to go over to the side of the rebels. Some did it voluntarily, others were forced. All day, the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison units walked almost in a continuous stream towards the Tauride Palace. As Vasily Shulgin recalled, “the soldiers considered it their duty to appear at the State Duma, as if to take a new oath.”

Nikolay Ivanov

At 13:00 the general’s echelon departed from Mogilev for Tsarskoe Selo Nikolai Ivanov. The Emperor appointed him commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District, ordering him to restore order in the capital, and ordered the subordination of ministers to him. Ivanov was given a battalion of St. George's cavaliers to avoid "troubles" along the way. Headquarters decided to transfer four cavalry and four infantry regiments from the Western and Northern fronts to Petrograd, completing their loading into echelons on March 2.

In the evening, Alekseev sent telegram No. 1813 to the commanders of the fronts and fleets, informing them of what was happening in the capital. In particular, it said: “I have just received a telegram from General Khabalov, from which it is clear that he can no longer actually influence events.”

At 21:27, Nicholas II's train arrived in Likhoslavl, from where the emperor gave a telegram to his wife: “Tomorrow morning I hope to be at home.”

At 2:00 the imperial train stopped at Malaya Vishera, where information was received that the nearby stations Lyuban and Tosno were occupied by revolutionary troops. Then they decided to go through Bologoe to Pskov, to the headquarters of the Northern Front.

At 11:15 he came to the Tauride Palace to surrender to the new authorities Alexander Protopopov. The former Minister of Internal Affairs introduced himself to a student policeman and was arrested.

It is significant that on this day the Petrograd Soviet became the Petrograd Soviet of Workers and soldiers deputies. The Executive Committee of the Council issued Order No. 1 for the garrison of the capital's military district, which legitimized soldiers' committees, endowed soldiers with civil rights, declared their equality with off-duty officers, abolished titles and placed the orders of officers and generals under the control of soldiers' committees.

At about 16:00, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich (cousin of Nicholas II) brought the sailors of the Guards crew entrusted to him to the Tauride Palace at the disposal of the new government.

At 19:55 the imperial train arrived in Pskov. General Yuri Danilov, who was then the chief of staff of the Northern Front, noted in his memoirs: “By the time the Tsar’s train arrived, the station was cordoned off, and no one was allowed into its premises. The platform was therefore deserted. There was no guard of honor."

Late in the evening, the emperor ordered a telegram to be sent to Rodzianko, announcing his consent to the creation of a government responsible to the Duma. At the same time, the monarch personally, as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, was to retain the responsibility of the Minister of War and Navy and the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

On the night of March 2, in Rodzianko’s Duma office, a joint meeting of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the delegation of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of Workers’ and Soldiers’ Deputies was held, at which the composition and program of the Provisional Government were agreed upon.

Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Headquarters Mikhail Alekseev

On the same day Mikhail Alekseev sent telegram No. 1847 to the emperor. Reporting that unrest had already begun in Moscow and that they should be expected to spread throughout the empire, and then the cessation of the normal functioning of the railways, the destruction of the rear and the collapse of the front, the general stated: “Demand from the army that she fought calmly when there is a revolution going on in the rear, it is impossible. The current young composition of the army and officers, among whom there is a huge percentage of those called up from the reserves and promoted to officers from the highest educational institutions, does not give any reason to believe that the army will not react to what is happening in Russia. My loyal duty and duty of oath obliges me to report all this to Your Imperial Majesty. Before it is too late, it is necessary to immediately take measures to calm the population and restore normal life in the country. Suppressing unrest by force under current conditions is dangerous and will lead Russia and the army to death. For now, the State Duma is trying to establish possible order, but if Your Imperial Majesty does not act on an act conducive to general calm, power will tomorrow pass into the hands of extreme elements, and Russia will experience all the horrors of the revolution. I beg Your Majesty, for the sake of saving Russia and the dynasty, to put at the head of the government a person whom Russia would trust, and instruct him to form a cabinet. At the moment this is the only salvation.”

At 00:25, Headquarters reported to Pskov that the ministers of the tsarist government had been arrested and that Petrograd was firmly controlled by the new government. All parts of the garrison obeyed her, including His Majesty’s Own convoy, whose soldiers expressed a desire to arrest the officers who refused to “take part in the uprising.” Commenting on this message from Stavka, historian Oleg Airapetov writes: “The last statement was clearly untrue. In Petrograd there were only fifty foot soldiers of the convoy, which consisted of five hundred. Two hundred were stationed in Tsarskoe Selo, two in Mogilev, and fifty on foot in Kyiv under the Dowager Empress. Hundreds of convoys and part of the Consolidated Regiment, who held the defense in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace, recognized the new government only after the abdication of the emperor.<…>In any case, one cannot but admit that the disinformation blow was delivered masterfully. Nikolai was shocked."

From 3:30 to 7:30, commander of the Northern Front, General Nikolay Ruzsky conducted long negotiations on the Hughes apparatus with the Chairman of the State Duma. Mikhail Rodzianko explained his reluctance to come to Pskov by the unrest in Luga, which did not allow him to go by rail, and the impossibility of leaving Petrograd at such a moment. “They still believe only in me and carry out only my orders,” he noted. Nicholas II, since by this time he had already agreed to the creation of a government responsible to the Duma and the State Council, was ready to discuss the text of the draft manifesto. In response, Rodzianko said: “Unfortunately, the manifesto is late. It should have been published immediately after my first telegram..."

At 9:00, in a direct conversation with Danilov, Lukomsky asked to report to Ruzsky that the emperor’s abdication was necessary, adding: “We must remember that all royal family is in the hands of rebel troops."

At 10:15 Alekseev, who maintained constant contact with Rodzianko, requested by telegraph the opinion of all front and fleet commanders regarding the possible abdication of the emperor in favor of his son Alexei. Quoting fragments from Rodzianko’s night conversation with Ruzsky, Alekseev emphasized: “Now the dynastic question has been posed head on, and the war can be continued to a victorious end only if the demands presented regarding the abdication of the throne in favor of the son of Alexei under the regency of Mikhail Alexandrovich are fulfilled. The situation apparently does not allow for any other solution.”

By 14:30, positive responses were received from the front commanders, and Nicholas II agreed to abdicate the throne. Shortly before this, he signed decrees appointing the governor in the Caucasus and the commander of the Caucasian Front, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, as Supreme Commander-in-Chief and Prince Georgy Lvov as Chairman of the Council of Ministers. The time was set on the decrees: 14 hours. In addition, the emperor appointed the commander of the 25th Army Corps, Lieutenant General Lavra Kornilova commander of the troops of the Petrograd Military District.

At this time in the crowded Tauride Palace Pavel Milyukov announced that the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies had reached an agreement on the creation of a Provisional Government, and announced its composition. When asked about the fate of the monarchy, he replied that the “old despot” would leave, and the throne would be transferred to Alexei. The news of the preservation of the monarchy caused sharp discontent among soldiers and workers.

At about 22:00, deputies of the Fourth State Duma Alexander Guchkov and Vasily Shulgin arrived in Pskov, who were tasked with achieving the abdication of the emperor. They did not know that Nicholas II had already agreed to this. At 23:40, in their presence, the sovereign, who had previously declared his readiness to transfer the throne to his son Alexei, changed his mind and signed an act of abdication for himself and his son in favor of his brother Mikhail. A few minutes later, Nicholas II made an entry in his diary: “The point is that in the name of saving Russia, keeping the army at the front and peace, this step must be taken. I agreed... At one o'clock in the morning I left Pskov with a heavy feeling of what I had experienced. There is treason, cowardice, and deceit all around.”

Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, not succumbing to the persuasion of Guchkov and Milyukov to accept the throne, stated that the question of political structure Russia must be decided by the Constituent Assembly.

Having made a truly historic decision, he complained to Vasily Shulgin: “It’s very hard for me... It torments me that I couldn’t consult with my people. After all, my brother denied for himself... And I, it turns out, deny for everyone..."

The history of the Russian monarchy came to an end.

Prepared by doctor historical sciences Oleg NAZAROV

* Funds are used to implement the project state support allocated as a grant in accordance with the presidential order Russian Federation dated 04/05/2016 No. 68-rp and on the basis of a competition held by the All-Russian public organization"Russian Union of Rectors".

1. February 23 - March 3 (March 8 - 18, new style) 1917 in Russia occurred February Revolution, as a result of which the king was overthrown, the monarchy was abolished, democratic transformations began, which grew into a revolutionary process and civil war.

The driving forces of the February Revolution of 1917 were of a dual nature:

- on the one hand, it was of a massive, spontaneous and popular nature (“revolutions from below”);

- on the other hand, since 1916, conscious preparations were underway for the overthrow of Nicholas II, who had lost his authority - some leading leaders of the “Progressive Bloc” of the State Duma, progressive-minded officers of the Petrograd garrison entered the conspiracy.

In December 1916, the implementation of the conspiracy began. Rasputin was killed in Yusupov's house, which immediately deprived the tsar of internal support. Work was carried out among the officers of the Petrograd garrison to prepare a military coup. At the beginning of February 1917, a shortage of bread was created in Petrograd (bread was not delivered to the city and was hidden in warehouses, although after the abdication of Nicholas II, the delivery of bread began en masse). Petrograd garrison in decisive moment did not support the king. 2. Events began to develop spontaneously:

— the cessation of bread supplies to Petrograd caused acute discontent and spontaneous demonstrations;

- February 23 (March 8, 1917 according to the global calendar), International Women's Day, a major strike began in Petrograd, which is considered the beginning of the revolution - the Putilov plant stopped working, followed by more than 50 enterprises, more than 100 thousand workers took to the streets with the slogans “Bread!”, “Peace!”, “Freedom!”;

- February 26 - riots began - the destruction of police stations, secret police, attacks on government officials, the Chairman of the State Duma M. Rodzianko sends a telegram to the Tsar, who is at headquarters in Mogilev, with a proposal to form a government of national unity;

- February 26, evening - Tsar Nicholas II from Mogilev rejected the proposals of the State Duma deputies and gave the order to the commander of the Petrograd district, General S. Khabalov, to suppress the protests by force and restore order;

- February 27 - a split in the army - the Petrograd garrison refused to carry out the orders of its commander S. Khabalov and went over to the side of the protesting workers; fraternization between the army and the residents of Petrograd begins; The district court, prisons, and police stations are being destroyed; on the same day, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma (leaders: M. Rodzianko, P. Milyukov, G. Lvov, etc.) and the Petrograd Council (chairman - N. Chkheidze, deputies - A. Kerensky and M. Skobelev, G.) are created. Khrustalev-Nosar (leader of the Petrograd Soviet during the 1905 revolution);

— The Petrograd Soviet and the Provisional Committee of the State Duma are equally popular among the people and proclaim themselves supreme body power in the country, which laid the foundation for dual power;

- February 28 - power in Petrograd completely passes into the hands of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the Petrograd Council; previously trained officers and units loyal to them, who supported the rebels, take control of mail, telegraph, telephone, bridges; the commander of the Petrograd district S. Khabalov also goes over to the side of the rebels and sends a telegram to the Tsar about the impossibility of suppressing the unrest;

- March 1 - Chairman of the State Duma M. Rodzianko arrived in Mogilev to Tsar Nicholas II with a proposal to abdicate the throne in favor of his 14-year-old son Alexei;

- March 2 - after a day's deliberation, changing his decision many times, Nicholas II signs the abdication of the throne for himself and for his son Alexei in favor of his brother, Mikhail Romanov. The abdication of Nicholas II was not voluntary and was obtained after the army refused to come to the defense of the Tsar - and this became the decisive argument;

- on the same day, March 2, the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, together with the Petrograd Soviet, forms the Provisional Government (before the elections to the Constituent Assembly) headed by G. Lvov;

- dual power begins in Russia - the State Duma and the Provisional Government on the one hand, and the councils of workers', peasants' and soldiers' deputies, which are spontaneously created throughout the country, on the other;

- March 3 - Mikhail Romanov, the uncrowned Tsar Michael II, who enjoys a reputation as a liberal and a certain authority in society, abdicates the throne - until the convocation Constituent Assembly(Mikhail’s abdication was also obtained by force - under many hours of pressure from the leaders of the State Duma and the armed sailors who came with them; Mikhail’s abdication was formalized without legal succession);

- on the same day, the Provisional Government issues its first document - the Declaration of the Provisional Government to the citizens of Russia, which proclaims fundamental rights and freedoms, the abolition of estates, a general political amnesty, the elimination of the police and gendarmerie, their replacement by the people's militia, and the holding at the end of 1917. general and equal elections to the Constituent Assembly.

As a result of the victory of the February bourgeois-democratic revolution in February - March 1917 in Russia:

- the monarchy was overthrown;

— the 304-year reign of the Romanov dynasty was actually ended;

— fundamental human rights and freedoms were proclaimed and became a reality for a short time;

- dual power began - the activities of the Provisional Government and councils;

— revolutionary transformations began, culminating in the Bolsheviks coming to power.

The February Revolution of 1917 in Russia is one of the most controversial moments national history. For a long time it was perceived as the overthrow of “hated tsarism,” but today it is increasingly called a coup d’etat.

Foreshadowing

Back at the end of 1916, there were all the prerequisites for a revolution in Russia: a protracted war, a food crisis, impoverishment of the population, unpopularity of the authorities. Protest sentiments were seething not only at the bottom, but also at the top.
At this time, rumors began to spread intensively about high treason, of which Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Rasputin were accused. Both were accused of spying for Germany.
Radical members of the State Duma, officers and representatives of the elite believed that with the removal of Rasputin it would be possible to defuse the situation in society. But the situation after the murder of the “Tobolsk elder” continued to escalate. Some members of the imperial house stood in opposition to Nicholas II. Particularly sharp attacks towards the tsar came from Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich (grandson of Nicholas I).
In a letter sent to the emperor, he asks to remove Alexandra Fedorovna from governing the country. Only in this case, according to the Grand Duke, would the revival of Russia begin and the lost trust of his subjects would be restored.

Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko claimed in his memoirs that there were attempts to “eliminate, destroy” the empress. He names the initiator of this idea Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who allegedly made such a proposal in one of the private conversations.

Messages about the conspiracy are reported to Nikolai regularly.

“Ah, again about the conspiracy, that’s what I thought. Good, simple people are all worried. I know they love me and our Mother Russia and, of course, do not want any coup,” this is how the emperor responded to the fears of adjutant A. A. Mordvinov.

However, information about the conspiracy is becoming more and more real. On February 13, 1917, Rodzianko informed General V.I. Gurko that, according to his information, “a coup has been prepared” and “it will be carried out by the mob.”

Start

The reason for the mass unrest in Petrograd was the dismissal of about 1,000 workers at the Putilov plant. The workers' strike, which began on February 23 (March 8 according to the new calendar), coincided with a women's demonstration of many thousands organized by the Russian League for Women's Equality.

“Bread!”, “Down with war!”, “Down with autocracy!” - these were the demands of the action participants.

An eyewitness to the events, the poetess Zinaida Gippius, left an entry in her diary: “Today there are riots. Nobody, of course, knows anything for sure. The general version is that it started on Vyborgskaya because of bread.”

On the same day, a number of capital factories ceased their work - Old Parviainen, Aivaz, Rosenkrantz, Phoenix, Russian Renault, Ericsson. By evening, workers from the Vyborg and Petrograd sides gathered on Nevsky Prospekt.
The number of demonstrators on the streets of Petrograd grew with incredible speed. On February 23 there were 128 thousand people, on February 24 – about 214 thousand, and on February 25 – more than 305 thousand. By this time, the work of 421 enterprises in the city had actually suspended. Such a massive movement of workers attracted other layers of society - artisans, office workers, intellectuals and students. For a short time the procession was peaceful. Already on the first day of the strike, clashes between demonstrators and police and Cossacks were recorded in the city center. The capital's mayor A.P. Balk is forced to report to the commander of the Petrograd Military District, General S.S. Khabalov, that the police are not able to “stop the movement and crowds of people.”

Restoring order in the city was complicated by the fact that the military did not want to use force against the demonstrators. Many Cossacks, if they did not sympathize with the workers, were neutral.

As Bolshevik Vasily Kayurov recalls, one of the Cossack patrols smiled at the demonstrators, and some of them even “winked nicely.”
The revolutionary mood of the workers spread to the soldiers. The fourth company of the reserve battalion of the Pavlovsky Life Guards Regiment rebelled. Its soldiers, sent to disperse the demonstration, suddenly opened fire on the police. The mutiny was suppressed by the forces of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, but 20 soldiers with weapons managed to escape.
Events on the streets of Petrograd increasingly turned into armed confrontation. On Znamennaya Square they brutally killed bailiff Krylov, who tried to get into the crowd and tear down the red flag. The Cossack struck him with a saber, and the demonstrators finished him off with shovels.
At the end of the first day of unrest, Rodzianko sends a telegram to the Tsar, in which he reports that “there is anarchy in the capital” and “parts of the troops are shooting at each other.” But the king does not seem to realize what is happening. “Again, this fat man Rodzianko is writing all sorts of nonsense to me,” he blithely remarks to the Minister of the Imperial Court, Fredericks.

Coup

By the evening of February 27, almost the entire composition of the Petrograd garrison - about 160 thousand people - went over to the side of the rebels. The commander of the Petrograd Military District, General Khabalov, is forced to inform Nicholas II: “Please report to His Imperial Majesty that I could not fulfill the order to restore order in the capital. Most of the units, one after another, betrayed their duty, refusing to fight against the rebels.”

The idea of ​​a “cartel expedition”, which provided for the removal of individual military units from the front and sending them to rebellious Petrograd, also did not continue. All this threatened to result in a civil war with unpredictable consequences.
Acting in the spirit of revolutionary traditions, the rebels released from prison not only political prisoners, but also criminals. At first they easily overcame the resistance of the “Crosses” guards, and then took the Peter and Paul Fortress.

The uncontrollable and motley revolutionary masses, not disdaining murders and robberies, plunged the city into chaos.
On February 27, at approximately 2 o'clock in the afternoon, soldiers occupied the Tauride Palace. The State Duma found itself in a dual position: on the one hand, according to the emperor’s decree, it should have dissolved itself, but on the other, the pressure of the rebels and the actual anarchy forced it to take some action. The compromise solution was a meeting under the guise of a “private meeting.”
As a result, a decision was made to form a government body - the Temporary Committee.

Later, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government P. N. Milyukov recalled:

“The intervention of the State Duma gave the street and military movement a center, gave it a banner and a slogan, and thus turned the uprising into a revolution, which ended with the overthrow of the old regime and dynasty.”

The revolutionary movement grew more and more. Soldiers capture the Arsenal, the Main Post Office, the telegraph office, bridges and train stations. Petrograd found itself completely in the power of the rebels. The real tragedy took place in Kronstadt, which was overwhelmed by a wave of lynching that resulted in the murder of more than a hundred officers of the Baltic Fleet.
On March 1, the chief of staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Alekseev, in a letter begs the emperor “for the sake of saving Russia and the dynasty, put at the head of the government a person whom Russia would trust.”

Nicholas states that by giving rights to others, he deprives himself of the power given to them by God. The possibility of peaceful transformation of the country into constitutional monarchy was already missed.

After the abdication of Nicholas II on March 2, a dual power actually developed in the state. Official power was in the hands of the Provisional Government, but real power belonged to the Petrograd Soviet, which controlled the troops, railways, mail and telegraph.
Colonel Mordvinov, who was on the royal train at the time of his abdication, recalled Nikolai’s plans to move to Livadia. “Your Majesty, go abroad as soon as possible. “Under current conditions, even in Crimea there is no way to live,” Mordvinov tried to convince the tsar. "No way. I wouldn’t like to leave Russia, I love it too much,” Nikolai objected.

Leon Trotsky noted that the February uprising was spontaneous:

“No one outlined the path for a coup in advance, no one from above called for an uprising. The indignation that had accumulated over the years broke out largely unexpectedly for the masses themselves.”

However, Miliukov insists in his memoirs that the coup was planned soon after the start of the war and before “the army was supposed to go on the offensive, the results of which would radically stop all hints of discontent and would cause an explosion of patriotism and jubilation in the country.” “History will curse the leaders of the so-called proletarians, but it will also curse us, who caused the storm,” wrote the former minister.
British historian Richard Pipes calls the actions of the tsarist government during the February uprising “fatal weakness of will,” noting that “the Bolsheviks in such circumstances did not hesitate to shoot.”
Although the February Revolution is called “bloodless,” it nevertheless claimed the lives of thousands of soldiers and civilians. In Petrograd alone, more than 300 people died and 1,200 were injured.

The February Revolution began the irreversible process of collapse of the empire and decentralization of power, accompanied by the activity of separatist movements.

Poland and Finland demanded independence, Siberia started talking about independence, and the Central Rada formed in Kyiv proclaimed “autonomous Ukraine.”

The events of February 1917 allowed the Bolsheviks to emerge from underground. Thanks to the amnesty declared by the Provisional Government, dozens of revolutionaries returned from exile and political exile, who were already hatching plans for a new coup d'etat.

The beginning of the revolution on February 23, 1917. It happened in Petrograd. As a result, the monarchy was overthrown in Russia and dual power was established between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet.

Causes: 1) Incompleteness of modernization; the need to overcome backwardness: continue industrialization, democratization, rebuild the agricultural sector, introduce general education.

2) specific contradictions of Russia: peasants-landowners, workers-entrepreneurs, center-outskirts, Russians-others. nationality, Orthodoxy - other confessions

3) crisis of power \ discredit of the monarchy

4) the first world war

Events: The first unrest began with a strike by workers at the Putilov plant on February 17, whose workers demanded an increase in prices by 50% and the hiring of laid-off workers. The administration did not satisfy the stated demands. As a sign of solidarity with the Putilov workers, many enterprises in Petrograd went on strike. They were supported by the workers of the Narva outpost and the Vyborg side. Demonstrations that began in Petrograd demanding bread escalated into clashes with the police, who were taken by surprise by the events. On the evening of February 25, Nicholas II gave the order to stop the unrest in the capital. The State Duma was dissolved. On the night of February 26-27, rebel soldiers joined the workers, On February 27, the Arsenal and the Winter Palace were captured. The autocracy was overthrown. On the same day, the Executive Committee of the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies of Petrograd was formed, and members of the Progressive Bloc created Provisional Committee of the Duma, taking the initiative to “restoration of state and public order.”

Results: So, the result of the February revolution of 1917 was the overthrow of the autocracy, the abdication of the tsar, the emergence of dual power in the country: the dictatorship of the big bourgeoisie represented by the Provisional Government and the Council of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which represented the revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry. The February Revolution of 1917 became the first victorious revolution in Russia and turned Russia, thanks to the overthrow of tsarism, into one of the most democratic countries.

Several political groups have emerged in the country, proclaiming themselves the government of Russia:

1) The Provisional Committee of State Duma members formed the Provisional Government, headed by the compromise Prince G. E. Lvov, whose main task was to win the trust of the population. The provisional government declared itself legislative and executive powers

2) Organizations of persons who declared themselves authorities. The largest of them was the Petrograd Council, which consisted of moderate left-wing politicians and proposed that workers and soldiers delegate their representatives to the Council. The Council declared itself a guarantor against a return to the past, against the restoration of the monarchy and the suppression of political freedoms. The Council also supported the steps of the Provisional Government to strengthen democracy in Russia.

3) In addition to the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet, other local bodies of actual power were formed: factory committees, district councils, national associations, new authorities on the “national outskirts”, for example, in Kyiv - the Ukrainian Rada.”

March 2 - declaration of the provisional government. It grants all civil liberties and a complete amnesty to all political parties. To prisoners, abolition of police censorship. The fall of the revolution is not the end of the revolution, but the beginning.