Items26The creator’s order
  1. 1February RevolutionFebruary RevolutionFebruary 23 to early March 1917 International Women's Day demonstrations and strikes brought workers into Petrograd's streets. More workplaces joined, and soldiers in the capital mutinied. A government that had depended on the garrison to restore order could no longer rely on it.0
  2. 2Petrograd SovietPetrograd SovietFebruary 27, 1917 The Petrograd Soviet brought together delegates from workers and soldiers while members of the old legislature organized their own committee. Each could claim to represent a part of the city. The revolution had produced two centers of power before it had a settled government.0
  3. 3Petrograd Soviet Order No. 1Petrograd Soviet Order No. 1March 1, 1917 The Soviet ordered soldiers to elect committees and follow the legislature's military orders only when they agreed with the Soviet's. This is what competing authority looked like on the ground: a soldier could be told to answer to two institutions.0
  4. 4Abdication of Nicholas IIAbdication of Nicholas IIMarch 2, 1917 Nicholas II gave up the throne for himself and his son. His brother Michael would accept power only if a future elected assembly asked him to. That left Russia to decide its form of government without a ruling Romanov.0
  5. 5Russian Provisional GovernmentRussian Provisional GovernmentMarch 1917 The new government under Prince Georgy Lvov took on the work of running the state while an elected assembly was planned. It also chose to stay in the war. Those two commitments shaped the months that followed: people wanted a say in their future and an answer to a war they were already…0
  6. 6April ThesesApril ThesesApril 1917 Back from exile, Vladimir Lenin argued against supporting the Provisional Government and called for power to pass to the soviets. This was a choice within the revolution, still far from a consensus even among people who wanted to remove the old order.0
  7. 7April CrisisApril CrisisApril 1917 Foreign Minister Pavel Milyukov assured Russia's allies that the new government was committed to carrying on the war. Protests helped bring down the original cabinet arrangement. Socialist ministers entered a coalition, tying more of the revolution's leaders to decisions they had…0
  8. 8First Universal of the Ukrainian Central RadaFirst Universal of the Ukrainian Central RadaJune 10, 1917 The Central Rada proclaimed Ukrainian autonomy after the Provisional Government rejected its requests. The declaration called for Ukrainians to make their own laws while continuing within Russia. It was a reminder that replacing the tsar had left open how much power the center would…0
  9. 9Kerensky offensiveKerensky offensiveJune 1917 An offensive on the Eastern Front briefly renewed hopes that Russia could keep fighting. Its failure left the Provisional Government to defend the war with fewer grounds for promising a military success.0
  10. 10July DaysJuly DaysJuly 3–5, 1917 Armed soldiers and workers demonstrated in Petrograd and urged the soviets to take power. The movement failed, and authorities turned against the Bolsheviks. Their eventual victory can make it easy to miss how close they came that summer to being pushed out of the contest.0