March Revolution

1
March Revolution
Life very hard
Winter bad freezing conditions
Queues for essential foods
Fuel in short supply
candles
bread
sugar
tea
Many demonstrations
Down with the monarchy
Down with the police
2
March

• 8 March start of 5 days of strikes, riots and
  demonstrations in St Petersburg

11 March 40 demonstrators killed when soldiers
from Volinsky regiment fired on crowd. Tsar
orders Duma not to meet
Duma defied Tsar and decided to meet on 12th
March
6am 12 March Volinsky regiment mutinied
3
March RevolutionQuotes Tsarina Alexandra
This is a hooligan movement
This will all pass if only the Duma will behave
itself
If the weather were very cold they would
probably all stay at home
Young people run and shout that there is no
bread, simply to create excitement
4
Role of the Volinsky Regiment
Discussed their impressions of the days shooting
and agreed they would no longer fire on the
crowds
volinsky regiment
Either shot or committed suicide
When Captain Lashkevitch appeared he was greeted
with shouts we will not shoot!
Poured out onto the streets (and) soon aroused
the soldiers of the rest of the Petrograd
garrison W.H Chamberlain
5
12 March
6 am Volinsky Mutiny
By midday joined by 25,000 troops and civilians
Attacked policemen and police stations
40,000 rifles handed to workers
Marched on the Tauride Palace
Set up PG
This is where the Duma was meeting
Dual power
This is where a Soviet was meeting
BIG PROBLEM for future
6
What would the Tsar DO?
Set out to return to St Petersburg from Mogilev
Train got no further than Pskov
Striking soldiers stopped the train at deserted
station
Finally realised this was SERIOUS when bodyguard
went over to revolutionaries at train station
7
What Happened Next?
this is Rodzianko leader of Duma at time of
Revolution
He sent a telegraph to the Tsar it said
A terrible revolution has broken out. Hatred of
the Tsarina has reached fever pitch. To prevent
bloodshed I have been forced to arrest all the
ministers... Power is slipping from my hands. The
measures you propose are too late. The time for
them is gone. There is no return.
8
Unfortunately
That fat bellied Rodzianko has written me a lot
of nonsense, which I wont even bother to answer
By the time he realised Rodzianko spoke the truth
it was too late
9
At the Same Time
The Provisional Government decided the Tsar had
to go.
Two members of the Duma went to Pskov to get Tsar
to sign the abdication
10
The Abdication

• Nicholas received them, kindly and quietly, in
  his imperial carriage lined with green silk. They
  (the members of the Duma) sensed that the
  dignified, withdrawn man, with tired eyes sunken
  in hollow cheek-bones, was almost relieved to
  give up power at last.

Heather Cubitt, Russia under the last Tsar - 1980
11
Options
Alexis could have become Tsar in place of his
father
NO too ill
Therefore Nicholas named his brother as his
successor
Grand Duke Michael
BUT PG couldnt guarantee his safety, so he too
abdicated
304 years of Romanov's over