The government made arguably their biggest blunder in committing themselves to continue the war alongside Britain and France, they wished to maintain and increase Russias role as a superpower and they hoped that their relationship with the west would help their failing economy when the war ended. This decision was very much opposed by the Socialist who believed that they should fight a defensive war as opposed to the offensive on the provisional government was persuing.
The Russian people and the soldiers were also very much against the war as millions of Russian men had been conscripted into the army and millions had lost their lives in war with many more injured. This was made worse by the food shortages that occurred across the country due to the lack of men to harvest the fields these shortages were particularly prominent in the city’s.
The provisional government worsened its position in June 1917 through the June offensive, which was a major assult upon the German line, while at first through much propaganda support for the offensive was growing this was not to last. The offensive started failing after 3 days and the army mutinied in many places with soldiers killing their officer. As a result of the mutiny hundreds of thousands were killed and much land was lost. While the government survived this incident it gave their enemy’s something to critise and they lost much of their credibility from the soldiers and workers.
The government was also faced with a crumbling economic situation, food shortages had swept across Russia due to the number of men at war, there were severe fuel shortages and raw material shortages these led to factories down sizing or shutting down, 568 factories in Petrograd closed between February and July and over 100,000 workers lost their jobs, this made the Provisional government very unpopular with an angered workforce. The economic problems faced by the government worsened and in August the government increased the price of grain by 100% in order to persuade the peasants to sell their grain for consumption in the city, this was unsuccessful. The government tried to resolve the grain problem by sending out brigades into the countryside to requisition grain, but this only made the peasants more hostile.
As a result of the economy’s consistent decline strikes sprung up around the country and many factories were taken over by workers committees. The workers demanded that the government controlled prices, but the government showed its upper class favouritism by siding with the Industrialists and not changing the prices. This once again emphasised the class divide and the split between the upper class government and the people.
By may 1917 there was much unrest within the peasants, the government had promised land reforms but was with holding them till the end of the war, in frustrati`asxon many peasants just seized land unlawfully. They also took to seizing livestock, timber and machinery. During the summer there were 237 cases of land seizure this shows the frustration that the peasants were harbouring and shows why the provisional government lost the support of the peasants.
The demands of the National minority’s was also a key failure point after the abdication of the Tsar both the poles and Finns campaigned for independence this was not rare many parts of Russia looked to break away after the fall of the tsar. The Ukraine wanted independence but was of immense value to the Russians as it had the best farmland in the empire and was very near the front line, the government made concession to them which angered the liberals who saw it as the first step in the disintegration of the empire emphasising the political split in government.
The provisional government was faced with the problem that it wasn’t really in control instead it is arguable that the Petrograd and other Soviets were holding the authority, they controlled the working classes and more importantly the army through Soviet order number 1. This ordered all soldiers to obey the orders of the Soviet and therefore diluted the power of the Provisional government. The Petrograd met in the same place as the Duma, which gave them equal power in the eyes of the people, and the Soviets were comprised of Industrialists, Factory owners and regiments of the army, therefore it was very much seen as the party for the people.
The role of Kerensky was also important in the downfall of the Provisional government, he was seen as the bridge between the Soviets and the Provisional government, the only man who could unite the country. Why many saw Kerensky as the personification of everything good and noble in Russia and the saviour of Russia keeping it from descending into civil war, others saw Kerensky as a vein power hungry man determined on becoming the new Tsar, a new dictator. It is therefore argued that if Kerensky had worked for the good of the people rather hen his own selfish ambitions the provisional government may have survived. Even with his propaganda he was not able to win the support of the whole population due to his Tsarist ways and therefore lost him and the government some popularity of the general public.
Another major reason that contributed to the downfall of the provisional government was Kornilov affair this was a great embarrassment to the provisional government and at the same time increased the support of the Bolshevik party. General Kornilov decided that the Soviet and the Bolsheviks were traitors and therefore decided to lead an army into Petrograd to destroy them. This was a large failure as many troops mutinied, Kornilov was then arrested. This showed that the army was very much not in the hands of the Provisional government and at this point public opinion began to side with the Bolsheviks against the Provisional Government.
Lenins role was instrumental in the downfall of the Bolshevik government, in particular his April thesis which stated that he would end the war, introduce land reforms and hand the power over to the Soviet this gained him and the Bolsheviks much popularity, through his brilliant speeches he was able to gain the little support that remained with the Provisional Government.
At this point it was arguable that the downfall of the provisional government was inevitable, it was the October revolution that was the nail in the Provisional Governments coffin. The revolution highlighted the weakness and lack of control held by the Provisional Government when they took Petrograd with limited opposition. This also displayed the lack of support and ineffiency of the government.
While I have outlined a number of factors that ultimately contributed to the downfall of the Provisional Government, whether it was doomed from the start is questionable. Certainly the government started out in a weak and shaky position with severe rifts within the government. They also made many blunders that lost them the support of the public such as continuing the war, not holding elections, not introducing land reforms and the Kornilov affair.
In conclusion I have decided that while the provisional government came into power in a precarious position they were by no means doomed to failure, as was shown after the July days they had the potential to gain the support of the people but never carried it through. Instead I believe that the downfall of the Provisional Government was due to their determination and stubbiness to carry on the war and their failure to see what the people want, if they had introduced Land reforms and stabilized the economy then it is arguable that they would have been able to remain in control for much longer.