Eventually, the Army ended its support of the Tsar and the soldiers joined the workers in the streets to march with them .The Tsar’s ordered the Duma to stop their meetings but they still held a meeting and set up a committee that was named the Provisional Committee to take control of the government. Later that the day the workers and revolutionaries set a council , the Petrograd Soviet .
After this happened on the 14th of March, Nicholas had no longer the support of the Russian Army .The next day revolutionaries stopped the Tsar’s train on the way to Petrograd, Nicholas had not choice but to abdicate .He wanted to give his throne to Alexis or the Grand Duke Michael but both refused .
These events were caused by low moral and huge unhappiness amongst the Russian people. Russia was defeated by Japan in 1905. The economy was also starting to grow at the time in Russia. The amount of factories doubled within the past few years causing the people to pay higher taxes. The workers were forced to work in harsh conditions in the factories. Russia was dealing with an unfair and oppressive government where the Tsar ruled everyone and everything and where he made terrible decisions and did not keep his promises. People began to rebell againt this type of government (autocracy).
After the March Revolution, the Provisional Committee set up on March the 12th the Provisional Government. One man disagreed with the Provisional Government. This man was Lenin , leader of the Bolsheviks. He was in exile In Switzerland but the Germans helped him to get back to Petrograd and Lenin arrived on the 16th of April .He declared his “April These” in which he said he supported the peasants and the soldiers .
A couple of months after the Provisional Government was installed, it lost its authority. The peasants rebelled in their villages and took land. Soldiers in the Army refused to fight or deserted. Discipline was almost inexistent in the Russian Army.
The Petrograd Soviet Committee was well organised. The Bolsheviks had the support of the Army and had many weapons at their disposal. On the night of the 6th of November the Red Guards started taking control of key locations in Petrograd : public buildings , police offices , government buildings , post offices , jails , bridges , railway stations and garrisons . On the morning of the 7th of November the Bolsheviks took the Winter Palace and the few inexperienced soldiers guarding it. The ministers of the Government surrendered. Now the capital was under the Bolsheviks control .
The Provisional Government fell so quickly because they took very unpopular decisions. They kept Russia in the “Great War” and Kerensky in June called for a massive Russian attack which was a catastrophe. The Provisional Government had to share power with the Petrograd Soviet Committee. They did not have the support of the Army. Kerensky promised the peasants land and a constitutional assembly. He did not keep them . Lenin returned from exile and now the Soviets had a leader. Lenin and the Bolsheviks proposed attractive promises that were: to end “the war to end all wars” and to give land to the peasants and promises of more food.
