The second reason in which the provisional government fell from power in November 1917 was that the Bolsheviks were not satisfied with the March Revolution. This was because many of the members of the Provisional Government were middle-class liberals. They believed in political democracy. The Provisional Government granted an official pardon to political prisoners, legalized strikes, and granted freedom of the press, speech and assembly. The ethnic minorities received independence and political prisoners were allowed to return to Russia. Therefore the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks had full freedom to attack the Provisional Government as soon as they returned from their exiles. The Petrograd Soviet declared that it would support the Provisional Government if it approved the last action. So, the Provisional Government had to share her control of the Russian army with the Petrograd Soviet. Since the Petrograd Soviet did not encourage the army to fight, there was a further decline in the fighting spirit of the army. So, as the Soviet was more powerful than the Provisional Government, this was another reason of the fall of the Provisional Government in 1917.
Thirdly, another reason in which the Provisional Government fell from power in November in 1916 was that Lenin’s ‘April Theses’ gained support. This included the summarized slogans ‘Peace, Bread and Land’ and ‘All Power to the Soviets.’ ‘Peace, Bread and Land’ especially made the popularity of the Bolsheviks as these were the three things that were wanted the most. Peace meant that Lenin would pull Russia out of the war; bread meant that, due to food shortages as the outcome of the war, people would have food to eat and land would be given to the peasants to own and work on. So, this made many people change from supporting the Provisional Government and started gaining masses of support from people towards the Petrograd Soviet and that is why there was a fall in the Provisional Government.
The forth reason for the fall of the Provisional Government in November 1917 was that the Bolsheviks realized the importance of planning. This happened as in July the Provisional Government ordered a military attack on the Germans which ended in a massive defeat. The news of this disaster reached towards Petrograd which made soldiers, sailors and workers demonstrate against the government on the 16th and the 17th of July. Eventually, the Bolsheviks joined the demonstrators and their Red Guards joined in the rioting that followed. As troops were loyal to the government, they put down the rising and a warrant was issued for Lenin’s arrest but he managed to escape while other Bolshevik leaders were arrested. This made the Bolshevik realize the importance of planning and started to seize important places and made them secured which was also another reason to contribute towards the fall of Provisional Government as they had known nothing.
The last reason for the fall of the Provisional Government in November 1917 was that overall; the Provisional Government was shown to be weak. This is shown when the commander of the Russian army, General Kornilov, tried to seize power and install a military dictatorship in September 1917. However, he had little support and his troops were persuaded not to fire on fellow Russians. This got Kornilov arrested and the rising crumbled. This was another example for the unpopularity of the Provisional Government and was also an issue towards its fall.
Overall, I think that the main reason for the fall of the Provisional Government was that because it was unpopular from the very start as it refused to hand over land to the peasants and continued the war which made them blamed for the defeats of the Russian army and meant that the Provisional Government would lose support of many people.
