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Introduction

How far was the Provisional Government responsible for its downfall? In March 1917 the age of the Tsar was no more and the Provisional Government was introduced to fix all of Russia's problems. The Provisional Government faced a vast amount of problems; Russia was in the middle of a very difficult social, economic and political crisis. For almost eight months the Provisional Government struggled to fix the problems, however in October 1917, authority had been lost and Russia faced being under the control of more radical Russian politics. Many people believe that the Provisional Government was responsible for its own downfall, due to the failure in dealing with four fundamental issues facing Russia. These issues were the social and economic conditions, the peasants and the First World War. However there was one more predicament, problems within Government itself. The issue was that there were two governments, the Provisional Government and the Soviet. The Provisional Government was very much dominated by members of the Octobrists and the Kadets, however in terms of popular following, these people did not have many supporters, and the more popular Bolsheviks were not in included within the Provisional Government. ...read more.

Middle

The Provisional Government did nothing about this, which led to the 'crisis in the country side'. The Provisional Government had power of the cities of Russia, for example Petrograd, however they had little management on the countryside. This meant the peasants started to take control for themselves, in fact during 1917 there was even a social, economic revolution, but the Provisional Government did not have the power to impose authority so nothing was done. This would have been a huge hindrance for the Provisional Government, the army was already in the process of disintegration and now most of the Russian countryside had no government at all. However, the Provisional Government did make decisions, one of which was to allow political exiles back into Russia, for example, Lenin and Stalin. The choice to do this did promote the idea of a fresh start, which to the people was a fundamental necessity after the Tsarist rule. However, by allowing the exiles back into Russia the Provisional Government did set itself up for trouble. ...read more.

Conclusion

The Russian army was completely crumbling under the control of the Provisional Government. The Russian public was outraged, they wanted peace long ago, not only had Russia been kept in the war but they were suffering huge losses. All of these problems led to the 'July Days', which was a series of riots and demonstrations in Petrograd. This was a huge issue for the Provisional Government and they had lost a lot of faith and respect from the Russian public, due to their fatal mistake with keeping Russian troops at the front line of World War One. In conclusion, the Provisional Government was very responsible for its own downfall. I am aware of this due to the way the Provisional Government dealt with the social and economic conditions, the peasants, Government opposition and the First World War. Anything the Government did try to do either failed or didn't happen at all. However, in my opinion the Provisional Government did have a very difficult job turning a struggling Russia around and to be fair to them, anyone would have to strive tremendously to do a better job. ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level Modern European History, 1789-1945 section.