How far was the Russian Provisional Government responsible for its downfall?

Another problem mentioned was the social and the economic conditions of Russia. After the Tsarist system collapsed there was a huge rise in inflation, due to the rising prices there was a lot of upset for the poor. 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. Lenin soon proves to be a strong opponent, and due to Lenin’s influence the Provisional Government was disposed on October the 25th. The Provisional Government’s choice to allow the political exiles back into Russia did fundamentally bring about their own downfall, because they allowed their own opposition back into their country. As well as this, there was the failure to deal with the inflation and the uprising people living in the countryside.

‘Crisis in the countryside’ was a huge part of the Provisional Government’s downfall, mostly due to the peasants. The peasants began to take the law into their own hands; some peasants began to take the land from the rich landowners and others even used violence to get what the land they wanted, basically peasants were now taking their own land and distributing it amongst themselves. In June 1917 alone, the Provisional Government received over 700 complaints about the uprising peasants, however the Provisional Government did nothing and anything they did try didn’t have any effect either. This was a huge downfall for the Provisional Government as their authority was once again undermined.

The First World War had a huge effect on the Provisional Government. After the Tsarist rule the Russian public wanted Russia to pull out from the wall, however, much to the satisfaction of England and France, the Provisional Government kept Russia in the war. By March 1917 Russia had lost territory in Poland and western Russia, as well as this, millions of Russian soldiers had been killed, wounded or taken prisoner. The ‘June Offensive’ in 1917, was a monumental disaster for the Provisional Government, the offensive completely broke down. In fact, in one night there were over 12,000 deserters caught and possibly many more who actually manage to completely escape. 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.