Were the mistakes made by the provisional government the main reasons why the Bolsheviks came to power?

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Were the mistakes made by the provisional government the main reasons why the Bolsheviks came to power?

The mistakes of the provisional government were important but were not the sole reason the Bolsheviks rose to power.  One of the most important mistakes was staying in the war because the majority of the population did not want to stay in the war. Over 50 % 6.6 million men were killed or wounded out of 12 million. The provisional government could not pull out of the war because the France and Great Britain would not help them in the future. Furthermore over 150,000 soldiers deserted to claim land. This is a major reason why the provisional government lost power.

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However, another important reason the Bolsheviks came to power was the Kornilov revolt.  Kerensky found out that Kornilov was marching his army to Petrograd because Kornilov thought martial law should be introduced. Kerensky armed the Red Guard to defend Petrograd in the end the Bolsheviks negotiated with Kornilov not to attack. Kerensky failed to take the weapons back off the Red Guard. This is extremely important because from this point onward the Bolsheviks were armed. This is an extremely important factor leading to the rise of the Bolsheviks.

 However one could argue that the main factor for the ...

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