February Revolution
Tsar Nicholas abdicated
The February Revolution was the 1917 uprising that ended the Russian Empire and forced Tsar Nicholas II to abdicate.
Sparked by food shortages, war weariness, and strikes in Petrograd, it led to the establishment of a provisional government—which the Bolsheviks would overthrow months later in the October Revolution.
Russian city name, 1914-24
- provisional governmentTemporary authority pending transition
- abdicationFormal surrender of power
- Nicholas IILast imperial Russian ruler
- DumaMoscow's legislative chamber
bread riots · demonstrations · strikes · Winter Palace · Mensheviks · political prisoners · martial law
Rule by one
- Nicholas IILast imperial Russian ruler
- RomanovImperial Russian ruling family
- monarchyRule by crowned sovereign
- dynastySuccessive family rulers
abdication · imperial · aristocracy · royal family · Rasputin · regime · emperor · courtiers
Organized resistance to power
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
- demonstrationPublic display of opinion
mutiny · strikes · unrest · upheaval · resistance · overthrow · riot · dissent
Soviet state founder
- TrotskyExiled Soviet revolutionary leader
- MarxismClass-based revolutionary philosophy
- communismCollective ownership system
- proletariatLaborers lacking capital ownership
Soviet · Bolshevism · vanguard · agitprop · Red Guards · Leninism · party · ideology
Sudden structural failure
- transitionChange from one state
- reformImprove by correcting faults
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
- republicState with elected leaders
constitutional · democratization · liberation · emancipation · regime change · political crisis · power vacuum · revolutionary change
Petrograd
Russian city name, 1914-24
- provisional governmentTemporary authority pending transition
- abdicationFormal surrender of power
- Nicholas IILast imperial Russian ruler
Duma · bread riots · demonstrations · strikes · Winter Palace · Mensheviks · political prisoners · martial law
autocracy
Rule by one
- Nicholas IILast imperial Russian ruler
- RomanovImperial Russian ruling family
- monarchyRule by crowned sovereign
dynasty · abdication · imperial · aristocracy · royal family · Rasputin · regime · emperor · courtiers · Okhrana
revolt
Organized resistance to power
- insurrectionViolent uprising against authority
- rebellionDefiance of established power
- protestPublic expression of disapproval
demonstration · mutiny · strikes · unrest · upheaval · resistance · overthrow · riot · dissent · mobilization
Lenin
Soviet state founder
- TrotskyExiled Soviet revolutionary leader
- MarxismClass-based revolutionary philosophy
- communismCollective ownership system
proletariat · Soviet · Bolshevism · vanguard · agitprop · Red Guards · Leninism · party · ideology · radicalism
collapse
Sudden structural failure
- transitionChange from one state
- reformImprove by correcting faults
- modernizationAdoption of current methods
republic · constitutional · democratization · liberation · emancipation · regime change · political crisis · power vacuum · revolutionary change · social upheaval
- Russian HistorySoviet Union, tsars, Tsarist Russia, Romanov, czars
- Revolutionsoverthrow, uprising, revolt, insurrection, rebellions
- Russian RevolutionBolsheviks, Lenin, Trotsky, Petrograd, Winter Palace
- 1848 Revolutionprovisional government, abdication, barricades, universal suffrage, tricolor
- 1848 RevolutionsRoman Republic, Marx, Karl Marx, Engels, Garibaldi
- uprisingsuprising, revolt, rebellion, insurrection, mutiny
February RevolutionRomanov dynasty
Russia's final imperial house
Russian Empire · ancien régime · imperial Russia · absolutism