Czarist Regime

Compare the factors that contributed to the downfall of the Czarist Regime with those of the provisional government.



Russia had gone through two revolutions in 1917, one in October and the other in February. These two revolutions had separately overthrown the Czarist Regime and the provisional government in the same year. Therefore it is not hard to find certain similarities in both the internal and external factors that contributed to the downfall of the Czarist Regime with those of the provisional government. The entering and continuation of the World War One had contributed greatly as an external factor to the downfall of both governments. Internally, the land problem, famine and economic problems had contributed to their downfall. However it is notable that the provisional government had started out with much more support than the Czarist Regime. The autocratic rule of the Czar had been a major factor that was absent in leading to the downfall of the provisional government.



Internally, by 1917 both the Czarist Regime and the provisional government faced similar problems. These internal problems had contributed to the overthrown of both governments. The two governments failed to tackle the land problem in Russia and had led to much opposition from the peasants. Even though the Czar had cancelled out the mortgage repayments, the land reforms carried out by Stolypin did not help improve the situation of the peasants. Stolypin’s reform was not well supported by the Czar and the nobles. Even though land bank was established, agriculture remained backward, there was still land shortage and the peasants remained poor. After the overthrown of the Czarist regime, the provisional government too inherited the land problem. Many peasants believed that they would benefit from a major land redistribution following a government take over of the landowner’s estates. However such a thing did not happen and there was no real answer to the land...