The failures of the Provisional Government

The Provisional Government never really ruled Russia. Right from the start it had to share power with the Petrograd Soviet, which had a rule that its members should only obey the Provisional Government if the Soviet agreed with it. The failures of the Provisional Government were:

• The Provisional Government had to share power with the Petrograd Soviet. Members of the Soviet always rejected the Provisional Government.

• The Provisional Government did nothing to stop the war. The soldiers came to hate the Provisional Government.

• The Provisional Government was unable to end the shortages of food and fuel in Petrograd. This was because it continued the war, which was causing the shortages. The workers came to ahte the Provisional Government.

• The Provisional Government did nothing to solve the land problem. In the countryside, peasants started taking over the land of the nobles, many of those who had run away.

The most important reason for the failure of the Provisional Government was that they did nothing to stop the war, and after they tried to attack Austria people turned against them. Soldiers and their families despised the Provisional Government for these reasons, as well as the other reasons the Provisional Government had brought upon themselves.

Molly Thorpe