16-20 July 1917
A crisis when the revolutionary Sailors of Kronstadt spontaneously marched to the Tauride Palace to put down the Provisional Government in 1917. The uprising was put down.
Street Demonstraion on Nevsky Prospekt in Petrograd, 4 July 1917. Photo by Viktor Bulla.
Background
New defeats at World War I and the approaching German army made everyone dissatisfied with the Provisional Government. Different radical groups criticized and agitated people against it. Soldiers refused to go to the frontier and deserted large numbers.
At the same time The Provisional Government’s first coalition came to crisis as the three coalition parties could not work together.
July Days
In July 1917, a spontaneous demonstration of about 500,000 factory workers, soldiers and the sailors of Kronstadt marched to the Tauride Palace. They scanted “All power to the Soviets!” and called for the Provisional Government to resign.
The government troops opened fire and about 700 people were shot. The uprising was put down.
Results
As a result a new compromise coalition was put together under the SRs party leader Alexander Kerensky as new Prime Minister. Kerensky was hailed and carried by crowds.
All the blame was laid on the Bolsheviks, the radical left wing of the Socialist Democratic Labour Party. Although their leader Vladimir Lenin had distanced himself from the uprising, his arrest was ordered immediately. Lenin escaped to Finland.
July Days
16-20 July 1917
A crisis when the revolutionary Sailors of Kronstadt spontaneously marched to the Tauride Palace to put down the Provisional Government in 1917. The uprising was put down.
Street Demonstraion on Nevsky Prospekt in Petrograd, 4 July 1917. Photo by Viktor Bulla.
Background
New defeats at World War I and the approaching German army made everyone dissatisfied with the Provisional Government. Different radical groups criticized and agitated people against it. Soldiers refused to go to the frontier and deserted large numbers.
At the same time The Provisional Government’s first coalition came to crisis as the three coalition parties could not work together.
July Days
In July 1917, a spontaneous demonstration of about 500,000 factory workers, soldiers and the sailors of Kronstadt marched to the Tauride Palace. They scanted “All power to the Soviets!” and called for the Provisional Government to resign.
The government troops opened fire and about 700 people were shot. The uprising was put down.
Results
As a result a new compromise coalition was put together under the SRs party leader Alexander Kerensky as new Prime Minister. Kerensky was hailed and carried by crowds.
All the blame was laid on the Bolsheviks, the radical left wing of the Socialist Democratic Labour Party. Although their leader Vladimir Lenin had distanced himself from the uprising, his arrest was ordered immediately. Lenin escaped to Finland.
Kornilov Affair