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Speaker 1: Hey, I'm Eves, and welcome to this day in History Class,

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Speaker 1: a show that uncovers history one day at a time.

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Speaker 1: Today is March eight, nineteen. The day was March eighth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventeen. It was International Women's Day, a socialist observance

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Speaker 1: that was recognized in Russia. Russia was embroiled in World

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Speaker 1: War One and its armies were losing a lot of

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Speaker 1: campaigns and people. The economy was also suffering because of

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Speaker 1: the war effort. Workers wages were low, working in living

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Speaker 1: conditions were subpar, peasants were often treated poorly, and food

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Speaker 1: was low. So on this day in Petrograd, the Russian

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Speaker 1: city now known as St. Petersburg, women joined striking factory

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Speaker 1: workers to protest against food shortages and high bred prices,

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Speaker 1: the war and Czar Nicholas the Second. This was the

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Speaker 1: conflict that led thousands of peasants, workers and soldiers to

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Speaker 1: strike in the city streets, demanding an end to the

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Speaker 1: war and the autocracy. But unrest had already been simmering.

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Speaker 1: Previous protests that workers led had been met with violence

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Speaker 1: by the Czar's troops. Government corruption was widespread. Nicholas frequently

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Speaker 1: dissolved the Duma the legislative body that the Czar promise

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Speaker 1: would be a representative assembly. In nineteen fifteen, Nicholas took

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Speaker 1: command of the army himself, leaving his wife Alexandra in charge.

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Speaker 1: Nicholas was an ineffective commander of the Russian Army front

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Speaker 1: and Czarina Alexandra was an unpopular leader and earned the

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Speaker 1: distrust of many. And on top of all of this,

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Speaker 1: industry was faltering and come moodities were scarce. So people

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Speaker 1: had steadily been growing distrustful and tired of the regime,

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Speaker 1: and by March nineteen seventeen, all that turmoil had come

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Speaker 1: to a head. Workers from the pots Law factory began

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Speaker 1: striking in early March, demanding higher pay to compensate for

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Speaker 1: higher prices for food and goods. During the strikes, the

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Speaker 1: Tzar left Petrograd to visit troops on the front line

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Speaker 1: on March seven, but back in Petrograd the strikes were escalating.

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Speaker 1: On March eight, women who were protesting food rationing joined

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Speaker 1: the demonstrations in droves feed the children of the Defenders

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Speaker 1: of the Motherland. One banner red and by midday tens

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Speaker 1: of thousands of people had joined the crowd. On Nevsky Prospect,

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Speaker 1: the main street in Petrograd, and by the afternoon around

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Speaker 1: a hundred thousand workers were out on strike. Protests that

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Speaker 1: seemed at first to mainly concern economic issues like food shortages,

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Speaker 1: turned to political demands like calls for the end of

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Speaker 1: the war and the fall of Czar Nicholas the Second.

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Speaker 1: By the next day, people were looting stores and turning

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Speaker 1: over trams and carriages, but Cossacks or military warriors that

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Speaker 1: were supposed to disperse the growing crowds refused to do so,

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Speaker 1: making revolutionary speeches from an equestrian statue of Alexander the

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Speaker 1: Third calling for the overthrow of the Russian monarchy. Zarina

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Speaker 1: Alexandra wrote the following to Nicholas, the strikers and rioters

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Speaker 1: in the city are now in a more defiant mood

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Speaker 1: than ever. The disturbances are created by hoodlums. Youngsters and

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Speaker 1: girls are running around shouting. They have no bread. They

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Speaker 1: do this just to create some excitement. If the weather

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Speaker 1: were cold, they would all probably be staying at home.

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Speaker 1: But the thing will pass and quiet down. Nicholas tried

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Speaker 1: to quell the demonstrations by sending in troops, but the

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Speaker 1: protests showed no signs of flowing down. In fact, the

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Speaker 1: protests became bloody, with demonstrators, police and troops all clashing

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Speaker 1: with one another. Regiments even began shooting and killing protesters

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Speaker 1: as Nomanskaya Square on March eleven. Dozens of people were

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Speaker 1: killed and wounded. But even after the losses, demonstrations continued.

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Speaker 1: Soldiers began rebelling, joining the masses who were protesting. Prisoners

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Speaker 1: were set free, police stations were looted, and circuit court

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Speaker 1: buildings were burned. As much of the army sided with

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Speaker 1: the revolution and attempts to suppress the demonstrations failed, the

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Speaker 1: city descended into chaos. General Kabalov and his troops surrendered

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Speaker 1: on March twelve. Leaders from the dumas socialist factions at

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Speaker 1: as well as representatives of workers and soldiers, formed the

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Speaker 1: Petrograd Soviet of Workers and Soldiers Deputies. On March fifteenth,

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Speaker 1: Nicholas abdicated the throne, and when his brother, Grand Duke

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Speaker 1: Michael refused the throne, more than three centuries of Russian

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Speaker 1: Romanov rule came to an end. Now that the monarchy

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Speaker 1: was out of power, the Duma formed a provisional government

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Speaker 1: to restore law in order with the goal of seeing

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Speaker 1: the war to its end. The Petrograd Soviet and Provisional

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Speaker 1: government agreed to rule Russia together, but the Provisional government

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Speaker 1: support of the war proved troublesome. People began to favor

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Speaker 1: the idea of a Soviet government ruled by soldiers, workers

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Speaker 1: and peasants, as opposed to the Provisional government, which was

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Speaker 1: led by the bourgeoisie and represented the interests of the

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Speaker 1: wealthy Russian revolutionary leader and theorist Vladimir Lenin and the

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Speaker 1: Bull to Big Party soon gained power, and in November

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Speaker 1: the Provisional Government was overthrown and the second of the

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Speaker 1: two Russian revolutions of nineteen seventeen. Over the next five years,

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Speaker 1: a terribly brutal and bloody civil war would ensue. I'm

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Speaker 1: eves Jeff Coote, and hopefully you know a little more

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Speaker 1: about history today than you did yesterday. Here's a note

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Speaker 1: about the dates of the revolution. So in nineteen seventeen,

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Speaker 1: Russia used the Julian calendar, whose dates were thirteen days

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Speaker 1: behind the Gregorian calendars, which a lot of other places

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Speaker 1: around the world used. And on the Julian calendar or

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Speaker 1: what they called old style dates, the February Revolution began

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Speaker 1: on a February three, but in New style dates, it

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Speaker 1: began on March eight. That's why this is called the

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Speaker 1: February Revolution, not the March one, and the same goes

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Speaker 1: for the October Revolution, which actually took place in November

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Speaker 1: according to the Gregorian calendar. Another thing I'd like to

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Speaker 1: add is that historians have long debated whether the February

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Speaker 1: Revolution was spontaneous and leaderless or organized, So if you

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Speaker 1: have any insight on that matter, feel free to let

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Speaker 1: us know on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. At T d

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Speaker 1: I h C podcast, and if you'd like to learn

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Speaker 1: more about the Romanovs, you can listen to the episode

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Speaker 1: of Stuff You miss in History Class called what Happened

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Speaker 1: to the Romanovs. Thanks for joining us today and I'll

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Speaker 1: see you again tomorrow