The
February Revolution of 1917 was the first of
two revolutions in Russia in 1917. It was centered on Petrograd (now
St. Petersburg), then the Russian capital, on
Women's Day in March (late February in the
Julian calendar). The revolution was confined to the capital and its vicinity, and lasted less than a week. It involved mass demonstrations and armed clashes with police and
gendarmes, the last loyal forces of the Russian monarchy. In the last days mutinous Russian Army forces sided with the revolutionaries. The immediate result of the revolution was the
abdication of Tsar
Nicholas II, the end of the
Romanov dynasty, and the end of the
Russian Empire. The Tsar was replaced by a
Russian Provisional Government under Prince
Georgy Lvov. The Provisional Government was an alliance between liberals and socialists who wanted political reform. They set up a democratically-elected executive and
constituent assembly. At the same time, socialists also formed the
Petrograd Soviet, which ruled alongside the Provisional Government, an arrangement termed
Dual Power.