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Russian Provisional Government
The Russian Provisional Government (Vremennoje praviteĺstvo Rossii) was a provisional government of the Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II. The intention of the provisional government was the organization of elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and its convention. The provisional government, led first by Prince Georgy Lvov and then by Alexander Kerensky, lasted approximately eight months, and ceased to exist when the Bolsheviks gained power in the October Revolution in October [November, N.S.] 1917. According to Harold Whitmore Williams, the history of the eight months during which Russia was ruled by the Provisional Government was the history of the steady and systematic disorganization of the army. For most of the life of the Provisional Government, the status of the monarchy was unresolved. This was finally clarified on 1 September [14 September, N.S.], when the Russian Republic was proclaimed, in a decree signed by Kerensky as Minister-President and Zarudny as Minister of Justice. On 12 March (27 February, Old Style), after Prime Minister Nikolai Golitsyn was forced to resign, 24 commissars the Provisional Committee of the State Duma were appointed. The Committee was headed by Mikhail Rodzianko and suspended the activity of the Fourth State Duma. He temporarily took formal state power and announced the creation of a new government on 13 March. The Provisional Government was formed on 15 March 1917 (New Style) by the Provisional Committee in cooperation of the Petrograd Soviet, despite protests of the Bolsheviks. The government was led first by Prince Georgy Lvov and then by Alexander Kerensky. It replaced the Council of Ministers of Russia, which presided in the Mariinsky Palace. The Provisional Government was unable to make decisive policy decisions due to political factionalism and a breakdown of state structures. This weakness left the government open to strong challenges from both the right and the left.
