A mass political strike spreads through Petrograd

Russian troops defended positions near Riga while the wider army suffered low morale, shortages and growing disbelief in the war's aims. The source date is 1/1/1917 Old Style.

By the beginning of 1917, mass desertion, hunger among soldiers’ families and war exhaustion revealed the breakdown of imperial military authority. The source date is 1/1/1917 Old Style.

Around 30,000 Moscow workers joined a one-day strike commemorating the victims of Bloody Sunday and opposing the autocracy. The source date is 1/9/1917 Old Style.

The imperial secret police arrested members of the Workers’ Group after it appealed for political change and a new government. The source date is 1/26/1917 Old Style.

Flour reserves were reported sufficient for only about ten days, meat had disappeared and long queues formed in extreme cold. The source date is 1/31/1917 Old Style.

Women waiting in food queues increasingly entered shops in search of provisions, making the food crisis a visible source of popular anger. The source date is 1/31/1917 Old Style.

Duma chairman Mikhail Rodzianko told the tsar that serious political concessions were needed to prevent national upheaval. Nicholas II rejected the warning. The source date is 2/10/1917 Old Style.

Bolshevik organizers called workers out in protest against the imprisonment of socialist Duma deputies who had opposed the First World War. The source date is 2/10/1917 Old Style.