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Difficulty: Very hardShifting Power After 1900

"To the garrison of the Petrograd District...

1. In all companies, battalions, regiments, and separate military services of various kinds, and on the vessels of the navy, committees from the elected representatives of the lower ranks of the above-mentioned military units shall be chosen immediately...
4. The orders of the Military Commission of the State Duma shall be executed only in such cases as do not conflict with the orders and resolutions of the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
5. All kinds of arms, such as rifles, machine-guns, armored cars, and others, must be at the disposal and under the control of the company and regimental committees and shall in no case be turned over to officers, even at their demand."
— Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, Order No. 1, March 1, 1917

The issuance of this order by the Petrograd Soviet most directly contributed to which of the following political situations in Russia during 1917?

  1. The establishment of a precarious 'dual power' arrangement that crippled the administrative authority of the Provisional Government.Answer
  2. B
    The immediate dissolution of the State Duma and the formal declaration of a Bolshevik-led one-party communist state.
  3. C
    The rapid withdrawal of Russian military forces from the Eastern Front of the First World War.
  4. D
    The successful implementation of moderate agrarian reforms that pacified rural peasant unrest.

Answer

The establishment of a precarious 'dual power' arrangement that crippled the administrative authority of the Provisional Government.
The correct answer is correct because Order No. 1 established the dual-power structure (dvoevlastie) that characterized Russian politics between the February and October Revolutions. By ordering that military units obey the Duma (which formed the Provisional Government) only when its orders agreed with those of the Petrograd Soviet, the Soviet stripped the official government of its monopoly on the use of force, crippling its administrative power and war efforts.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the context, source, and date of the provided document.
The source is Order No. 1, issued by the Petrograd Soviet on March 1, 1917, immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II during the February Revolution.
Establishing the precise timeframe and the organization that issued the source is critical to understanding the specific stage of the Russian Revolution.
2
Evaluate the instructions in the document regarding the hierarchy of military command.
Point 4 explicitly states that soldiers should only obey the State Duma (the liberal, formal government) if its orders do not conflict with the Petrograd Soviet (representing the workers and soldiers). Point 5 places all weaponry under the control of local soldier committees rather than officers.
Identifying the transfer of military control shows where actual physical power resided relative to nominal political authority.
3
Synthesize the impact of this division of power on the governance of Russia in 1917.
The document shows the creation of a 'dual power' (dvoevlastie) dynamic. The Provisional Government had formal state authority but lacked control over the military, while the Petrograd Soviet commanded the loyalty of the armed forces but lacked formal executive office. This paralysis left the state vulnerable to further radicalization.
Connecting the text's details to broader historical concepts explains the structural political crisis that defined the inter-revolutionary period.

Key Concept

The collapse of the Russian Tsarist empire and the emergence of the 'dual power' structure (Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet) during the Russian Revolution of 1917.
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Shifting Power After 1900

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