To what extent were the weaknesses of the provisional government responsible for the October Revolution

To what extent were the weaknesses of the provisional government responsible for the October Revolution

The provisional government was seen to be very weak during the lead up to the October revolution, however other factors such as Lenin and main events such as the Kornilov affair could be said to be the main cause and that the weakness of the provisional government had nothing to do with the fact that the Bolsheviks were gaining such huge amounts of support.
To a certain extent the weaknesses of the provisional were responsible for the October revolution. The provisional government were incredibly weak as an institution of ruling. They failed to supress opposition, for example it ignored the existence of the Smolny Institute which became a hotbed of radical ideas. The fact that they were unable to supress the opposition made the government look extremely weak and caused huge resentment towards them. This made the people of Russia desire strong leadership and therefore when the October revolution was about to take place, the people of Russia did not object. They also failed to suppress any opposition when the Petrograd Soviet Order number 1 was issued on the 1st March. This meant that the soldiers and workers were forbidden to obey direct orders from the provisional government unless the soviet agreed. So the government effectively had no power to enforce anything unless the soviet agreed, by the government not responding to this and taking no action shows a huge weakness and shows to the public how they can be easily lead, controlled and walked over, they had no strength or authority. Another main weakness of the provisional government was that it lacked legitimacy. Due to the fact that the provisional government was just a temporary group, the country lacked stability. This gave the Bolsheviks the opportunity to overthrow the government as to the outside world they were only seen as temporary as it was. The provisional government made a huge mistake weakening them massively, they decided to try and carry on the war, and attacked Austria in June 1917, however the Germans soon moved in and Russia was defeated. The defeat caused shame throughout the whole of Russia and the people of Russia including the army resented the government for forcing the soldiers into battle and causing defeat, by the autumn of 1917 2 million men had left the army and refused to fight. The choice of continuing the war ultimately caused the loss of support from the army, this caused a huge weakness within the provisional government as it left them open to confrontation and attack as they had no protection, allowing the Bolsheviks to attack. Continuing the war meant that there were food shortages and inflation rose even more, this made the provisional governments unpopularity among the Russian people grow even more and people began to want new leaders that can deal with these problems.
In contrast, another main factor responsible for the October revolution was Lenin as a whole. Lenin’s return to Petrograd was a major threat to the provisional government and one of the first. Lenin returned with the intention of starting a revolution and promised this to the people of Russia. This showed that Lenin was a strong character and had focused goals. This allowed him to lead the Bolsheviks into seizing power from the provisional government through the October revolution. On the 4th of April a day after Lenin’s return he delivered his “April Theses”, this was a speech he made to the people of Russia describing and promising how he will give them “peace, bread and land”. These three issues were all the problems that Russia had at the current time and by Lenin promising the people this he gained huge popularity and support. He made them a promise that they could not refuse, while the provisional government on the other hand were not seen to be doing anything actively to sort out the problems Russia faced. Lenin overall was able to gain the Bolsheviks huge amounts of popularity and support and therefore weakened the provisional government, hence causing the October revolution. While this was a huge factor which could be said to cause the October revolution the provisional governments weaknesses are still highlighted. While the government were seen to be taking some form of control by arresting some of the leaders of the Bolshevik party after the July days, again their weakness and misjudgement is shown when they let the Bolshevik party continue despite its clear opposition towards them.
A main factor that could be said to have caused the October revolution is the Kornilov affair. The Kornilov affair shows how little power and authority the provisional government actually had. Kerensky believed that Kornilov was trying to set up a military dictatorship after appointing him as military leader. At this point Kerensky panicked and was forced into asking the Bolsheviks for military help in order to stop this alleged attack. This made the government seem incredibly weak as the leaders of the country had to ask another party for help, it showed the people of Russia that the Bolsheviks were more powerful than the provisional government and so they should be in control. This even made the Bolsheviks more popular and they gained respect from many different people, as they had people protecting the cities and factories etc. At this point the Bolsheviks were able to take over the soviets too, increasing the size of their party. After this they were known as the heroes of Russia and many people named the Bolsheviks the “saviours of Russia, the true defenders of the revolution”. The Kornilov affair was hugely responsible for the October revolution as it showed the true lack of authority and power of the provisional government and the popularity and clear leadership of the Bolshevik party.
Overall the weaknesses of the provisional government were the main reason the for October revolution. The fact that the government was so weak and had no authority was the main cause, as when opposition confronted them they did not know how to respond and how to oppress the opposition for example the Kornilov affair. Therefore it was not a single event such as the Kornilov affair of the April theses that are mainly responsible for the October revolution it is the way the government dealt with these issues and their lack of authority. Thus allowing the Bolshevik party to gain huge amounts of support.