What mistakes did the provisional government make that led to the October Revolution?
The very biggest mistake that the provisional government made that surely led to the October Revolution was to pursue the war. Russia, remember, in all this anarchy was still involved in World War I and it was going very badly. Russia had promised the Allies to continue to fight the war until a victorious conclusion but the army wasnt even able to retreat in an orderly fashion. So I think that this pursuance of the war was the worst mistake. It was enormously unpopular; the populace was dreadfully tired of the war. Every country had privations during the war and vast losses and rationing. But the rationing and the privations were worse in Russia than in any other country. Had the provisional government made a separate peace with Germany, I think perhaps things might have gone very differently. How did Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power in 1917? In the summer of 1917, there was a coup from a right wing general. All the Bolsheviks who had earlier been arrested were invited to come out
