What in your view was the short term significance of Alexander Kerensky’s failure of Russian Provisional Government in 1917?

Alexander Kerensky rose to power following the February Revolution of 1917 after proving to be one of the most prominent leaders, a part of the Provisional committee of the state duma, his popularity earned him the Minister of Justice in a provisional government also known as “Kerensky Government.” It was a process that lasted eight months from 15th March to 14th September, set up in Holland Ede and Petrograd, it’s failure is evident with the short period in which the governments reign lasted and a crucial disadvantage to Kerensky’s social revolutionist party was it’s association with the middle class instead of the working class which did not make it possible for them to represent them.

Kerensky started by sinking Russia deeper into World War I instead of not involving themselves, the government decided to attack Germany and Austria Hungarian army, with its main purpose to diminish there reputation amongst people weary of the war. This was addressed as the “Kerensky Offensive, it in fact failed and this defeated the governments purpose and further damaged there reputation, despite the promise the Russian army had shown initially the Austrian and German armies were able to keep there allies away from them, with better preparations for war, reinforcements came quickly with an assault defeating the Russian lines, caused them to flee and this was the last offensive of the first world war. This was a poor start to Kerensky’s campaign and his first recognizable mistakes in power. This decision was curious and Russian society suffered because of it. The offensive backfired and was proof of there poor preparations which caused there reputation to decrease politics, military and diplomatic relationships. This decisions consequences lead to there Russian army suffering heavy defeat and they never regained there full strength, this meant they were unable to carry out further offensives, the morale had also suffered a major blow and causing degeneration in army discipline.
It is possible that the provisional government could have overcome this poor start and regain popularity in order for there government to succeed in there plans further, the first act they had to deal with being The July Days, Russians suffered because of the “Kerensky Offensive” as there was now a shortage in food and whatever food there was had been overpriced because of the short quantity being sold. This infuriated the public causing riots on July 16th and the 17th against Kerensky’s Provisional Government. The government tried to counter these riots by bringing in troops and eventually managed to end the riots. In this same year Lenin had returned to Russia and therefore was blamed in sparking the riots, however he had no part to play in this but it benefited the party as they despised of him. This gave them an opportunity to plant false evidence proving him to be working for the German government and this cause a revolt in Petrograd against the communists. This also caused him to flee the country and he moved to Finland and this made it harder for the communists to see further prospects of rising to power.

The position of the Provisional Government was severely undermined by what became known as the “Kornilov affair”. After the ‘July Days’ Kerensky made an attempt to assert control over events and appointed Kornilov as Commander in Chief to reassert discipline in the army because he believed they were to lenient. This measure was too reactionary for the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, who were now part of the Government, but Kornilov was hailed as a hero by the Right. Even some of the Liberals now talked of the advantages of military rule. With continued strikes and unrest in Petrograd the Government edged towards the imposition of martial law. Kornilov moved to suppress unrest in Petrograd but at the last moment Kerensky ordered his arrest, ff anybody was going to order arrests it was Kerensky and not anybody else.
Kornilov gathered troops together and marched on Petrograd. They were faced with those soldiers who had deserted the army and 20,000 Red Guards. This was a new force created by the workers of Petrograd to defend the city. With this type of force opposing him, Kornilov did not stand a chance and the attempted take over failed. While it may appear that Kerensky came out of this well, the real winners were the communists. The Red Guards were credited with saving the city and the workers who formed the Red Guards were sympathetic to the communists. In fact, many were communists. Ironically, the man who gained most from this was not even in Russia as Lenin was still in Finland. But it was only a matter of time. Kerensky had lost a lot of support and his power base was rapidly disappearing. But Lenin’s preparations had to be perfect. He had to strongly rely on the Petrograd Soviet. This was a group of workers and soldiers who had formed in 1917. Soviets were rather like councils and had to call on the Soviet to help defend the city against what seemed like an attempted coup by Kornilov. The Soviet came to Kerensky’s aid and Kornilov was arrested. Kerensky’s ambiguous role in this affair was to seriously damage his standing with both the Right and the Left. The army was left further demoralised and confused with little sense of direction. On the Left, the affair led to an upsurge in support for the Bolsheviks, who had taken a lead in organising the workers against Kornilov, whilst support for the Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries, both associated with the Government, declined. Kerensky and the Provisional Government were now dangerously isolated and drifting towards final collapse.

By October 1917 the Bolsheviks were in a position to succeed in seizing power from the Provisional Government, although by this time the Provisional Government wielded little power of its own. It is difficult not to reach a verdict of failure on the Provisional Government; it had lasted little more than eight months. Yet it should be remembered that the country had undergone enormous political change in a very short time. From being a strict autocracy Russia had gained a liberal constitution which, in theory, many in the West admired due to its emphasis on complete political and religious freedom. It even banned capital punishment in the army. The policies of the Provisional Government had also included the release of all political prisoners. These were positive aims but, as best demonstrated by the failure to call the Constituent Assembly and deal with land reform, their implementation was poorly handled and often ineffective. From the start, the Provisional Government had lacked both support and authority. Its attempts to pursue a moderate line were perhaps undermined by the lack of a substantial middle class in Russia, but it could have done more to gain support from the conservative elements or even from the moderate Left. Instead it tended to alienate both groups and as a result was left isolated. The decision to continue the war was perhaps a crucial factor, “sapping” the strength and diverting the energies of a government whose hold on power was tenuous in the first place. The decisions made by Kerensky were amateur mistakes which you would not expect from the countries most significant figure.