The Rise and Fall of Alexander Kerensky
Kerensky was born in the year 1881 in Simbirsk by then called Ulyanovsk in Russia, where he went through his early childhood education. He was able to acquire education from the place of work where her father was teaching and also a gymnasium teacher. He was good at the sport with a gold award for best in distinction in the gymnasium, a dancer, polite youth smart, and an actor. After this, he managed to be one of the students at St Petersburg University, where he graduated in the years 1904. Kerensky had to learn a lot from his childhood, mainly from his father in sports, by being focused and determined I everything he does. I believe this is what made Kerensky reach the limit in politics because of all the character and quality he learned from his background.
While at the University of St. Petersburg, Alexander liked Narodniki, a revolutionary movement, and he was able to join the movement in the year 1905 after he graduated (Massie, 2011). In the movement, he built his foundation by being one of the best lawyers in the movement. He managed to defend many members of the revelation against political offences they were accused of, which made him a prominent leader. The life in the Narodniki and the services he provided made him well known and built many allies who were able to offer him support later in life. This is where Alexander Kerensky started his journey to become a well-known leader all over the continent by that time.
After being a member of the Narodniki Movement seven years later, he was voted by then to fourth Duma as the delegate for the Trudoviki. In the following years, Alexander was able to influence many people and became one of the best politicians because of eloquent and good character. It made him be elected to represent the citizen in the Duma as a Volsk delegate which was the very competitive seat by then (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2020). From 1912 t0 1917, this was a very important figure, and he represented the citizens in many different areas. He was able to increase his reputations and became a prominent figure I 1917 between March and October. After this period, he went up in the government position from the support and all the work he had done for the people. Series of events and achievements brought him at the peak of his leadership even though this did not last for a very long time as everyone thought.
Alexander grows into the minister of justice after the February revolution, which brought the new government. After the new government was formed, Kerensky was one of the important figure I the government attaining the position as the Minister of Justice. It was a pleasure and big chance for him to join the provincial government as the only socialist member. Later he was honoured with the vice-chairman seat of Petrograd Soviet, which he was required to represent the soldiers and the city workers (The British Library, 2020). After this in May 1917, after which he became the Prime Minister. Alexander raised to be the biggest figure in the government by being very committed to the coalition government. He was also a supporter of World War 1 Russia participation, which was not seen from most of the radical socialist by the time.
Kerensky brought some changes to the country from changing the nation from Monarchy state to bringing freedom to the citizens (Abraham, 1987). Some of these freedom associated with Kerensky includes; freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of press, religion, gender-equal rights, and many other rights. All these made him gain a prominent position being one of the best leaders, then with great achievement and ambition to help the citizen and make Russia great. There was no other political figure that could match him by then from all the activities and operations he was making to the country. He was able to connect to the public through good communication skills, which made it easy for him to deliver every speech easily. All the days that he did work as an advocate mainly made his background and forever gained him respect by everyone in the country. The events that were happening to the country through his leadership were very important, which dramatically pushed for better services to the citizens with fewer boundaries.
Kerensky was able to directly bring the change that every leader feared to manage through arresting every corrupt leader and everyone that slowed the country’s development. In March the same year, 1917 Tsarist minister who represented the people were publicly seized and mistreated while they were dragged and lead to the Winter Palace. After the operation, Kerensky declared all of them as revolution prisoners and also made some other arrest such as Vladimir Sukhomlinov ho was war minister in the name of fighting corruption. This was something that most of the leaders before him could not do since it had much impact that was directly handling it (The British Library, 2020). Kerensky was ready to reform the ministry and work with a team that he knew was working with his manifesto. The process was very hard, but it was one of the best things that Russia had for a very long time and made Russia be revolutionary known.
The Fall
There are very many factors that contributed to the fall of the Alexander government, with most of these factors causing government destabilization to the government (Kerensky, 2017). However, participation in World War 1 is the main reason for Alexander’s downfall compared to other factors. The economy and social welfare of the country hugely went down within a short period because of the country participating in World War 1. Before 1917, the country had also suffered enormous damages with likes of Marusian and the Tannenburg lakes, which had overwhelming fatalities and showed that the technically progressive German army could conclusively outdo Russia’s old method of combat. Therefore, there were very many problems in the country and people were ready to deal with basic thing such as food problem rather than military problems which were next to impossible.”(My Tutor, 2020) By the time, Russian technology could not match some of the countries that were participating in the war-making, it was very hard to win. Therefore, the country faced many losses, which had a big impact on the ruling and operations of the provincial government.
Events such as the July Days Riots, which resulted in the government opening up the fire to the Bolshevik protestors, also resulted in the fall of the government. The government had started to neglect land equality and started working on economic power, which left the citizens angry. What Kerensky did on the July Day Riot made the Kornilov profile to rise and be known by many as a credible person. Kornilov gains more and more supporters who believed that it was now the time for the country to experience change and work for the best of the citizen. It is therefore clear that the fall of these governments was as a result of many reasons to undermine the strength of the Bolsheviks. Participation in World War 1, which was highly supported by Kerensky, alienated, and separated the citizens from the government. These, therefore, were the starting point for the Kerensky to be an unpopular figure in the eyes of the Russian citizen and a demand for a new power that could bring change to the country while it was still early.
In conclusion, Kerensky was one of the most important figures in the history of the Russian government, with all the events and achievements made for a short period. He was able to take the country in a period that there was so much heat all around the world. Fights did not only come from within but also from the neighbouring countries, which made it very hard to govern and work effectively. World War 1 was the main reason behind everything and led to the fall of the Alexander government. Kornilov was able to take advantage and gain popularity at this time when the government was failing by gaining more supporters. He managed to bring a revolution that removed Kerensky from the power for a very short time in his leadership. The event made Kerensky to be exiled and lived for a time far away from the country where he died later.
References
Abraham, R. (1987). Alexander Kerensky: The first love of the revolution. Columbia University Press.
Aleksandr Kerensky | Facts & Biography. Encyclopedia Britannica. (2020). Retrieved 22 May 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aleksandr-Kerensky.
Alexander Kerensky. The British Library. (2020). Retrieved 22 May 2020, from https://www.bl.uk/people/alexander-kerensky.
Kerensky, A. F. (2017). The Catastrophe: Kerensky’s own story of the Russian Revolution. Pickle Partners Publishing.
Loscher, J. D. (2009). The Bolsheviks Volume Ii: How the Soviets Seize Power. United Kingdom: AuthorHouse.
Massie, R. K. (2011). Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Random House.
Outline the main reasons why the Kerensky government fell in 1917 in Russia | MyTutor. Mytutor.co.uk. (2020). Retrieved 22 May 2020, from https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/27939/GCSE/History/Outline-the-main-reasons-why-the-Kerensky-government-fell-in-1917-in-Russia/.