Historical figure · Pearson Edexcel International GCSE revision on Incandio

Alexander Kerensky

Fifty Years Of Explaining Eight Months · Russian Prime Minister · 1881–1970

The lawyer who led the Provisional Government of 1917, continued the war because Russia had allies, armed the Bolsheviks to stop Kornilov, and lost the country eight weeks later.

Defend these ideas against Kerensky

Incandio is a free revision platform for the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE, and on it a topic counts as mastered only once you have learned it, proved it in questions, taught it back and defended it against the person with the strongest claim on it. Alexander Kerensky is that person for one topic on the course:

• Dual power and the mistakes of the Provisional Government — History · Russia and the Soviet Union, 1905–24

Who was Kerensky?

Born in Simbirsk in 1881 — the same town as Lenin, whose father had taught his — Kerensky became a lawyer defending political prisoners and was the only man to sit in both the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet in the spring of 1917. He was Minister of Justice, then War, then Prime Minister from July. The June offensive, launched to honour Russia's obligations to the Allies, failed catastrophically. In August, when General Kornilov advanced on Petrograd, Kerensky armed the city's workers, including the Bolsheviks, and did not disarm them afterwards. In October he left the capital to find loyal troops and never returned to power. He lived in Paris and then New York until 1970, arguing his case.

Major achievements

• Held the only position spanning both the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet
• Abolished capital punishment, the death penalty at the front and religious and ethnic discrimination
• Stopped the Kornilov advance on Petrograd in August 1917

Life in brief

• 1881 — Born in Simbirsk: Son of a school director who had taught Lenin.
• 1917 — March: dual membership: In both the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet.
• 1917 — June: the offensive: Launched to honour obligations to the Allies; it collapses.
• 1917 — August: Kornilov: Arms the Petrograd workers to stop the advance.
• 1917 — October: Leaves Petrograd to find loyal troops and does not return.
• 1970 — Dies in New York: After fifty-three years of exile and argument.

Explore the life of Kerensky — five chapters

1. The Other Boy From Simbirsk — A headmaster's son, and whose headmaster
2. Both Sides of the Corridor — The one man in the government and the Soviet
3. The Offensive — The decision that cost him the army
4. Kornilov, and the Rifles He Never Got Back — Arming your enemies to survive your allies
5. Fifty-Three Years — An exile arguing with a version of himself

Read the five-chapter life of Alexander Kerensky →

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