When did the Russian Republic exist?

The Russian Republic existed 1917. On this map it is drawn 1917–1919.

How large was the Russian Republic?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Russian Republic covered about 22 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Northern Eurasia · Empire and revolution

Russian Republic

1917

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Existed: 1917
Shown on the map: 1917–1919
Peak area: 22.4M km²
Region: Northern Eurasia

Founding and character

The Russian Republic was proclaimed on 1 September [14 September N.S.] 1917 by decree signed by Alexander Kerensky as Minister-President and Alexander Zarudny as Minister of Justice, following the collapse of Nicholas II's monarchy and the failure of the Kornilov affair (10–13 September N.S.). It resolved the previously undetermined question of the state's form, declaring Russia a republic under the Provisional Government, which had governed since the February Revolution in an uneasy "dual power" with the Petrograd Soviet.

Government and leaders

The Provisional Government was first led by Prince Georgy Lvov, then from July 1917 by Kerensky. On 14 September a five-member Directorate headed by Kerensky was established. A Provisional Council of the Russian Republic (the "Pre-Parliament") convened in October under Nikolai Avksentiev. The government's fatal weakness was its commitment to continuing the war and its delay of land reform and Constituent Assembly elections.

Fall

The republic lasted barely two months. It was overthrown in the October Revolution (7 November [25 October O.S.] 1917), when the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd. The Russian Constituent Assembly, finally elected in November, met once on 18 January 1918 and was dissolved by the Bolsheviks the next day, ending the last vestige of the parliamentary republic. The successor was the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).

Common questions

What was the Russian Republic?: The Russian Republic was proclaimed on 1 September [14 September N.S.] 1917 by decree signed by Alexander Kerensky as Minister-President and Alexander Zarudny as Minister of Justice, following the collapse of Nicholas II's monarchy and the failure of the Kornilov affair (10–13 September N.S.).
When did the Russian Republic exist?: The Russian Republic existed 1917. On this map it is drawn 1917–1919.
How large was the Russian Republic?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Russian Republic covered about 22 million km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
How did the Russian Republic end?: The republic lasted barely two months. It was overthrown in the October Revolution (7 November [25 October O.S.]
How was the Russian Republic governed?: The Provisional Government was first led by Prince Georgy Lvov, then from July 1917 by Kerensky. On 14 September a five-member Directorate headed by Kerensky was established.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity, ruler and battle as the basis of these profiles, cross-checked against Encyclopaedia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia and the Encyclopedia of Russian History, and against the scholarship of Janet Martin, Charles Halperin, Serhii Plokhy, Simon Franklin and Krivosheev. The article this entry is anchored on:

Wikipedia — Russian Republic en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Republic

This entry was last updated 20 September 2026.

This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made

Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.

Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).

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