A
Provisional Government, headed
by Prince Georgi Lvov, was formed in Russia
on 15th March, 1917. Lvov attempted to maintain the Russian war
effort but he was severely undermined by the formation of soldiers'
committee that demanded "peace without annexations or indemnities".
In May,
1917, Alexander
Kerensky
was appointed as Minister of War. He toured the Eastern
Front where he made a series of emotional speeches where he
appealed to the troops to continue fighting. On 18th June, Kerensky
announced a new war offensive. Encouraged by the Bolsheviks,
who favoured peace negotiations, there were demonstrations against
Kerensky in Petrograd.
The July
Offensive, led by General Alexei
Brusilov,
was an attack on the whole Galician sector. Initially the Russian
Army made advances and on the first day of the offensive took 10,000
prisoners. However, low morale, poor supply lines and the rapid
arrival of German reserves from the Western
Front slowed the advance and on 16th July the offensive was
brought to an end.
Soldiers
on the Eastern Front were dismayed
at the news and regiments began to refuse to move to the front line.
There was a rapid increase in the number of men deserting and by
the autumn of 1917 an estimated 2 million men had unofficially left
the army.
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