(March 3, O.S.), Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, the brother of the abdicated Tsar Nicholas II, meets with the leaders of the Duma and the new Provisional Government. When the frightened Grand Duke learns that they will not protect his life as emperor, he refuses the throne. After three centuries of brutal and oppressive rule, the Romanov dynasty comes to an end.

By now, soviets of workers and soldiers have been formed in all major Russian cities. A regime of dual power has been established. Although the Provisional Government is officially in power, workers often only respond to decrees issued by Petrograd and local Soviets and decisions of their factory committees. Soldiers frequently refuse to carry out government decrees that they do not support politically. Alexander Guchkov, the new ministerthe overthrow of the Tsar in Ukraine serves as a catalyst for the striving of the oppressed peoples for national liberation. The Ukrainians, made up for the most part of peasants, were the largest among the oppressed nationalities in the Russian Empire, comprising about 22 percent of its total population.

Petrograd, March 18 (N.S.) (March 5, O.S.): US ambassador in Russia calls for formal recognition of Provisional Government

While the Petrograd Soviet issues a decree calling for the arrest of the Tsarist family and a confiscation of all of its property, the US ambassador David R. Francis sends a telegram to Washington, urging the US government to recognize the Provisional Government immediately. Elaborating on the considerations behind his move, Francis writes in his memoirs:

It should be borne in mind that