View source for Alexander Kerensky

{{Short description|Russian politician (1881–1970)}}
{{family name hatnote|Fyodorovich|Kerensky|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Alexander Kerensky
| native_name         = {{nobold|{{langx|ru|Александр Керенский|label=none}}}}
| image               = Alexander Kerensky 1917 Crop.jpg
| caption             = Kerensky in 1917
| office1             = [[List of heads of government of Russia#Provisional Government/Russian Republic|Chairman of the<br />Russian Provisional Government]]{{efn| Until 14 September 1917 }}<br>[[Minister-Chairman of Russia]]{{efn| 14 September 1917 }} <br />([[Prime Minister of Russia]])
| term_start1         = 21 July 1917
| term_end1           = 7 November 1917<br /><small>[6 July – 25 October 1917 Old Style]</small>
| predecessor1        = [[Georgy Lvov]]
| successor1          = [[Vladimir Lenin]]{{efn|as [[Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union|Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars]]}}
| office2             = [[Russian Provisional Government#Initial composition|Minister of War and Navy]] of the<br />[[Russian Provisional Government]]
| term_start2         = 18 May 1917
| term_end2           = 14 September 1917<br /><small>[5 May – 1 September 1917 Old Style]</small>
| 1blankname2         = [[List of heads of state of Russia#Russian Republic (1917–1918)|Chairman of the Provisional Government]]
| 1namedata2          = [[Georgy Lvov]] <br /> ''Himself''
| predecessor2        = [[Alexander Guchkov]]
| successor2          = [[Dmitry Verderevsky]]{{efn|as [[Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy#Minister of the Navy (1917)|Minister of the Navy]]}}<br> [[Alexander Verkhovsky]]{{efn|as [[List of heads of the military of post-imperial Russia#Provisional Government (1917)|Minister of War]]}}
| office3             = [[Russian Provisional Government#Initial composition|Minister of Justice]] of the<br />[[Russian Provisional Government]]
| term_start3         = 16 March 1917
| term_end3           = 1 May 1917<br /><small>[3 March – 18 April 1917 Old Style]</small>
| 1blankname3         = [[List of heads of state of Russia#Russian Republic (1917–1918)|Chairman of the Provisional Government]]
| 1namedata3          = Georgy Lvov
| predecessor3        = ''Office established''{{efn|[[:ru:Добровольский, Николай Александрович|Nikolai Dobrovolsky]] as [[List of Ministers of Justice of Imperial Russia|Minister of Justice]] of the Russian Empire.}}
| successor3          = [[:ru:Переверзев, Павел Николаевич|Pavel Pereverzev]]
| office4             = Vice Chairman of the [[Petrograd Soviet]]<ref>{{Cite book |title=Сванидзе М. С.: Исторические хроники с Николаем Сванидзе. 1917 год. Александр Керенский |url=http://esenin-lit.ru/esenin/bio/svanidze-istoricheskie-hroniki/1917-aleksandr-kerenskij.htm |access-date=2023-07-18}}</ref>
| 1blankname4         = Chairman
| 1namedata4          = [[Nikolai Chkheidze]]
| term_start4         = 12 March 1917
| term_end4           = 9 November 1917<br /><small>[27 February – 27 October 1917 Old Style]</small>
| predecessor4        = ''Office established''
| successor4          = [[Matvey Skobelev]]
{{Collapsed infobox section begin |cont = yes |Other offices
| titlestyle       = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder
| embed            = yes
| office5             = Member of the<br />[[Russian Constituent Assembly]]
| term_start5         = [[1917 Russian Constituent Assembly election|25 November 1917]]
| term_end5           = 20 January 1918{{efn|The Constituent Assembly was declared dissolved by the Bolshevik-Left SR Soviet government, rendering the end the term served.}}<br /><small>[12 November – 7 January 1918 Old Style]</small>
| predecessor5        = ''Constituency established''
| successor5          = ''Constituency abolished''
| constituency5       = [[Saratov electoral district (Russian Constituent Assembly election, 1917)|Saratov]]
| office6             = Member of the [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|Russian State Duma]]
| term_start6         = [[1912 Russian legislative election|15 November 1912]]
| term_end6           = 6 October 1917
| predecessor6        = ''Multi-member district''
| successor6          = ''Constituency abolished''
| constituency6       = [[Volsk]]
{{Collapsed infobox section end}} }}
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1881|05|04|df=y}}
| birth_place         = [[Ulyanovsk|Simbirsk]], [[Simbirsk Governorate]], [[Russian Empire]]
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1970|06|11|1881|05|04|df=y}}
| death_place         = New York City, U.S.
| restingplace        = [[Putney Vale Cemetery]], London
| alma_mater          = [[Saint Petersburg State University]]
| profession          = {{hlist|Lawyer|politician}}
| party               = [[Socialist-Revolutionary Party]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Aleksandr-Kerensky | title=Aleksandr Kerensky &#124; Facts & Biography &#124; Britannica }}</ref>
| otherparty          = [[Trudoviks]]
| spouse  = {{Marriage|Olga Lvovna|1904|1939|end=div,}}<br>{{Marriage|[[Lydia Ellen Tritton|Lydia Tritton]]|1939|1946|end=d.}}
| children            = {{hlist|[[Oleg Kerensky|Oleg]]|Gleb}}
| signature           = Kerensky autograph.svg
}}

'''Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky'''{{efn|{{IPAc-en|ˈ|k|ɛ|r|ə|n|s|k|i|,_|k|ə|ˈ|r|ɛ|n|s|k|i}} {{respell|KERR|ən|skee|,_|kə|REN|skee}}; {{langx|ru|link=no|Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ке́ренский}}, {{IPA|ru|ɐlʲɪkˈsandr ˈkʲerʲɪnskʲɪj|IPA}}; [[Reforms of Russian orthography|original spelling]]: {{lang|ru|Александръ Ѳедоровичь Керенскій}}}} ({{OldStyleDate|4 May|1881|22 April}} – 11 June 1970) was a Russian lawyer and revolutionary who led the [[Russian Provisional Government]] and the short-lived [[Russian Republic]] for three months from late July to early November 1917 ([[New Style|N.S.]]).

After the [[February Revolution]] of 1917, he joined the newly formed provisional government, first as [[Justice ministry|Minister of Justice]], then as [[Minister of War]], and after July as the government's [[List of heads of government of Russia#Russian Provisional Republic|second]] [[Prime Minister of Russia|Minister-Chairman]]. He was the leader of the [[Social democracy|social-democratic]] [[Trudoviks|Trudovik]] faction of the [[Socialist Revolutionary Party]]. Kerensky was also a vice-chairman of the [[Petrograd Soviet]], a position that held a sizable amount of power. Kerensky became the prime minister of the Provisional Government, and his tenure was consumed with [[World War I]]. Despite mass opposition to the war, Kerensky chose to continue [[Kerensky offensive|Russia's participation]]. His government cracked down on anti-war sentiment and dissent in 1917, which made his administration even more unpopular.

Kerensky remained in power until the [[October Revolution]]. This revolution saw the [[Bolsheviks]] create a government led by them in a coalition with [[Left SRs]], to replace Kerensky's government. Kerensky fled Russia and lived the remainder of his life in exile, mostly in Paris and New York City. He also worked for the [[Hoover Institution]] at [[Stanford University]], California.

He died in New York on 11 June 1970, at the age of 89. Both [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia|the local Russian]] and [[Serbian Orthodox]] churches refused his body due to his [[Freemasonry]], and because they saw him as largely responsible for the Bolshevik seizure of power. Eventually, his body was flown to London and buried in the non-sectarian [[Putney Vale Cemetery]].

==Biography==
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2023}}

=== Early life and activism ===
Alexander Kerensky was born in Simbirsk (now [[Ulyanovsk]]) on the [[Volga]] river on 4 May 1881 and was the eldest son in the family.<ref name=wwi>{{cite web|title=Alexander Kerenski|url=http://www.firstworldwar.com/bio/kerenski.htm|publisher=First World War|access-date=1 April 2013}}</ref> His father, Fyodor Mikhailovich Kerensky, was a teacher<ref name=wwi/> and director of the local [[gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]], and was later promoted to be an inspector of public schools. His paternal grandfather Mikhail Ivanovich served as a priest in the village of Kerenka in the Gorodishchensky district of the [[Penza Governorate]] from 1830. The surname Kerensky comes from the name of this village.<ref name="eternal" /> His maternal grandfather was head of the Topographical Bureau of the [[Kazan]] [[Military district (Russian Empire)|Military District]]. His mother, Nadezhda Aleksandrovna (née Adler),<ref>{{cite book |last=N. Magill |first=Frank |date=5 March 2014 |title=The 20th Century Go-N: Dictionary of World Biography, Volume 8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3sBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1944 |publisher=Routledge |page=1941 |isbn=978-1-317-74060-5 }}</ref> was the granddaughter of a former [[serf]] who had managed to purchase his freedom before [[Emancipation reform of 1861|serfdom was abolished in 1861]]. He subsequently embarked upon a mercantile career, in which he prospered. This allowed him to move his business to Moscow, where he continued his success and became a wealthy Moscow merchant.<ref name=eternal>{{cite web|title=Александр Федорович Керенский |url=http://eternaltown.com.ua/%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%B8/2920/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140725092037/http://eternaltown.com.ua/%D0%B1%D0%B8%D0%BE%D0%B3%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%B8/2920/ |url-status = dead|archive-date=2014-07-25 }}</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110719234418/http://mega.km.ru/bes_2004/encyclop.asp?TopicNumber=31562&search=%EA%E5%F0%E5%ED%F1%EA%E8%E9 Encyclopedia of Cyril and Method]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-25 |title=Керенский Александр Фёдорович |url=https://bigenc.ru/c/kerenskii-aleksandr-fiodorovich-2727d0 |access-date=2025-10-30 |website=Большая российская энциклопедия |language=ru}}</ref>

Members of the Kerensky and Ulyanov families were friends; Kerensky's father was the teacher of [[Vladimir Lenin|Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin)]], and had even secured him acceptance into the University of Kazan.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sebestyen |first=Victor |author-link=Victor Sebestyen |title=LENIN The Man, The Dictator, The Master of Terror |date=9 October 2018 |publisher=Vintage |page=58 |isbn=978-1-101-97430-8}}</ref> In 1889, when Kerensky was eight, the family moved to [[Tashkent]], where his father had been appointed the main inspector of public schools (superintendent). Kerensky graduated with honours in 1899. The same year he entered [[St. Petersburg University]], where he studied history and [[philology]]. The next year he switched to law. He earned his law degree in 1904 and married Olga Lvovna Baranovskaya, the daughter of a Russian general, the same year.<ref>[http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2001/janfeb/features/kerensky.html A Doomed Democracy] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311025735/http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2001/janfeb/features/kerensky.html |date=11 March 2007 }} Bernard Butcher, Stanford Magazine, January/February 2001</ref> Kerensky joined the [[Narodnik]] movement and worked as a legal counsel to victims of the [[Revolution of 1905]]. At the end of 1904, he was jailed on suspicion of belonging to a militant group. Afterwards, he gained a reputation for his work as a defence lawyer in a number of political trials of revolutionaries.<ref>Political Figures of Russia, 1917, Biographical Dictionary, Large Russian Encyclopedia, 1993, p. 143.</ref>

In 1912, Kerensky became widely known when he visited the goldfields at the [[Lena River]] and published material about the [[Lena massacre]].<ref>The Lena Goldfields Massacre and the Crisis of the Late Tsarist State by Michael Melancon [https://books.google.com/books?id=ymYJfA3mx2kC&pg=PA112]</ref> In the same year, Kerensky was elected to the [[Fourth Duma]] as a member of the [[Trudoviks]], a socialist, non-Marxist [[Labour movement|labour party]] founded by [[Alexis Theodorovich Aladin|Alexis Aladin]] that was associated with the [[Socialist-Revolutionary Party]], and joined a [[Freemason]] society uniting the anti-monarchy forces that strived for democratic renewal of Russia.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/oas/oas_pdf/v51/p127_130.pdf |title=Alexander Fedorovich Kerensky |author=Medlin, Virgil D. |journal=Proceedings of the Oklahoma Academy of Science |year=1971 |volume=51 |page=128 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304051142/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/oas/oas_pdf/v51/p127_130.pdf |archive-date=4 March 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.omolenko.com/en/rasputin/tatyana-mironova-belied-life-belied-death.htm|title=Grigori Rasputin: Belied Life – Belied Death|website=www.omolenko.com|access-date=20 January 2019}}</ref> In fact, the Socialist Revolutionary Party bought Kerensky a house, as he otherwise would not be eligible for election to the Duma, according to the Russian property-laws.

During the 4th Session of the Fourth Duma in spring 1915, Kerensky appealed to [[Mikhail Rodzianko]] with a request from the Council of elders to inform the tsar that to succeed in the war he must:
# change his domestic policy,
# proclaim a General Amnesty for political prisoners,
# restore the Constitution of [[Grand Duchy of Finland|Finland]],
# declare autonomy of [[Congress Poland|Poland]],
# provide national minorities autonomy in the field of culture,
# abolish restrictions against Jews,
# end religious intolerance,
# stop the harassment of legal trade union organizations.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/Governments-Parliaments_and_Parties_(Russian_Empire) |title=Governments, Parliaments and Parties (Russian Empire) By Fedor Aleksandrovich Gaida |access-date=7 January 2024 |archive-date=7 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240607051645/https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/Governments-Parliaments_and_Parties_(Russian_Empire) |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Fontenot |first=Michael James |title=Alexander F. Kerensky; The Political Career of a Russian Nationalist|page=34|url=https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4014&context=gradschool_disstheses |access-date=11 October 2022 |website=Louisiana State University}}</ref><ref>[https://historyofthetwentiethcentury.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/135-Stupidity-or-Treason.pdf Transcript]</ref>

In August, he became a significant member of the [[Progressive Bloc (Russia)|Progressive Bloc]], which included several socialist parties, [[Mensheviks]], and Liberals – but not [[Bolsheviks]].<ref>TV-documentary "Russian Revolution seen from Russia" aired at Danish [[DR K]] 11.June.2018</ref>

Kerensky was an active member of the irregular [[Freemasonic]] lodge, the [[Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples]],<ref name="mason">
{{cite news
|url= http://freemasonry.bcy.ca/texts/russia/russian_masons.html
|title= Noteworthy members of the Grand Orient of France in Russia and the Supreme Council of the Grand Orient of Russia's People
|date= 15 October 2017
|work= Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon
}}</ref> which derived from the [[Grand Orient of France]]. Kerensky was Secretary-General of the Grand Orient of Russia's Peoples and stood down following his ascent to the government in July 1917. He was succeeded by a Menshevik, [[Alexander Halpern]].

=== Rasputin ===
In response to bitter resentments held against the imperial favourite [[Grigori Rasputin]] in the midst of Russia's failing effort in [[World War I]], Kerensky, at the opening of the Duma on 2 November 1916, called the imperial ministers "hired assassins" and "cowards", and alleged that they were "guided by the contemptible Grishka Rasputin!"<ref>''The Russian Provisional Government, 1917'': Documents, Volume 1, p. 16 by Robert Paul Browder, Aleksandr Fyodorovich Kerensky [https://books.google.com/books?id=LzWsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA16]</ref> Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia|Nicholas Mikhailovich]], Prince [[Georgy Lvov]], and General [[Mikhail Alekseyev]] attempted to persuade the Tsar to send away the Empress [[Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Alexandra Feodorovna]], Rasputin's steadfast patron, either to the [[Livadia Palace]] in [[Yalta]] or to [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|Britain]].<ref>A. Kerensky (1965) ''Russia and History's turning point'', p. 150.</ref> Lvov, [[Zinaida Yusupova]] (the mother of [[Felix Yusupov]]), Alexandra's sister [[Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (1864–1918)|Elisabeth]], Grand Duchess [[Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha|Victoria]] and the empress's mother-in-law [[Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark)|Maria Feodorovna]] also tried to influence and pressure the imperial couple<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alexanderpalace.org/realtsaritsa/1chap5.html|title=Alexandra Feodorovna and Romanov Russia, The Real Tsaritsa written by Lili Dehn – Part One – Old Russia – Chapter V|website=www.alexanderpalace.org|access-date=20 January 2019}}</ref> to remove Rasputin from his position of influence within the imperial household, but without success.<ref>''The Russian Provisional Government, 1917'': Documents, Volume 1, p. 18 by Robert Paul Browder, Aleksandr Fyodorovich Kerensky [https://books.google.com/books?id=LzWsAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA18]</ref> According to Kerensky, Rasputin had terrorised the empress by threatening to return to his native village.<ref>A. Kerensky (1965) ''Russia and History's turning point'', p. 163.</ref>

Members of the nobility murdered Rasputin in December 1916, and he was buried near the imperial residence in [[Tsarskoye Selo]]. Shortly after the [[February Revolution]] of 1917, Kerensky ordered soldiers to re-bury the corpse at an unmarked spot in the countryside. However, the truck broke down or was forced to stop because of the snow on Lesnoe Road outside of St. Petersburg. It is likely the corpse was incinerated (between 3 and 7 in the morning) in the [[cauldron]]s of the nearby boiler shop<ref>[http://www.encspb.ru/object/2804023731?lc=en Rasputin G. E. (1869–1916)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304165732/http://www.encspb.ru/object/2804023731?lc=en |date=4 March 2016 }}. A.G. Kalmykov in the Saint Petersburg encyclopaedia.</ref><ref>[[#Nelipa|Nelipa]], pp. 454–455, 457–459.</ref><ref>[[#Moe|Moe]], p. 627.</ref> of the [[Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University]], including the coffin, without leaving a single trace.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nlr.ru/petersburg/spbpcards/photos/lo000000328_1_m.jpg|title=The boiler-building – Images of St Petersburg – National Library of Russia|access-date=20 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180929160133/http://nlr.ru/petersburg/spbpcards/photos/lo000000328_1_m.jpg|archive-date=29 September 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

=== Russian Provisional Government of 1917 ===
{{Further|Russian Provisional Government}}[[File:Kerensky war minister.jpeg|thumb|Kerensky as Minister of War (sitting second from the right)]]

When the [[February Revolution]] broke out in 1917, Kerensky – together with [[Pavel Milyukov]] – was one of its most prominent leaders. As one of the [[Duma]]'s most well-known speakers against the monarchy and as a lawyer and defender of many revolutionaries, Kerensky became a member of the [[Provisional Committee of the State Duma]] and was elected vice-chairman of the newly formed [[Petrograd Soviet]]. These two bodies, the Duma and the Petrograd Soviet, or – rather – their respective executive committees, soon became each other's antagonists on most matters except regarding the end of the tsar's autocracy.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-12-25 |title=Керенский Александр Фёдорович |url=https://bigenc.ru/c/kerenskii-aleksandr-fiodorovich-2727d0 |access-date=2025-11-02 |website=Большая российская энциклопедия |language=ru}}</ref>

The Petrograd Soviet grew to include 3000 to 4000 members, and their meetings could drown in a blur of everlasting orations. At the meeting of {{OldStyleDate|12 March|1917|27 February}} to {{OldStyleDate|13 March|1917|28 February}} the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet, or [[Ispolkom]], formed a self-appointed committee, with (eventually) three members from each of the parties represented in the Soviet. Kerensky became one of the members representing the [[Socialist Revolutionary Party]] (the SRs).<ref>Richard Pipes (1995). "The Russian Revolution", pp. 104–06 ''Swedish'' {{ISBN|91-27-09935-0}}</ref>

On {{OldStyleDate|14 March|1917|1 March}}, without any consultation with the government, the Ispolkom of the Soviet issued the infamous [[Petrograd Soviet Order No. 1|Order No. 1]], intended only for the 160,000-strong Petrograd garrison, but soon interpreted as applicable to all soldiers at the front. The order stipulated that all military units should form committees like the Petrograd Soviet. This led to confusion and "stripping of officers' authority"; further, "Order No. 3" stipulated that the military was subordinate to Ispolkom in the political hierarchy. The ideas came from a group of socialists and aimed to limit the officers' power to military affairs. The socialist intellectuals believed the officers to be the most likely counterrevolutionary elements. Kerensky's role in these orders is unclear, but he participated in the decisions. But just as before the revolution he had defended many who disliked the tsar, he now saved the lives of many{{quantify|date=March 2019}} of the tsar's civil servants about to be lynched by mobs.<ref name="Pipes, p. 110">Pipes, p. 110</ref>
[[File:Kolchak-Kerensky-may1917.jpg|thumb|Kerensky sitting next to later Supreme Leader, [[Alexander Kolchak]]]]
Additionally, the Duma formed an executive committee which eventually became the [[Russian Provisional Government]]. As there was little trust between Ispolkom and this government (and as he was about to accept the office of Attorney General in the Provisional Government), Kerensky gave a most passionate speech, not just to the Ispolkom, but to the entire Petrograd Soviet. He then swore, as minister, never to violate democratic values, and ended his speech with the words "I cannot live without the people. In the moment you begin to doubt me, then kill me."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Loscher|first=John D.|title=The Bolsheviks Volume II: How the Soviets Seize Power, Volume 2|publisher=AuthorHouse|year=2009|isbn=978-1449023317|page=362}}</ref> The huge majority (workers and soldiers) gave him great applause, and Kerensky now became the first and ''the only one''<ref>{{cite news|date=2017-11-06|title=What was Russia's last leader before the Bolshevik revolution like?|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/alexander-kerensky-russia-bolshevik-revolution-interview-1917-centenary-a8036256.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171112225750/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/alexander-kerensky-russia-bolshevik-revolution-interview-1917-centenary-a8036256.html |archive-date=2017-11-12 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|access-date=2020-10-16|website=The Independent|language=en}}</ref> who participated in both the Provisional Government and the Ispolkom. As a link between Ispolkom and the Provisional Government, Kerensky stood to benefit from this position.<ref name="Pipes, p. 110"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/12/archives/alexander-kerensky-dies-here-at-89-alexander-kerensky-who-led-first.html|title=Alexander Kerensky Dies Here at 89|last=Whitman|first=Alden|date=12 June 1970|website=The New York Times}}</ref>

After the first government crisis over Milyukov's secret note re-committing Russia to its original war-aims on 2–4 May, Kerensky became the [[Minister of War]] and the dominant figure in the newly formed socialist-liberal coalition government. On 10 May ([[Julian calendar]]), Kerensky started for the front and visited one division after another, urging the men to do their duty. His speeches were impressive and convincing for the moment, but had little lasting effect.<ref>{{cite web|title=Alexander Kerensky|url=https://www.bl.uk/people/alexander-kerensky|access-date=2020-10-16|website=The British Library|archive-date=28 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228151902/https://www.bl.uk/people/alexander-kerensky|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Woods|first=Alan|title=The Russian Revolution: the meaning of October|url=https://www.socialist.net/the-russian-revolution-the-meaning-of-october-2.htm|access-date=2020-10-16|website=Socialist Appeal|date=7 November 2016|language=en-gb|archive-date=27 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027004107/https://www.socialist.net/the-russian-revolution-the-meaning-of-october-2.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Under [[Allies of World War I|Allied]] pressure to continue the war, he launched what became known as the [[Kerensky Offensive]] against the Austro-Hungarian/German South Army on {{OldStyleDate|1 July|1917|18 June}}.<ref>Preclík, Vratislav. Masaryk a legie (Masaryk and legions), váz. kniha, 219 pages, first issue vydalo nakladatelství Paris Karviná, Žižkova 2379 (734 01 Karvina, Czech Republic) ve spolupráci s Masarykovým demokratickým hnutím (Masaryk Democratic Movement, Prague), 2019, {{ISBN|978-8087173473}}, pp. 36–39, 41–42, 111–12, 124–25, 128, 129, 132, 140–48, 184–99.</ref> At first successful, the offensive soon met strong resistance and the [[Central Powers]] riposted with a strong counter-attack. The Russian army retreated and suffered heavy losses, and it became clear from many incidents of desertion, sabotage, and mutiny that the army was no longer willing to attack.

[[File:KéresnkiEnUnDiscursoALosSoldadosDelFrenteMayo1917.png|thumb|left|Kerensky in May 1917]]

The military heavily criticised Kerensky for his liberal policies, which included stripping officers of their mandates and handing over control to revolutionary-inclined "soldier committees" ({{langx |ru|солдатские комитеты | translit = soldatskie komitety}}) instead; abolition of the death penalty; and allowing revolutionary agitators to be present at the front. Many officers scornfully referred to commander-in-chief Kerensky as the "persuader-in-chief".

On 2 July 1917 the Provisional Government's first coalition collapsed over the question of [[Ukraine]]'s autonomy. Following the [[July Days]] unrest in Petrograd (3–7 July [16–20 July, N.S.] 1917) and the official suppression of the Bolsheviks, Kerensky succeeded Lvov as Russia's prime minister on {{OldStyleDate| 21 July|1917| 8 July}}. Following the [[Kornilov Affair]], an attempted military [[coup d'état]] at the end of August, and the resignation of the other ministers, he appointed himself Supreme [[Commander-in-Chief]], as well.

On 15 September Kerensky proclaimed Russia a republic, which was contrary to the non-socialists' understanding that the Provisional Government should hold power only until a [[Russian Constituent Assembly|Constituent Assembly]] should meet to decide Russia's form of government, but which was in line with the long-proclaimed aim of the Socialist Revolutionary Party.<ref>Party manifesto listed in McCauley, M ''Octobrists to Bolsheviks: Imperial Russia 1905–1917'' (1984)</ref> He formed a five-member Directory, which consisted of himself, Minister of Foreign Affairs [[Mikhail Tereshchenko]], Minister of War General [[Aleksandr Verkhovsky]], Minister of the Navy Admiral [[Dmitry Verderevsky]] and Minister of Posts and Telegraphs {{Interlanguage link|Aleksei Nikitin (politician)|ru|Никитин, Алексей Максимович|lt=Aleksei Nikitin}}. He retained his post in the final coalition government in October 1917 until the Bolsheviks overthrew it on {{OldStyleDate|7 November|1917|26 October}}.

[[File:Kerensky.jpg|thumb|upright|Kerensky in office]]
Kerensky faced a major challenge: three years of participation in World War had exhausted Russia, while the provisional government offered little motivation for a victory outside of continuing Russia's obligations towards its allies. Russia's continued involvement in the war was not popular among the lower and middle classes, and especially not popular among the soldiers. They had all believed that Russia would stop fighting when the Provisional Government took power,{{citation needed|date=March 2019}} and subsequently felt deceived. Furthermore, Lenin and his [[Bolshevik]] party were promising "peace, land, and bread" under a communist system. The [[Russian Army (1917)|Russian army]], war-weary, ill-equipped, dispirited and ill-disciplined, was disintegrating, with soldiers deserting in large numbers. By autumn 1917, an estimated two million men had unofficially left the army.

Kerensky and other political leaders continued Russia's involvement in World War I, thinking that a glorious victory was the only way forward,<ref>Pipes p. 121</ref> and fearing that the economy, already under huge stress from the war effort, might become increasingly unstable if vital supplies from [[French Third Republic|France]] and from the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]] ceased flowing.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Failure of Provisional Government under Kerensky - February Revolution - Causes, events and effects - National 5 History Revision |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z43tcqt/revision/7 |access-date=2024-09-08 |website=BBC Bitesize |language=en-GB}}</ref> The dilemma of whether to withdraw was a great one, and Kerensky's inconsistent and impractical policies further destabilised the army and the country at large.

Furthermore, Kerensky adopted a policy that isolated the right-wing conservatives and nationalists, both democratic and monarchist-oriented. His philosophy of "no enemies to the left" greatly empowered the Bolsheviks and gave them a free hand, allowing them to take over the military arm or "voyenka" ({{langx |ru|Военка}}) of the Petrograd and Moscow Soviets.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Russian Moderates and the Crisis of Tsarism 1914–1917|last=Pearson|first=Raymond|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|year=1977|isbn=978-1-349-03385-0|pages=126–27}}</ref> His arrest of [[Lavr Kornilov]] and other officers left him without strong allies against the Bolsheviks, who ended up being Kerensky's strongest and most determined adversaries, as opposed to the right wing, which evolved into the [[White movement]].
[[File:Alexandre Kerensky (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Autochrome Lumière|Autochrome]] portrait by [[Georges Chevalier]], 1921]]

=== October Revolution of 1917 ===
{{Further|October Revolution}}
During the Kornilov Affair, Kerensky had distributed arms to the Petrograd workers, and by November most of these armed workers had gone over to the Bolsheviks.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Estonians; The long road to independence|last=Faure and Mensing|first=Gunter and Teresa|publisher=Lulu|year=2012|isbn=978-1105530036|page=161}}</ref> On {{OldStyleDateNY|6–7 November|25–26 October}} 1917, the Bolsheviks launched the [[October Revolution|second Russian revolution]] of the year. Kerensky's government in Petrograd had almost no support in the city. Only one small force, a subdivision of the 2nd company of the [[Women's Battalion#1st Petrograd Women's Battalion|First Petrograd Women's Battalion]], also known as The Women's Death Battalion, was willing to fight for the government against the Bolsheviks, but this force was overwhelmed by the numerically superior pro-Bolshevik forces, defeated, and captured.<ref name=gwar>{{cite web|title=Women Soldiers in Russia's Great War|url=http://russiasgreatwar.org/media/military/women_soldiers.shtml|publisher=Great War|access-date=1 April 2013}}</ref> The Bolsheviks overthrew the government rapidly by seizing governmental buildings and the Winter Palace.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The History Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained|last=|publisher=DK|year=2016|isbn=978-1465445100|page=278}}</ref>

Kerensky escaped the Bolsheviks and fled to [[Pskov]], where he rallied some loyal troops for an [[Kerensky–Krasnov uprising|attempt to re-take the city]]. His troops managed to capture Tsarskoye Selo but were beaten the next day at [[Pulkovo Heights|Pulkovo]]. Kerensky narrowly escaped, and he spent the next few weeks in hiding before fleeing the country, eventually arriving in France. During the [[Russian Civil War]], he supported neither side, as he opposed both the Bolshevik regime and the [[White Movement]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bl.uk/people/alexander-kerensky|title=Alexander Kerensky|website=British Library|access-date=24 July 2017|archive-date=28 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200228151902/https://www.bl.uk/people/alexander-kerensky|url-status=dead}}</ref> Meanwhile, viewed by [[Woodrow Wilson]] as the spokesman for Russian democracy, he strongly influenced Wilson on Russian matters. Kerensky sought to discredit [[Alexander Kolchak]] in Western eyes, telling American diplomats that if Kolchak succeeded, he would "inaugurate a regime hardly less sanguinary and repressive than that of the Bolshevists."<ref name="prrubr">{{cite book |last1=Pipes |first1=Richard |title=Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime |date=April 4, 1995 |publisher=Vintage |isbn=0679761845 |page=95 |edition=4th}}</ref>

=== Personal life ===
[[File:Alexander Kerensky LOC hec 24462.jpg|thumb|200px|upright|Kerensky at the [[National Press Club (USA)|National Press Club]] in 1938]]
Kerensky was married to Olga Lvovna Baranovskaya and they had two sons, [[Oleg Kerensky|Oleg]] (1905–1984) and Gleb (1907–1990), who both went on to become engineers. Kerensky's grandson (also named Oleg), according to [[IMDb.com|the Internet Movie Database]], played his grandfather's role in the 1981 film ''[[Reds (film)|Reds]]''.{{better source needed|date=November 2024}} Kerensky and Olga were divorced in 1939 soon after he settled in Paris. In 1939, while visiting the United States, he met and secretly married Australian journalist [[Lydia Ellen Tritton|Lydia Ellen "Nell" Tritton]] (1899–1946), who became his press secretary and translator.<ref>[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-22/nell-tritton-alexander-kerensky-saved-from-stalin-hitler-history/12472416 The extraordinary life of Nell Tritton, an Australian heiress who saved her husband from assassins] ''[[Late Night Live]]'', [[ABC Radio National]]. Retrieved 22 July 2020.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Howells |first=Mary |date=2023-08-01 |title=From Austerity to Prosperity: Trittons in the 1940s. |url=https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/austerity-prosperity-trittons-1940s |access-date=2024-01-16 |website=State Library Of Queensland |language=en}}</ref> The marriage took place in [[Martins Creek, Pennsylvania]].

When [[Battle of France|Germany invaded France in 1940]], they emigrated to the United States.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tritton-lydia-ellen-nell-11879|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|first=Judith|last=Armstrong|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=20 January 2019|via=Australian Dictionary of Biography|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121064239/http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/tritton-lydia-ellen-nell-11879|archive-date=21 January 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

During the [[Operation Barbarossa|Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union]], Kerensky expressed his willingness to support the Russian people's defense against [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]], despite his long-standing opposition to the Soviet regime. In a published article, he criticized both Lenin and [[Joseph Stalin|Stalin]] but stated that the survival of Russia as a nation took precedence over political differences.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=gEwEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PP1&pg=PA76 Soviet's Chances]. By Alexander Kerensky. ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'', 14 July 1941, pp. 76–78, 81.</ref>

When his wife Nell became terminally ill in 1945, Kerensky travelled with her to [[Brisbane]], Australia, and lived there with her family. She suffered a stroke in February 1946, and he remained there until her death on 10 April 1946. Kerensky then returned to the United States, where he spent the rest of his life.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2003/hc40.htm|title=Lateline – The Half-Hearted Revolutionary In Paradise |date=September 22, 2003 |first1=Dusan |last1=Bojic |website=Australian Broadcasting Corp |access-date=2017-03-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160731094019/http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2003/hc40.htm|archive-date=31 July 2016|url-status = dead}}</ref>
[[File:Alexandre_Fiodorovitch_Kerenski,_1881-1970_(cropped).jpg|thumb|272x272px|Alexandre Fiodorovitch Kerenski in 1943]]
Kerensky eventually settled in New York City, living on the [[Upper East Side]] on [[91st Street (Manhattan)|91st Street]] near [[Central Park]]<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/12/archives/alexander-kerensky-dies-here-at-89-alexander-kerensky-who-led-first.html |title=Alexander Kerensky Dies Here at 89|newspaper=New York Times|date=12 June 1970 |last1=Whitman |first1=Alden |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204150951/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/12/archives/alexander-kerensky-dies-here-at-89-alexander-kerensky-who-led-first.html?mcubz=3 |archive-date= Dec 4, 2023 }}</ref> but spent much of his time at the [[Hoover Institution]] at [[Stanford University]] in California, where he both used and contributed to the Institution's huge archive on [[Russian history]], and where he taught graduate courses. He wrote and broadcast extensively on Russian politics and history. His last public lecture was delivered at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in October 1967.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://cache.kzoo.edu/handle/10920/8205|title=Alexander Kerensky|website=CACHE Digital Archive |publisher=Kalamazoo College |access-date=2021-06-16 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195551/https://cache.kzoo.edu/handle/10920/8205 |archive-date= Jun 24, 2021 }}</ref>

== Death ==
[[File:Alexander Kerensky grave Putney Vale 2014.jpg|thumb|alt=Two white marble gravestones surmounted by Orthodox crosses|The graves of Alexander Kerensky (left), and of his first wife, Olga, and his son Gleb and Gleb's wife, Mary, at [[Putney Vale Cemetery]], London, 2014]]
Kerensky died of [[arteriosclerotic heart disease]] at [[Mount Sinai Morningside|St. Luke's Hospital]] in New York City on 11 June 1970, after being initially admitted for injuries sustained from a fall.<ref name="nytimes" /> At 89, he was one of the last surviving major participants in the turbulent events of 1917. The [[Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia|local Russian Orthodox Church]]es in New York City refused to grant Kerensky burial rites because of his association with [[Freemasonry]], and because they saw him as largely responsible for the Bolsheviks' seizure of power.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Buttar |first1=Prit |title=The Splintered Empires: The Eastern Front 1917–21 |date=2017 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=9781472819864 |page=242 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZFgyDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA242 |access-date=30 March 2024}}</ref> A [[Serbian Orthodox Church]] also refused burial rites. Kerensky's body was flown to London, where his two sons resided; he was buried at the non-denominational [[Putney Vale Cemetery]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=1970-06-18 |title=Kerensky Is Buried at Rites in London |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/18/archives/kerensky-is-buried-at-rites-in-london.html |access-date=2024-06-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

==Works==
* [https://archive.org/details/preludetobolshev008537mbp ''The Prelude to Bolshevism''] (1919). {{ISBN|0-8383-1422-8}}.
* [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.180014 ''The Catastrophe''] (1927)
* ''[[iarchive:crucifixionoflib00kere|The Crucifixion of Liberty]]'' (1934)
* ''[[iarchive:kerenskymemoirsr1966kere|Russia and History's Turning Point]]'' (1965)
* ''Memoirs'' (1966)

== Archives ==
Papers of the Kerensky family are held at the Cadbury Research Library, [[University of Birmingham]].<ref>{{cite web|title=UoB Calmview5: Search results|url=https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=XMS126|access-date=2021-02-26|website=calmview.bham.ac.uk}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Jailbirds of Kerensky]]

== Explanatory notes ==
{{notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist|33em}}

== Further reading ==
* {{cite book |first=Richard |last=Abraham |title=Kerensky: First Love of the Revolution |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-231-06108-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/alexanderkerensk00abra_0 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Lipatova |first=Nadezhda V. |date=March 2013 |title=On the Verge of the Collapse of Empire: Images of Alexander Kerensky and Mikhail Gorbachev |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09668136.2012.759715 |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |language=en |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=264–289 |doi=10.1080/09668136.2012.759715 |s2cid=143666270 |issn=0966-8136|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Thatcher |first=Ian D. |date=2015 |title=Post-Soviet Russian Historians and the Russian Provisional Government of 1917 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/427/article/816611 |journal=Slavonic and East European Review |volume=93 |issue=2 |pages=315–337 |doi=10.5699/slaveasteurorev2.93.2.0315 |issn=2222-4327|url-access=subscription }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Thatcher |first=Ian D. |date=2014-01-02 |title= Memoirs of the Russian provisional government 1917 |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09546545.2014.902839 |journal=Revolutionary Russia |language=en |volume=27 |issue=1 |pages=1–21 |doi=10.1080/09546545.2014.902839 |s2cid=144023566 |issn=0954-6545|url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |first=Peter Alexander |last=Thompson |title=The Quest for Freedom: A life of Alexander Kerensky the Russian Unicorn |publisher=BookBaby |isbn=978-1098319687 |url= |date=19 August 2020}}
* {{BLF|4204|Aleksandr Kerenskij}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Alexander Kerensky}}
* [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/kerensky/ Alexander Kerensky Archive] at [[marxists.org]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070311025735/http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2001/janfeb/features/kerensky.html An account of Kerensky at Stanford in the 1950s]
* {{IMDb name|0449292}}
<!--*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070816100304/http://www.kerensky.org.uk/ Alexander Kerensky Museum in London]}}-->
* {{PM20|FID=pe/009425}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Georgy Lvov]]}}
{{s-ttl|title = [[Prime Minister of Russia|Minister-Chairman of the Russian Provisional Government]]|years = 21 July 1917 – 8 November 1917}}
{{s-aft|after = [[Vladimir Lenin]]<br /><small>{{nobold|([[List of leaders of the Soviet Union|Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars]])}}</small><br />[[Lev Kamenev]]<br /><small>{{nobold|(Chairman of the [[All-Russian Central Executive Committee]])}}</small>}}
{{s-end}}
{{Prime Ministers of Russia}}
{{Russian Revolution 1917}}
{{Justice ministers of Russia}}
{{Supreme Commanders of the Russian Army during WWI}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerensky, Alexander}}
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