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At Petrograd, police arrested 100 key members of revolutionary organizations. The Tsar sent a telegram to General Khabalov to immediately halt the disorders. Khabalov then threatened to draft the demonstrators into the army.
At Petrograd, Prince N.D. Golitsyn, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, met at midnight with the Council, which decided to seek a political solution by negotiation with the Duma.
On the Romanian Front, Romanian and Russian troops counter-attacked in an attempt to regain Magyaros Ridge in Moldavia.
On 11 March, at Petrograd, Revolution broke out in the city. Revolutionaries quickly controlled most of the capitol. Some troops fired on strikers. Mobs raided police archives, burning documents. The Pavlosk Guards staged a passive mutiny, killing their commander, Polkovnik Eckstein. The transport of food and fuel was in total disorder.
At Petrograd, the Council of Ministers met under Golitsyn's chairmanship, deciding to announce a state of siege and to dissolve the work of the State Duma. Rodzianko was shown a copy of an Imperial decree announcing the Duma was recessed. Workers had begun to discuss formation of and naming of deputies to a new Workers' Soviet.
News of the revolution quickly reached Stavka at Mogilev. Members of the Holy Synod refused to issue an appeal to the people to support the monarchy. During the course of the war, there had been a noticeable increase in anti-clericalism among the Russian people, who saw the Church as being totally dependent on the state, and recognized its fall from spiritual authority. During March and April, a religious revolution took place within the Church, ten discredited Bishops were removed, while limitations were placed on the power of the Bishop's in lay matters.
On the Northern Front, the Russians used gas in an attack east of Mitau in the Riga sector.
At Stavka, the Tsar approved the final phase of the Franco-Russian agreement on future frontiers, while in Paris the French government approved the agreement.
On 12 March, formation of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, which demanded that Tsar Nicholas II immediately abdicate. The Tsar left Mogilev for Tsarskoe Selo, but his train, on its way to Pskov, was deliberately delayed. Red Guards seized the Finland Station at Petrograd, cutting off rail traffic to and from Finland. By evening, over 66,000 troops had mutinied.
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At Petrograd, scores of police stations were set on fire, prisons were opened and many prisoners liberated. The Fortress of St. Peter and Paul was put under siege. The Winter Palace was briefly occupied. The Council of Ministers removed Pokrovskiy as Interior Minister, and appointed General Makarenko as provisional director. The President of the Council of the Empire, Shcheglovitov, was arrested. Protopopov, the former Interior Minister, voluntarily surrendered to the Duma.
At Petrograd, in spite of its closure, members of the Duma met at the Taurida Palace, setting up a permanent committee with the object of acting as an intermediary between the government and mutinous troops.
During the evening the Duma members were doing everything in their power to organize a Provisional Government, restore order and deal with severe food and fuel shortages.
At Petrograd, arrival of revolutionaries, Lev B. Kamenev, Matvei K. Muranov and Josif Dzhugashviliy (Stalin) from exile in Siberia.
In Finland, Russian Vitse-Admiral A.I. Nepenin, proclaimed a state of siege at Sveaborg Fortress, near Helsingfors. Nepinin replaced Vitse-Admiral V.A. Kanin as commander of the Baltic Fleet on the 17th.
On the Southwest Front, the Germans carried out successful raids near Zloczow-Tarnopol railway, near Brzezany, and at Narajowka in Galicia.
On 13 March, at Petrograd, the Russian Admiralty surrendered its authority to the new Provisional Government. General Stackelberg was murdered by sailors.
At Kronshtadt Fortress, near Petrograd, Admiral Viren was burned to death in a barrel by mutineers. Kontra Admiral Butakov, Chief of the Naval Staff and Rear Admiral Nikolas de Rein, the Director of the Torpedo School and Training Division, were also murdered.
At Petrograd, the following people were arrested, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, Prince Golitsyn, the Metropolitan Pitirim, Shturmer, Dobrovolskiy and Protopopov. The Executive Committee of the Duma was still trying to form a government. The Council of Ministers resigned en masse. War Minister D.S. Shuvaev resigned. The Tsar sent a telegram to Rodzianko which permitted him to form a responsible cabinet. Former War Minister Sukhomlinov was seized and beaten by soldiers who returned him to prison There was widespread looting and lynching of police.
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