<P> The Russian Provisional Government ( Russian : Временное правительство России , tr . Vremennoye pravitel'stvo Rossii ) was a provisional government of Russia established immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire on 2 March ( 15 March , New Style ) 1917 . The intention of the provisional government was the organization of elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and its convention . The provisional government lasted approximately eight months , and ceased to exist when the Bolsheviks gained power after the October Revolution in October ( November , N.S. ) 1917 . According to Harold Whitmore Williams the history of eight months during which Russia was ruled by the Provisional Government was the history of the steady and systematic disorganisation of the army . </P>
what event caused the duma to establish a provisional government in russia
the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire on 2 March