Why do some historians believe the Provisional Government was doomed from the beginning?
Historians may believe the Provisional Government was doomed because of a major problem with the provisional government which was the Dual Authority. The Provisional Government was made up of members of the old Duma that had refused to disband at the Tsars command. This meant that they were basically the same men that the Tsar had appointed before the revolution, so nothing had changed in that regard. Consequently, they had no goodwill from the public backing them up, so they would be judged purely on what the public could see happening. Furthermore, the Government had to share power with the Petrograd Soviet. This illegitimate relationship lessened the power of the Provisional Government existentially. Incidentally, it should be mentioned that the two factions were not necessarily hostile towards one another from the start, with some members being members of both groups at the same time. This combination of convenience however, could not last for long.Without a shred of a doubt, one of the biggest problems with the Provisional Government was the continuation of the war. The war was a lost cause by this stage and the Provisional Government would have wanted to pull out if it were a logical possibility, but in order to keep Russia afloat they needed to keep up the fight for the money that they were receiving from Britain and France. The loans that Russia had taken out from these countries while under the Tsarist regime had left Russia financially destroyed. The injections of money and supplies that the allies were providing Russia with because of their involvement in the war was the only thing keeping Russia stable. If Russia could have started to engage in peace talks, as suggested by Josef Stalin, then the Provisional Government could concentrate on sorting out the social and economic problems properly, but because of the desperate need for the war credits, this was not a viable solution. The effect of this choice to keep fighting is somewhat akin to watching a