The Russian Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd after the deterioration of the Russian Empire and the tsar's abdication.

When the authority of the Tsar's government began disintegrating in the February Revolution of 1917, two rival institutions, the Duma and the Petrograd Soviet, competed for power. When Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on March 15 and his brother, Grand Duke Michael refused the throne the next day. According to the will of the Grand Duke, the provisional government should rule until the Constituent Assembly determines the form of government in Russia. Provisional government should provide elections to the Assembly. Its power was effectively limited by the Petrograd Soviet's growing authority. The Soviet controlled the army, factories and railways and had the support of the workers, so this was a period of dual authority, although at first the Soviet had given support to the Provisional Government.

The Provisional Government was led first by Prince Georgy L'vov and then by Aleksandr Kerensky. It succeeded in organising the elections, but failed to end Russia's involvement in World War I, thereby weakening its popularity among Russia's war-weary people. In fact, it even launched an offensive against the German and Austro-Hungarian army in July 1917. This Kerensky Offensive, as it was called, was a failure which further eroded support for the government. The government was reluctant to make decisive policy decisions, precisely because it was supposed to be provisional. This weakness led to challenges from the right in the form of the Kornilov Affair, and from the left, which brought it to an end in the October Revolution, which transferred supreme power to the Soviets controlled by Bolsheviks. Bolsheviks replaced the government with their own. Until the Russian Constituent Assembly was disbanded, the Bolshevik government was called "provisional".