The Tsar revised the Manifesto and finally agreed to abdicate as Emperor of Russia in favor of his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich, with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich as Regent. The loyalty of the Army was seriously affected by the Tsar's decision, as every man had taken an oath of personal loyalty to the Emperor when they entered military service.

Prince G.E. Lvov became Premier and Minister of the Interior, and quickly formed a new Cabinet of the Provisional Government, with Milyukov as Minister of Foreign Affairs. General M.A. Belyaev was selected to replace General Shuvaev as War Minister.

The post of Minister of Justice was given to Aleksandr Kerenskiy, who was at the same time vice president of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Guchkov acted as the temporary Minister of War and Marine, while Tereshchenko was the Minister of Finance. The new government could not lean for support on any single political party or a single class, as there was an opposition by the nobility, gentry, organized workers, the Grand Dukes, the officer class and more literate soldiers.

On 16 March, Tsar Nicholas II left Pskov at 0100 hours by imperial train for a return to Mogilev to give a farewell speech to the Army. He wrote in his diary, “All around me I see treason, cowardice and deceit.” A sure sign of paranoia.

On the Caucasian Front, there was revolution in Tiflis, capitol of Georgia, and a general breakdown of government in Transcaucasia.

In North Persia, the Russians dislodged the Turks from the summit of Naleshkian.

On 17 March, at Petrograd, Grand Duke Mikhail refused to accept the throne unless he was offered it by a constituent assembly. Also at Petrograd, opening of a three day All-Cossack Congress, which decided to establish their own Soviet (Council) of the Union of Cossack Hosts, with military, land and legal departments on which the thirteen Cossack communities would be represented.

At Kronshtadt, over 60 Russian naval officers were murdered by Bolshevik mutineers. They included Commander of the Baltic Sea Fleet, Admiral A.I. Nepinin, who was shot in the back, Rear Admiral Kurosh, Rear Admiral Nebolshin, and Kapitan Nikolskiy, commander of the cruiser Aurora. Another 200 officers were imprisoned. Nepinin was replaced by Admiral A.S. Maksimov, who served until 15 June.

The Provisional Government declared the Winter Palace in Petrograd as State property. At Revel, revolutionary sailors murdered the naval commandant, Admiral Gerasimov.