In March [O.S. February] 1917, the Russian Army formally ceased to be the Imperial Russian Army when Emperor Nicholas II abdicated and the Provisional Government became the governing authority. It was officially a caretaker government until September 1917, when the Russian Republic was proclaimed.

The Imperial Russian Army or Russian Imperial Army was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of regular troops and two forces that served on separate regulations: the Cossack troops and the Muslim troops.