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In February 1917, the Tsarist government collapsed. After 300 years of ruling the Romanov dynasty surrendered the reins of power to the hands of the provisional committee, thus ending Tsardom in Russia. What had, at first been a ‘simple’ crisis in a single city, had turned into a full-blown revolution which ended up overthrowing the Tsar and the autocracy which he had represented. There were many factors, both long and short term involved in the sequence of events which led to this momentous decision. These included the incompetence of the Tsar and the Great War. To this day historians debate whether World War I was the main reason for the Tsardom’s collapse or whether it was due to a host of other factors. This essay will explore top what extent the Great War was the main reason behind the collapse of Nicholas II’s government in February 1917.

The war played a major role in the 1917 revolution, and caused several events that led to the downfall of the Tsar. The first of these was the mutiny of the army regiments in Petrograd. Unlike their comrades on the front line, these troops were relatively “green” and were more inclined to take sides against the Tsar should it come to attacking the protestors. This meant that when the Tsar and his advisors ordered the protests to be violently repressed, many members of the army in Petrograd joined the protestors in opposing the Tsar, “this isn’t 1905. We won’t carry whips. We won’t move against our own kind, against the people. ” this was also demonstrated by the fact that many of the ‘rank and file’ soldiers killed their own officers when they were ordered to attack the crowds. Thus the war played a key role in causing the crisis to become a revolution, thus causing the collapse of the Tsarist government.

The war also deprived Petrograd of seasoned soldiers, playing a major role in the revolution of February 1917. Due to the fact that all of the seasoned soldiers were all at the front in the...