The demoralisation of the proud Russian peoples created dissent, and discredited the Tsar. In August 1915, the Tsar left Petrograd to command the Russian army. In August 1915, the Tsar left Petrograd to command the Russian army. He therefore received the blame personally for all their defeats and lost control of his troops as he left Rasputin and the Tsarina to rule Russia. His army also consisted of millions of poor, starving peasants with bad equipment, poor supplies of rifles and ammunition.
At Tannenburg in August 1914 the Germans inflicted a heavy defeat on the Russians which resulted in masses of prisoners, stores, and guns taken off the Russians. The Tsar’s poor leadership skills throughout WW1led to increased prices, protests, food and fuel shortages, and outbreaks of disease. Also, as the peasants were rising up and seizing the land, many soldiers (who were mostly peasants) deserted the army. A revolution on land was occurring. This is said to be the Russians “voting with their feet”.
Some peasants left to work in the cities as the Tsar wanted Russia to be an industrial power, however the living conditions there hardly improved, which matched their dreadful working conditions. This poor treatment is what led to the 1917 strikes that helped force the Tsar to abdicate from the throne. This was an important factor in bringing down the Tsar because with so many people opposing him (over the years, because of food shortages and war failures, they were supported by women and army members, and the number of workers on strike rose to 250 000), he had no choice but to give up. However, I believe there is more causes behind this so I wouldn’t label it the most important factor of the Tsar’s abdication. Russia’s poor performance in WW1 played a very significant role in bringing down the Tsar too.
In 1930 President Roosevelt won election and started the New deal in hopes of turning American strife around. With millions unemployed nationally, it would be a tough job. The banks were dry, as well as, farmer’s lands across America. It seemed that trade had come to a dead end and that everything was going in circles, creating an echo effect internationally. It would be years before America was back on its feet economically, and another great war lied ahead, but somehow Americans were able to keep their hopes and dreams alive and come out on the other
The Germans, who continued making territorial gains (marked 2), eventually began aiding the pro-Tsarist White Russian forces, attempting to stem the very revolt they had helped to foster. However the damage to the Russian infrastructure was too great, and the "White" Russians were eventually forced from power by the "Red" Communists. The treaty of Brest-Litovsk was finally concluded with the new Bolshevik government on March 3, 1918, stripping their country of all provinces west of the Ukraine. That treaty was annulled by the Armistice of November 11, and the new government in Moscow eventually re-established its presence in all of the previously held lands. Ironically, one of the lasting actions by the Bolsheviks was the attempted indoctrination of German prisoners-of-war.
This event led to labor unrest, peasant insurrections, student demonstrations, as well as army and navy mutinies. Although the shooting was not Nicholas II’s fault, he was given the nickname, “ The Bloody Murderer” and stated that he was not going to make any changes for the people. This was the last major event before the Revolution of 1905 officially broke out. New councils created by urban workers in order to better organize strikes were created called Soviets. During this time, Russian cities were dying because all the workers and peasants were focused on rebelling against the government and seizing the land of their landlords, instead of working in the factories and living the life of a peasant or urban worker.
Furthermore the social climate fared no better with 80% of the population consisting of peasants, there was a huge divide between the rich and poor. Though by the end of Alexander II’s reign banks were developed which led to an increase in the Russian economy, the miles of railway had increased by 20% and the serfs had been emancipated. Alexander II was entitled to the title the ‘Tsar Liberator’ since in 1861 he passed the decree of the Emancipation of the serfs in which both serfs and state peasants, who were owned by the Tsar himself, were freed. The ‘Souls’ no longer were considered the nobility of Russia possessions and weren’t expected to live and die on the land. The peasants were no longer ruled by the nobility instead by the ‘Mir’ the local village council, the peasant’s own people.
1/3 of all Russian babies died before their first birthday. Russia was flailing WWI, unemployment was high – a classic formula for dissent. The partial industrialization of Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which created an urban working class in places like St. Petersburg and Moscow that could organize against its exploitation through unions and workers councils (known as 'the soviets'). This enabled the workers to work together much more effectively against their bosses than the scattered, isolated, and thus largely de-politicized peasantry. The cities were also connected via trade and communication to the outside world, where intellectuals and workers alike had access to revolutionary ideas from Western Europe such as Marxism.
Stalinist Russia during the late 1930’s experienced extreme changes and suffering in all sectors of society, including the military. The weakening of Russia’s military strength under Stalin’s rule is aptly described by Mary Leder in the novel “My Life in Stalinist Russia.” “No matter what the answer may be, it is an irrefutable fact that the Soviets did not use the two-year break to build up their defenses. On the contrary, Stalin continued to undermine the army by arresting its most talented leaders. He strengthened Germany by selling it the raw materials it needed to conduct the war. [1]” Through sources such as first hand accounts like the statement above, along with in-depth textbooks, I was able to understand the linear timeline of the Red Terror, and how the Red Terror was inextricably tied to the Russian casualties and suffering in World War II.
The World War I was draining all of Russia’s resources. There was shortage of food throughout the country, which left people starving. At the battlefront, millions of Russian soldiers were dying, they did not possess many of the powerful weapons that their opponents had. The government under Czar Nicholas II was disintegrating, and a provisional government had been set up. In November of 1917, Lenin and his communist followers known as the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and set a communist government in Russia.