First World War Importance In Russian Revolution

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How important was the First World War in bringing about the Russian Revolution of March 1917 There are many reasons as to why the Russian Revolution of March 1917 was caused but the First World War was an important part of the lead up to the Revolution. In this essay I will be identifying the effects the war had on the Revolution. When the Russian people were first aware that there would be a war, their initial reaction was good. They put their faith back into the Tsar and they supported him even though he had let them down in the past. If the Tsar could successfully win the war, he would be able to maintain the support and trust from his people, but unfortunately the Tsar let his people down again. To win the war the Tsar needed to have strong and loyal soldiers, however, the morale of the soldiers was low because over one million soldiers were killed, wounded or taken prisoner by the end of 1914. The army were losing rapidly and there was no evidence of improvement. To make matters worse the soldiers were treated badly on their own side. They were not given shoes and equipment so many men were fighting without guns or shoes, they didn’t have wagons or horses and not even first aid treatment for wounds. The fact they had no fist aid supplies was bad because many men had there wounds unattended and even worse the soldiers were made to lye on the ground in the dirt, filth and cold without straw. All this ill-treatment eventually led to desertions from soldiers and this was a problem for the government because they were losing men on the front line, and even worse the soldiers were coming back to Russia angry with the Tsar and equipped with weapons. This is a very important factor in bringing about the Russian Revolution of March 1917 because the people revolting in Russia now had the army slowly joining them. The war was not only badly affecting the
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