In 1917, Russian Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate from the throne after the March Revolution. I think that the main reason he abdicated was not because of the opposition of the people, but Russia’s failures in World War One, however there are many reasons considered for why he did it. The top four are: the opposition of the town workers, Russia’s poor performance in WW1, the weakness of Tsar Nicholas II, and the events in St Petersburg in February 1917. The opposition of the peasant and town workers were a very important factor in bringing down the Tsar. When Nicholas was first crowned Tsar in 1894, the whole country rejoiced and had a new hope for a brighter future, that things would be better than they were before.
How far was Nicholas II responsible for the fall of the Romanovs in 1917? In 1917, Russia were currently in their third year fighting in World War 1 and had just gone through a major revolution, the February Revolution, which caused a lot of negative feelings towards the government. In 1917, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate on behalf of himself and his son after being captured by members of the state Duma. There were many reasons why the Romanovs fell from power in 1917, one being the war failures during WW1 and the Russo-Japanese war which was a result of Tsar Nicholas’ poor leadership and awful decision making within the war. Other factors include political issues which were made worse by the Tsar’s lack of understanding of the proletariat society and the poor living and working conditions which were caused due to the Tsar’s … to run a country.
Another factor to the growth of opposition against the Tsar was due to the Rasputin becoming advisor to Alexandria as Nicholas the second went to war. During September 1915 and December there was frequent changes such as; 4 prime ministers ,5 interior ministers and 3 ministers of agriculture. This made it hard for people of Russia to keep up and it made no improvements to Russia’s society. In addition this made the Tsar hated among the people and the opposition grew against him. However, if Alexandra accepted reforms from the Duma instead of Rasputin a reduction of opposition would of
In January 1905, there was a revolutionary tide in Russia. This was mainly caused by the defeat of the Russo-Japanese War in September and the Bloody Sunday Incident in January. In the country, workers, peasants and merchants were holding demonstrations in order to express their discontent to the Tsarist government. Although Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto to pacify the discontent of people temporarily, he still had to face some problems after the 1905 Revolution. To regain the support from people, he needed to carry out the reforms in the October Manifesto.
The October Manifesto, though not actually creating significant change in Russian political policies, officially signified the end of Russia’s autocratic government. The manifesto also raised expectations of political representation which were crushed through the Fundamental State Laws of 1906 and electoral changes in ’07. Through this, Nicholas lost the confidence of his supporters and the people of Russia and from 1906 to 1917, he was gradually abandoned by the bureaucracy, the ruling classes and the church. Despite this, however, Nicholas remained stubbornly unwilling to recognise the isolation of his government. This was demonstrated when he assumed that him taking personal control of the army during the First World War would unite the nation.
The Tsar made many failures as Commander in chief of the army especially at the battle of Tannenburg where the majority of the Russian second army was destroyed which forced the Russian army to retreat. This coupled with other military defeats led to mass desertions towards cities. It also led to many soldiers knowing of the Tsars failures which would have supported the claim for a revolution. The war effort also caused the Zemstva and the Congress of Representatives of Industry and Trade to grow which were used to help stimulate production and provide medical facilities. The government failed to efficiently incorporate these into the war effort which resulted in them becoming a symbol for the shortcomings in the war effort.
Both soldiers and civilians blame the defeats in the war and the growing crises on the home front on Tsar. Even the Tsars only army stated it wouldn’t support him if a revolution occurred. Explain the importance/significance of World War 1 to the downfall of the Tsar WWI was a very significant event on the rule of Tsar Nicholas 11. Although it initially bolstered his position, it then became a large factor that contributed to Nicholas’ downfall. The Country was ecstatic when the Tsar made the announcement that Russia was going to fight against Germany in WWI.
The Americans and the West felt threatened by the Russian and Communist Revolution because they feared Communism would spread to them. The revolution in Russia had been chaotic, and it taking foot in the USA would have been horrific. Communism had previously been a frightening theory, but now it had become a sudden reality. World War I was still taking place at this time, and it was 1917 that America reluctantly entered the European War. Wartime hysteria was likely to transform into post-war hysteria, which it did, this period becoming known as the Red Scare.
They feared of a future German invasion. Also, they wanted control over the Baltic states (countries bordering Russia) because in both world wars Germany invaded Russia through those states because they were weak. They wanted their people in the governments of those countries so they could be relied upon. But U.S. and Britain wanted those countries to be independent, but really they did not want communism to expand. And the U.S. and Germany could not agree upon what to do with Germany, so it ended up being divided: West Germany to U.S. and Great Britain and West Germany to the Soviets.
As Russia was having economical pressure extended unto it by France and Briton to continue its war effort the P.G was put in a paradoxical situation where to survive it had to continue fighting, but it could not survive if it stayed in the war. This is a circumstance that the Bolsheviks were keen to exploit, but it was Lenin who used the slogan "peace, land and bread" to try and rally the support of the common man. Another key event in the run up to the October revolution was the falling support of the S.R's and the Menshevik parties. As they had joined a failing government they were seen by many