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.
On the other hand, the growth in population compared with national output shows less production per head, and therefore less efficient production. His policies did little for agriculture considering 80% of the population were rural peasants. It is thought he focused too much on heavy industry, neglecting others like light engineering. Finally, Russia became overly dependent on foreign loans (never good if a financial crisis were to occur and foreign loans have to be repaid). Tariffs making goods scarce and heavy taxation meant prices for Russian consumers increased, whilst their wages stayed low.
Additionally there were developments that occurred without war, which illustrates that involvement in war was not the only cause for change. Therefore war was an important catalyst and factor to significant changes but was not the sole cause of change. The war that caused most change was Word War One due to its role in the February revolution in 1917 and the fall of the provisional government in the October revolution. The defeats of the war dwindled support from liberals and Octobrists for the Tsarist regime, which was further worsened by criticism from organisations including the Central War Industries committee and the union of Zemstva. This formed support and reason for the Progressive Bloc.
This meant trade to other countries went down bringing the economy to yet another low and this lack of agricultural workers meant a lack of food across Russia, especially in towns and cities where there was no easy access to farms; and as is with most things in demand, the prices went through the roof, leaving peasants starving on a mass scale. The only short term fix that was established for this whole issue, was a series of loans from Russia’s allies, Britain and France; these loans are especially important when it comes to the provisional government’s role in the second revolution in 1917. The other major issue that was gained from the World War is the amazing show of incompetence from Russian military leaders, most notably Nicholas II. This led to a decreasing
If Russia’s economy was relatively healthy in early 1914, how did it manage to be in such a sad state of affairs by 1917? There are many factors that contributed to this: the decision to go to war, the direction of the Russian war effort between 1914 and 1917, economic and social factors as well as political developments. So how did the Russian Empire manage to collapse so quickly? The answer lies in the changing nature of warfare after 1914, as well as the social and economic strains that a war of that magnitude imposes. This is implying of course that the decision by Nicholas II to go to war against Germany and it’s allies in 1914 was wrong, but this is not the case.
It is without a doubt that the great war was a major factor for the outbreak of the February revolution in 1917, however many other factors have to be taken into consideration when dealing with a complex issue such as this. Issues such as the decisions made by Tsar Nicholas II whilst in power, the lack of political reform since the October manifesto was issued in 1905, the socio-economic position of the proletariat which was ever worsening and the fact that this revolution was much more organized than the 1905 revolution all contributed to the outbreak of the February revolution. When Russia mobilised against Germany on its western front, families were to each send a male who was capable of fighting to conscript in the Russian military. The Russian military at the time was poorly trained and equipped compared to that of Germany. Russian train infrastructure was relatively new and underdeveloped, when war broke out the rail lines were used to transport troops and supplies for war, food shortages in cities were afflicting the masses, this caused discontent at home.
Causes of the World War1 The world faced two brutal wars in the span of 25 years which changed the course of history. The first one popularly known as the Great War lasted for 4 years (1914-1918) much to the dismay of most nations. This answer will put forth what the causes for the Great War were and what impact did these causes have on the outbreak of war 1914. The world war one was fought between 2 hostile groups, namely the triple alliance and the triple entente. The former consisted of Russia, France and Britain, while the latter was formed by Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Italy too being a part of this for a brief period.
16% of the 1.8million who died at war were conscripted and all families were somehow impacted by the war, which consequently led to a decline in the popularity of the Royal Family. People famously said “what family is going to survive war with all six sons alive?” in reference to the Kaiser’s six sons as awareness was spreading that there was an inequality of sacrifice among classes. The divisions between classes which had previously existed were now even greater. Peasantry and rural producers felt alienated by government regulations and were now hampered by the lack of labour and there was also huge resentment towards the Junkers who maintained their tax privileges until 1916. The urban working class also suffered due to the rise of the black market, which was the source of
Having a war caused inflation, government spending rose from 4-30 million, taxation increased, and money became practically worthless and the price of food and fuel quadrupled. This made people angry as they could not afford supplies for themselves and their families, which made them, turn to the Tsar for help but he wasn’t seen to be doing much about the effects of war on the people at home. Furthermore, as well as not being able to
War breaking out in 1914 meant the Russian economy had to change to be suitable for the Total war Russia was involved in. Due to the size of Russia different resources had to be transported from different areas by rail lines, which by 1914 it had 44,000 miles but they still were not sufficient to transport large quantities of materials to supply both the industrial needs, military needs and the civilian. Due to shortages in the cities inflation rates went up however wages did not increase fast enough so there were discontent among the workers, between 1914 and 1916 inflation rose by 232% .By 1917 Petrograd and Moscow got a third of the fuel and food it needed due to these resources being sent to the front to supply the army, or the supplies spoiling due to the military use and commandeering of the rail lines. If factories failed to receive the resources it needed to carry out, the factory closed