Following the February Revolution of 1917, Tsarist Russia disintegrated into political chaos. As agreed by the Provisional Committee and the Petrograd Soviet, a Provisional Government was elected under the leadership of Lvov; however this government was ill equipped to deal with the problems of a post-revolutionary Russia and was unable to provide a viable form of government for its duration, leading to its ultimate downfall in October the same year. The Provisional Government was plagued with issues throughout its rule; not only was it weak in its constitution being limited by the Soviet but it was subject to a further multitude of unfortunate circumstances; it was unable to address the issues it faced – those of the Land Question, the War and the Constituent Assembly which added to its unpopularity amongst the peasantry and was threatened by crises such as the July Days and the Kornilov Affair which discredited the already unpopular Government further. This, compounded by poor handling by Kerensky caused deterioration to such an extent that when Lenin took the shrewd decision to move against the government in October, it was unable to survive and power fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks. Whilst Lenin was perhaps the key reason for the fall of the Provisional Government in October 1917, it was already in a major state of weakness.
Russia’s role in World War I quickly led Russia’s people to the strong dislike of their Provisional Government and further into economic downfall which continued to upset the citizens of Russia. The Bolsheviks, a left-wing political party that were socialists, began to grow in popularity among the peasants and industrial workers whose pay was very low and in most cases among the industrial workers; their working conditions were very poor and unsafe. The Bolsheviks then instigated a revolution, resulting in Bolshevik power of Russia. Bolshevik power led to further unhappiness. The months before and during the Bolshevik revolution, as well as the signing of the peace treaty at Brest-Litovsk cause turmoil among the socialists and brought Russia into civil war.
Why did Nicholas II loose power in 1917 but not 1905 Nicholas II lost power in 1917 because of many reasons. The main reason was the army which was under complete control of the tsar started to rebel against the Tsar by not carrying out his orders. On the 25th of February Cossack troops refused to fire on demonstrators. Also the elite Pavlosky life guards also refused to carry out their orders. This was the first sing to the Tsar to show that he has lost his authority and that the government authority had begun to break down.
This led to an increase in strikes. Secondly, the peasants lacking of land; rapidly developing a new a class of hostile landless labourers, also discontent existed in middle classes due to the growth in professional middle class, who wanted a greater role in national government. Therefore looking at these scenarios it seems the depth of frustration of the people about their situation and their disaffection with Russian society and monarchy was another cause of the 1917 revolution. The Tsar’s reaction to social discontent prior to the revolution was indecisive and his relenting attitude towards his autocracy further alienated the growing opposition groups. In 1915 when the moderates in the Duma joined together to form ‘The progressive Bloc’, compromising over two-third of the Duma member.
The outbreak of World War One in 1914 also spelt disaster for the Tsar upon his decision to take direct command of the Russian army, which meant that every military failure would now be associated with him personally and contributed to the growing sense of dissent. Nicholas was not a trained general and had no experience in the area of war; both he and his generals were incompetent, the army lacked resources and equipment and the men had minimal training. All of these factors placed both Russia and their forces in a fragile position, and with their numerous military failures coupled with the initial destruction of their standing army, the finger was pointed at the Tsar. This notion of military failure under the Tsar is highlighted in source A, where the military is described as
After a range of drastic changes came the downfall of Gorbachev as well as perestroika. This was due to Gorbachev's uncertainty due to resistance from hard-liners and encouragement from extremists which increased his uncertainty therefore leading to him not really following any consistent policies. He had very little political support as highlighted when there was an attempt to remove him from power. Gorbachev was almost powerless as Boris Yeltsin became president, we can therefore see that perestroika was indeed a failure. This shows that Gorbachev's policies were a significant cause of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe as due to perestroika and glasnost Russia became more independent of the communist party and their iron grip on the government and the people.
The crushing of Russian’s military added movement to the 1905 Revolution, as it made the people of Russia aware of the weakness of their military, making many people become un-patriotic. They were losing to a nation very few had heard of and it was humiliating. However, many of the defeats to the Russian military occurred after the Revolution had started, not causing its outbreak, but merely adding to the opposition to autocratic rule by the Tsar and prolonging the Revolution. The Russo-Japanese War also brought about economic problems for Russia, and this therefore meant there was a significant lack of money to solve any other problems present Russia, hence partly being responsible for
These events highlighted the weakness of the military and caused national humiliation, thus contributing to the outbreak of the 1905 Revolution. The crushing of Russian’s military added impetus to the 1905 Revolution, as it made the people of Russia aware of the weakness of their military and ashamed to be Russian. They were losing to a nation very few had heard of and it was embarrassing to the nation. The Russo-Japanese War produced economic
Before the PG came into power, the already dire economic, agrarian and social problems were getting worse and worse as the war continued and as a result, the majority of Russians opposed the war effort. This meant that from the beginning of their reign, the PGs decision to carry on with the war made them unpopular as food shortages and the economy got worse and worse. For example, by 1917, the price of bread had doubled while the rations halved from their original figures in 1914. This discontent was proven as early as April the 20th as a riot broke onto the streets demanding that Milyukov, the head of Russian foreign affairs and key war minister, was sacked. This was significant as it meant that in the times of potential danger for the PG, they couldn’t rely on the people to support them.
Assess the causes for the creation of the duma in 1905 During the late 19th century and the early 20th century, the nation of Russia was undergoing a period of turmoil, change, poverty and revolt. The current Tsar, Nicholas II, was a leader put in charge at the wrong time, and coupled with a few bad choices, was falling out of favour with his people. He was losing his grip on the Russian leadership and drastic change was needed to make the people happy, thus the Duma was created. The Duma was an elected parliament for Russia, with the power to make laws, and due to this Nicholas II could no longer be called an autocrat. This allowed freedom of speech in Russia, letting all males in Russia the right to vote.