Chris Purchase Within the context of the period 1815-1917, how far was the First World War the main cause of the fall of the Romanovs in February 1917? February 1917, the First World War is going badly for Russia; supplies not getting through to the soldiers; huge numbers of Russian soldiers dying, wounded by the German army on the eastern front; Nicholas II lacking in military experience resulting in costly defeats for his army. Back home in Petrograd, the country is in chaos. Rasputin has been murdered and the revolutionaries are gaining in strength. So the question is... how did the rule of the Romanovs fail after 300 years in power?
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.
His army also consisted of millions of poor, starving peasants with bad equipment, poor supplies of rifles and ammunition. In 1916, two million soldiers were killed or seriously wounded, and one third of a million taken prisoners. The Russian population was horrified. They considered the Tsar irresponsible for taking over the army and held him responsible for everything; as a result instability was growing at an alarming rate for the Tsar who had once held himself so assuredly in power. Nicholas II took this course of action to assure himself he still had complete control of Russia.
In the battle of Tannenburg the loss was very drastic; 30000 men wounded or killed, 95000 captured and 500 guns. This portrays the heavy defeat that Russia and this dropped moral in the army and at home in Russia. This shows the losing of the battle created a growth in opposition against the Tsar due to the public of Russia blaming the Tsar as he commanded the troops to go to war. Peasants felt annoyed and angry and Nicholas. This strengthened the opposition against the Tsar.
This was to prevent complacency and make his mark within the military. However, by removing so many important leaders, he weakened the leadership and therefore put strain on his forces, making it more difficult to attain victory, and increasing the chances of the opposition. Additionally, Stalin purged all military intelligence, blaming them for not alerting Russia of Germany’s invasion plans. This meant that he had no eyes on international affairs. Also, generals who performed badly against the Germans were shot on site.
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. The decision of Tsar Nicholas II to lead his troops on the front line is a debateable one, however I believe that due to his lack in military training and knowledge on how to lead troops, coupled with the fact he left the Tsarina to rule in his absence with the assistance of Rasputin , that this decision was a terrible one. Tsar Nicholas II dismissed his uncle as the head of the military and made the fateful decision of leading his troops himself. He believed that his presence would inspire the troops, however his lack of military expertise proved disastrous for the Russian war efforts. The Tsar left his wife to rule in his stead with the aid of Rasputin who was an advisor to the Romanov family.
10th grade Social Studies assignment The failings of the democracy in Germany between 1918 and 1923 Why was the new democratic system in Germany unpopular by 1923, and how was Hitler able to take advantage of that unpopularity? After their defeat in the First World War, Germany and its government faced many harsh consequences which had a great impact on the entire country and its political system. Each consequence created a substantial change in German history which made a chain of events that led to the rein of Adolf Hitler. Because the new democratic system proved to be unsuccessful, the people of Germany blamed their government and after that, things began to get chaotic and everyone suffered. The problems began after the 1st World War, and after the German government signed the papers at the Treaty of Versailles, agreeing to its conditions and punishments, the government was very much resented by the people.
Germany faced many problems such as unemployment, debt and lack of money. Construction of Autobahns and schools would have created many jobs and brought in a huge amount of money. This is exactly how Schacht planned to solve Germanys economic problems, with The New Plan. The New Plan consisted of four major parts (Limiting imports, Trade agreements, Government spending and tackling unemployment). However, Hitler was not happy with this as his spending on the military was being limited, which meant only a certain number of tanks/planes were being produced.
Social freedom was pretty much unheard of for the vast majority of lower-class Russians, around 50 million at the time of the emancipation of the serfs (1861) and all throughout the history of Imperial Russia’s there have been massive class divides this dived could be sustained whilst the peasants were uneducated but by the turn of the century people were starting to question the divine rule of the Tsar and 1905 revolution could been seen as major turning point that was as important as the First World War because on the 22nd of January 1905 The Tsar was responsible for the shooting of peasants in Bloody Sunday, where he ordered the army to open fire on a peaceful protest suggesting his inability to grasp a whole nature of events. Finally the Tsar was described as “out of touch and arrogant to his people” as he refused to believe and purposely ignored warning messages from Rodzianko his cousin explaining the severity of the revolution in 1017, the Tsar chooses to trust his wife, the Tsarina who has underestimated the threat of the protestors and was being greatly influenced by
Douglas Haig was leading the British, and was a very stubborn leader. Haig’s tactics were for the British to simply walk over to the German trenches. After the first day there were 60 000 casualties. Haig being the stubborn leader that he was did not change the tactics at all after losing all these men. Other then the fact that the British had an awful tactic, they did not have the right weaponry.