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.
There were a lot of different factors in 1917 which were not there in 1905 some of these factors strongly suggest why Tsarism was abolished in 1917 but not the years before. Some of the events that occurred where World War One which had a catastrophic impact on Russia at the time, the lack of Faith in the Tsar as he had lost one war before and was losing another, the lack of faith in reforms such as the October Manifesto as that was revoked after only a few years and the lack of military conduct as the Cossacks the Tsars most loyal and ruthless troops left him as they wanted change like everybody else. World War One was defiantly one of the main factors that caused the fall of the Tsar as it truly showed to everyone that he was a terrible Country leader as people were dying in the city’s, because they had no food, fuel in 1905 life never got that tough for the people as they had enough to survive but as all the transport links where being used for moving the military so food was left on the docks to rot, as the people in the city’s had no food people started to start Bread riots to try to get the Tsars attention as they really had no food and it was there last resort. Furthermore people had no clean Living and working conditions a lot worse than before. These Factors started to turn everyone against the Tsar as they could see how terrible he really was and how much he wasn’t helping the country or its people which finally lead the end of the Tsar.
How far do you agree that the main reason for the failure of the Provisional Government was the decision to continue fighting in the First World War? With only seizing to last 8 months, the Provisional Government was faced with many burdens from the very beginning of their reign. The government had economic and political problems resting on their shoulders, with having to effectively take over the running of the country, due to Nicholas leaving Russia in shambles. Political unrest, lack of authority and general discontent in the people of Russia meant the Provisional Government could be seen as doomed from the very beginning. However, although these factors were important in contributing to the decline of the Provisional Government, it was ultimately their internal decisions, one deciding to continue fighting in the war, that lead to the failure of it.
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.
As it was them who started the protest which turned into a revolution and also they were the ones behind the mutiny of the troops. However, the military was having many problems such as the war was going horribly wrong with many casualties, poor commanding from officers and limited military resources and equipment. The peasants were doing the fighting and the dying. So this could be a small contributing factor to the fall of the Romanov's on several different reasons. Firstly the tsar did not help the peasants personally, but instead leave the burden to the prime ministers when they cannot rule like a democracy today.
* Lost terriorty in Poland & Western Russia – PG were blamed for losses just like the Tsar was when took charge. * War made finical problems – Inflation still a problem and food shortages were high. * Russia expected these things to be stored out – PG short-lived because they were full of empty promises. Promised land reform to the peasants ( made up a large amount of the population , Bolshevik priority was to keep them on their side) no action was taken * Couldn’t guarantee food supplies as because soviet controlled the railways. * Political reform also promised political reform in an attempt to stop the revolutionaries but no action was taken.
This would lead to the army losing their faith in the Tsar which was extremely vital, for as long as the army remained loyal to the him, they were able to put down any threat of revolution however, the poor conditions eventually led to them refusing to fire upon rioters. For these reasons, the First World War contributed majorly to the downfall of Imperial Russia. After his downfall, the War became increasingly unpopular. Popular demands for peace were growing intense, especially within the army. The Provisional Government attempted to regain the support of both the Russian
It was clear that the Tsar was not fit to run the country and no longer had the support of the public. On the 28th of February 1917 Nicoloas II train to Petrograd was stopped and representatives of the old duma and a group of generals from stavka boarded and told the Tsar that it would be futile and dangerous for him to return, it was then that they advised him to abdicate. On the former day Nicolas II abdication was publically announced. In conclusion, World war one was a major factor in the fall of the Romanovs, the war caused many problems for the people of Russia including Inflation, food supplies, transport and the army. These issues were meant to have been dealt by the Tsar but he failed to meet his people’s needs, resulting in people disliking him and him being convinced to abdicate.
As long as the tsar had his army he was unconquerable. For fighting in the First World War the tsar had to pay a high price for his army: Many soldiers got killed and the others soldiers were disappointed in the tsar and joined the group of the supporters of a revolution. During his absence in Russia, for he was taking the role as a general in the army, rumors spread that the tsarina, the tsar’s wife, had an affair with Rasputin, a mysterious man who was playing an important role in the royal family, and that Rasputin was involved in important political actions. For the Russian people it was antipathy. The power of the tsar collapsed and a man named Vladimir Ilich Lenin received the attention of the Russian people.
The War also had massive social and economic impacts on Russia that resulted in a strike that ended with a revolution. The Tsar going to the front was the start of the clear path that lead to the revolution in February 1917; he had left his wife the Tsarina in charge of Russia and relied on her to tell him how things were going at home. While police reports in 1916 were saying that the country was in complete social unrest, on the brink of a revolution, while the Tsarina was sending letters to the Tsar saying that the unrest was merely some of the population acting like a bunch of teenagers and they would get over it. The Tsarist Autocratic system had managed to survive a revolution in 1905 but now that the Tsar did not really know what was happening it was doubtful that there wouldn’t be a revolution soon. The Brussolov offensive caused a major blow to Russia because the Tsarina advised the Tsar not to send any troops to the north as Rasputin had foreseen their failure in the north.