The Crimean war (1853-6) proved a struggle for Russia as they faced inferior opponents, alike to the Russo-Turkish and Japanese wars. All three of these wars ended with Russia in a worse economic position than before, with loss of land. This caused anger and unrest amongst the Russian citizens as it illustrated the backwardness of Russian economy and society, leading to the Tsar Alexander 2nd introducing reforms and changes in an attempt to modernize Russia. The emancipation of the serfs in 1861 was an important reform as it forced change upon local government and coerced with the creation of the Zemstva. These reforms made a significant change to the government as a weakened sense of autocracy replaced the traditional span of control the Tsar ruled over, due to freedom of serfs which ultimately creates opposition.
The impact of the First World War on Russia was immense. It created significant political, economic and social changes, aiding the development of Russian government. In the early stages of the war the Russian army suffered huge losses at Tannenburg and at the Battle of the Masurian Lakes. These losses resulted in unrest in the army and led to questions being asked about the way in which the military was run. As a result of ongoing military blunders, Tsar Nicholas II decided to take charge of the army himself.
The decline in Russia’s war performance caused morale in the army as well as in the country to also decrease. However, this in itself was not enough to cause the Tsarist regime to fall. The situation of war was made worse by the fact that in September 1915 after the Russians lost Poland; the Tsar took personal control of the army and dismissed this Uncle Nikolai. As a result, poor military performance could be blamed directly on the Tsar himself. This in turn caused his support to wither and his opponents to build up in number.
The war caused a great deal of problems for the government, originally they had announced that their involvement would be entirely defensive but were pressured into an offensive battle by the Allies. This greatly angered the already the de-moralised soldiers, due to conscription the army was made up of mainly peasants who weren’t trained to fight and wanted to return home and gain more land for themselves. The June Offensive, which was put in place with the hope that a victory would strengthen moral, did the exact opposite. Far from strengthening Russian army morale, this offensive proved that Russian army morale no longer existed. No Russian general could now count on the soldiers under his command actually doing what they had been ordered to do.
Although it has obtained some successes at the beginning, the dramatic changes were not far away. Russia was badly equipped and led; the army suffered a run of disastrous defeats as well as the rail way signalling system breakage of food transportation, causing blocked lines and trains being abandoned, over 200,000 men were found dead. Food riots broke out in Russia’s countryside and major cities. Because Russia was receiving supplies and support from their European allies the provisional government refused to pull out of the war, and began announcing new offensives. Loyal army has been replaced with around 15 million peasants, the army had sympathised with workers and themselves along with the navy began mutiny against a government they had no wish to fight and die for with the Bolsheviks rioting.
Also the state of the country during World War One left a lot to be desired and created a lot of dissatisfaction amongst the Russian people. Tsar Nicholas II was responsible for the fall of the Romanov dynasty, but to a notable extent, as there were other factors more significant to account for the collapse of the Romanovs. It’s reasonable if one states that Nicholas II was responsible for stardom’s collapse. Many criticized the Tsar as a Monarch whose capacity for hard work and commitment wasn’t matched by outstanding intelligence, and had no clear vision for Russia’s future. Nicholas was not suited to his role as Tsar, and would rather spend his time with his family.
The Russo-Japanese War was another factor that caused opposition and unrest in Russia and it lasted from 1904 to 1905. It started because both japan and Russia wanted to expand and dominate in places like Manchuria and Korea. Russia suffered many defeats in the Russo-Japanese war, against a nation that was considered by the Russian people as inferior. This humiliated the people of Russia, and caused them to lose confidence in Tsar Nicholas II, as well as causing great military, economic, and political problems for Russia. An example of a great failure of the military was at the Battle of Tsushima.
This continued cycle of unjust behaviour towards the serfs led to the beginning of distrust and a lack of faith in the monarchy from the public. The people of Russia continued to lose their faith in the monarchy when Tsar Nicholas came to the throne – one of the turning points for the reputation of the Tsar was the Russo-Japanese war in 1904/1905. This war was particularly significant because of the humiliation Russia suffered in this time: They had expected to win the war easily, as Russia was considered a huge and powerful country compared to Japan. However, when they were defeated easily by the Japanese, it was seen as an embarrassment, as well as an example of how the Russian army was not as powerful as it seemed. This, although not
The unpopularity on him heightened when Russia lost several battles after he became in control. The lack in faith of the Russian high command links into the low morale of the Russian army. In 1916 alone,
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