To What Extent do you Agree with the View that the end of Tsarism was due to the First World War? The Impact of the First World War on Russia and the Tsar was immense. The Russian ‘Steamroller’ suffered disastrous losses at Tannenburg and the Masurian Lakes not to mention the ruinous affect of the war on home Russian soil. The war exacerbated the frustrations of Russian Civilians as the loss of young men working in the country was sorely felt. Food was scarce and prices soared.
There were many long-term reasons that could have triggered the war. For example there was an arms race between Germany and many other European countries like France and England and even the French and German armies doubled in size between 1870 and 1914. After France lost a war to Germany in 1870 they developed a grudge against them. Also, as France and Britain had many colonies Germany just started to acquire some in Africa and wanted more land. As you can see there were also many other reasons for the war besides the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
Eastern Europe and East Asia were effected extremely by World War II. Many different Wars left the nations in ruins. Economically and socially the results were tragic. But no nation was more devastated than Eastern Europe. Eastern Europe, including both the small Eastern nations and Russia, were absolutely devastated by war.
Some parts, particularly Northern France where much of the fighting was taking place, suffered terribly from war however in other regions escape the worst of the fighting. Despite this, after 1584, most of France was affected; trade was disrupted and the Dutch seized this opportunity to take advantage of France’s vulnerable position, thus leaving France in a dire financial position, not helped by the crippling costs of wars and the royal expenses. With the rising food prices and economic growth at a standstill there was widespread adversity. Along with the destruction left behind by passing soldiers, who confiscated crops and raided villages and pressed their young men into military service, it is little wonder that the peasants suffered so much. The people of France had had enough.
When Italy intervened into ww1 it was divided there were two camps. Giolitti who opposed Italy joining the war and Salandra who was prime minister during 1914-1916 and he lead the campaign for Italy to go to war. In the end Salandra won the campaign only because he got the approval of the king. Normally a country goes into war undivided then as the war goes on becomes divided however Italy went into the war divided which lead to further instability and weakness in the liberal state. During the war Italy lost a decisive battle at Caporetto at this battle 300,000 men were captured and they lost 160km.
The First World War was one of the largest conflicts that the world has ever seen; there is much dispute over who was really to blame for the start of World War One. Naturally, the blame traditionally falls to the Germans, but were they really to blame for escalating the conflict that was already turning global with Russia mobilizing their army and being ready to help Serbia? The reasons for Germany wanting to start a war were mainly their jealousy of Britain’s Empire and wealth. They were also feeling threatened by France and Russian on its eastern and western borders. Germany had to either get involved in the war and be on the front foot against France and Russia, or they could wait until they were attacked and be unprepared.
In result of this, this cause loads of deaths. To conclude the actions from the officers were a very important factor in causing a high death toll in World War One. This was mainly down to their naivety, ineptness and how out of touch they really were. There loss of seeing things for how they really were, was another reason why there army lost so many of their men. In some cases it seemed the army were being sent in blind, as the officers refused to change their old fashioned
Soon after the assassination in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary delivered a strict ultimatum to Serbia. Austria-Hungary already held an interest towards war with Serbia, so to ensure that war would follow, the terms of the ultimatum were so severe that rejection was all but guaranteed. One month after the assassination in Sarajevo, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia. Its severity towards causing war was substantial, being the first of numerous acts of war which contributed towards the global conflict. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Archduke_Franz_Ferdinand_of_Austria] The balance of power was between the major nations consisting of Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany and Russia.
The World War brought up a huge range of different issues, which plummeted an already shaky country, into a desperate country. One such issue was the economic strains that the war put on the country. The urgent need for weapons and specialised equipment drove the Russian economy into overdrive, leaving the poorest Russians without food and with an inflation rate which rose around twice as fast as wages went up. The huge numbers of men armed by Russia also meant that industries all across Russian began to slow their production rapidly, most notably of all being agriculture. 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.
First world war put immense pressure on Russia. The army and the civilians were demoralised to a great extent and the government did not seem able to cope with the situation. Whether it was the Tsar’s focus on keeping his power or just the miscalculations and failures that occurred during the war, it is clear that WW1 was the main cause of the collapse of the Tsarist government. However there were other many factors that contributed to this. At the beginning, war was immensely popular in Russia.