How far was the February Revolution caused by the length of World War One?
Anne Tuchelt
How far was the February Revolution caused by the length of World War One?
At the beginning of 1917 the atmosphere in Russia was really bad. People were unhappy and did not want to suffer in silence anymore. The length of the war was a main factor causing the revolution however not the only factor.
Nicholas II’s political decisions which include him deciding to continue the war against Germany were significantly responsible for the revolution. He decided to enter the war because he wanted to prove the world that Russia was a powerful and potent country. But he knew for sure that Russia had not got any military strength in comparison to Germany. Nicholas tried to defeat them with the high amount of soldiers but Germans had much better equipment and trained armies. Besides he had to get anyhow money because making war is very expensive and he did not want the soldiers to be distracted by getting drunk. Therefore he increased the taxes for alcohol highly what the men did not like at all. Nicholas also closed the Progressive Bloc. As the crisis emerged in summer 1915 by the Gorlice-Tarnow offensive the duma was recalled and the new liberal coalition was elected. They wanted to get the Ministry of Public Confidence in government. Consequently the tsar thought it was another attempt to reduce his power and he dismissed them and closed down the Duma. It could have gone better for him if he would have done a politically reform and changed the government from autocracy to a constituent monarchy but he did not. Therefore the Tsar retained autocracy and gave all the power himself making him personally responsible for everything and being totally on his own. If the war went wrong, all anger would go solely to the Tsar. The Progressive Bloc may not exist without the war, but nevertheless it is not directly linked to the length of the war. Furthermore Nicholas put himself in charge of the army in September 1915. He moved away from St. Petersburg and went to the front and took personally command thinking it would have a positive effect of the soldiers but the contrary turned out to be the case he was held responsible for the defeats.