Another long term cause could have been the rise of other political groups such as the Dumas or the Soviets; they gave many more people, especially the middle classes, a voice in government which turned the public against the Tsar even more, they also believed that the war should stop and so people began to support them because they felt the same.
A long term cause that was quite important was the geography of the Russian Empire; Russia was too big to rule. It stretched 4,000 miles from Europe to Alaska, and comprised 125 million people. As it was far too much work for just one man it caused the Tsar to have less control. Another long term cause was that Russia had a wide cultural difference within the Empire, many different religions, nationalities and languages within it. This made things even harder for the Tsar and he found it hard to keep in control all of the time as other people had to help him.
Another long term cause was the lack of transport networks, the war effort clogged up the railways with military transport, so food couldn't get into the towns. People were really beginning to get fed up with the war.
A short term cause could be Rasputin (and Tsarina), Rasputin was a holy man from Siberia who believed that religious ecstasy came through your sense and they were said to involve themselves in practices that ‘stretched their senses’ including flogging themselves to endure intense pain and sexual acts with questionable methods. He was said to be friend to the royal family and one of his lovers apparently included the Tsarina. The Tsar’s son, Alexis, was a haemophiliac and in 1907 it was feared that Alexis was dying so Rasputin was called in as a ‘healer’. Shortly after his visit Alexis began to recover leaving the Tsarina to believe God had sent Rasputin to save her son. However, the Tsar and Tsarina’s association with Rasputin did not do them any good as society saw this as completely scandalous, the Tsar supported his wife and this brought him in direct contact with the Duma. When the Tsar went to war in 1914 the problem grew worse as Rasputin was seen to have increasing influence over the Tsarina and political decisions that were made, the whole of Russia obviously saw this which made the people extremely angry towards the Tsar and his reign.
Another short term cause could be the low wages that people were receiving plus having to pay high taxes. This was the case as the Tsar believed in developing the industry and to do that Russia needed money, the principal was that if the industry developed then the people would eventually benefit from it. However, the money had to come from somewhere so the taxes were increased and most of the investment came from that, making the Russian people angrier and angrier.
A trigger cause was bloody Sunday which occurred on the 22nd of January 1905. This was an event that was designed to ease tension, but instead ended up creating massive bloodshed. A priest, Father Gapon, organized a march to deliver a petition to the Tsar; however this peaceful protest was met with armed troops who violently broke up the march. This attack on the march increased the people’s anger towards the Tsar and brought them one step closer to a revolution.
A further trigger cause was the Russo-Japanese War, determined that Russia should not be left out in the scramble for colonial possessions; Nicholas encouraged Russian expansion in Manchuria. This provoked war with Japan in 1904, the Russians were defeated and this led to strikes and riots from the people.
However the First World War proved the last straw for the Tsar's government, the outbreak of World War One in 1914 temporarily strengthened the monarchy, with Russia allied to France and Britain against Austria-Hungary and Germany. In mid-1915 Nicholas made the disastrous decision to take direct command of the Russian armies. From then on, every military failure was directly associated with him. It also left the government in the hands of the Tsar's wife, the Tsarina, and the monk, Rasputin. As the Tsarina was half-German the Russian people believed that she was trying to ruin Russia from within, this caused wide spread panic amongst the people. The war effort caused economic chaos in Russia. By February 1917, people in the towns were starving and freezing. This was another short term cause for the revolution, as the war was worsening conditions and the lack of food, living conditions began to plummet and working conditions were beginning to go the same way.
Overall it is easy to see that many of the changes that happened which caused such anger from the Russian people was due to the Great War, such as lack of food, poor working condition and poor living conditions. So from looking at all the causes, trigger causes, short term causes and long term causes, it can be seen that the Great War was the most important cause of the February 1917 revolution in Russia.
