In the October Manifesto, issued by Nicholas II on 17 October 1905, the establishment of a Duma was granted. The Duma was the Russian parliament which existed from 1906 to 1917 and was dismissed four times. The first Duma was active from April to July 1906 and the second, February to June 1907; these Dumas were dominated by radical deputies with demands which were considered too extreme. They demanded universal and free education, greater equality of all citizens before the law and major land reforms. Consequential to their dismissals the third (November 1907 – June 1912) and fourth (November 1912 – August 1914) Dumas had less of an influence over the political issues. Although the third and fourth Dumas were dominated by conservative deputies, overall they heightened the political awareness of the Russian people and allowed for national issues to receive greater exposure. It was in the same year of 1914 that the fourth and most superfluous Duma was dismissed that Tsar Nicholas decided for Russia to enter the First World War.
At the time the Tsar’s reasons for entering the First World War seemed perfectly justified, if not for the occasional warning of doom and destruction. Russia’s eagerness to expand eastwards and its fear that the 1871 unification of Germany meant that central Europe was dominated by the ambitious and powerful nation could be considered a long term reason for joining. Short term reasons included Russia’s aim to see that the Balkan state of Serbia did not fall under the influence of hostile foreign powers, i.e. Austro-Hungary. The immediate effects of the First World War resulted in an increase in popularity for the system of Tsardom; Bruce Lockhart, the British Vice-Consul in Moscow in 1914, claimed that the support for Tsardom meant ‘revolution was not even a distant possibility’. However, as the war progressed and Russia suffered more and more defeats, Nicholas’ decision to take the place of Commander of the Russian Army was not a popular move. Not only could he be held directly credible to the military failures they suffered, but also, to the Russian people, their leader had both literally and symbolically abandoned them, the rashness of his decision causing some to believe he was influenced by his German wife; his German wife who was being significantly influenced by the infamous Rasputin.
Gregory Efimovich Rasputin was an extraordinary man with extraordinary powers over the Tsarevich Alexi’s condition. Because his mysterious ability to heal Alexi’s haemophilia, a hereditary disease passed down through the mother in which the blood cannot clot to stop bleeding, and the easing of Alexandra’s guilt this caused, Rasputin quickly rose from a semi-literate peasant from Siberia to one of the closest confidants to the Tsar’s family. During the years that Alexandra was left on the throne Rasputin was able to exert a considerable amount of influence through her, who felt indebted to him for saving the heir of Russia. Soon, men were being promoted only because they respected Rasputin instead of showing any skill in their area. To the people of Russia, who feared his “powers”, Rasputin soon became symbolic of the decay in the tsarist regime.
