Another reason why Russia was unsuccessful in the war was because there weren’t enough weapons, so soldiers fought with whatever they could find. For example, they would use a brick or a plank of wood if they were lucky. They were told to pick up there comrades rifle if he died.
However, Russia’s prime minister at this time was Stolypin and he could have made things better for Russia and the Tsar’s reputation. He had the idea of creating a rich peasant which he called a “Kulak”. As a result of this more peasants would support the Tsar. Unfortunately, he didn’t have enough time to enforce this idea as he was assassinated by a revolutionary in the “Kiev Opera House”, on September 14th 1911. This was very unfortunate as Stolypin was a bright man and new what was good for the Tsar. Also he was one of the only men who the Tsar listened to.
As a result of the 1905 revolution, the Tsar gave the people a Duma. This was basically a government set up for the people to share their views which was a good move from the Tsar considering that the opposition was forever growing bigger against him. It also helped the Tsar because Russia was too big for one person to rule. On the other hand, the Tsar disagreed with some of the suggestions that were made by the Duma and he kept closing them down.
The Tsar was not entirely to blame for the March 1917 revolution because the actions of Rasputin, “the Mad Monk” also contributed to its rising. As we know he controlled Russia through Alexandra, and this was beginning to ruin the Royal family’s popularity. Rasputin’s behaviour outside the walls of the palace was really damaging their reputation. He was a drunk who used prostitute’s right under the watchful eye of the public. This was very embarrassing for the Royal family, especially as there were rumours that he was having an affair with Alexandra. Rasputin is not remembered for the good he tried to do, like curing Alexei, but is remembered for his bad ways.
In the end people got fed up with the ruling of the Tsar, so in March when the weather started to get warmer people took to the streets and demonstrated. It all started on March the 8th 1917 at a food queue when people started a demonstration. They were shortly joined by thousands of woman textile workers. Over the next couple of days more and more factory workers joined the protest and started chanting, “Bread” and “Give us bread”. As a result of this factories were being closed down so industries halted. It went all out of control and no one listened to Tsar anymore, even his own soldiers. Soldiers refused to shoot on the crowds and the lack of loyalty was showing when the crew of one of the battleships ‘the Potemkin’ all mutinied. The Duma ignored the Tsar when he tried to shut it down. All this was a result of food shortages. This was because peasants who worked in the fields were taken out to fight in the war. As a result no food was being grown and all the food that was being transported was left at train stations and rotted because there wasn’t a direct train route from the farms to the city.
As we can see Nicholas’s future as a Tsar looked bleak and it was predictable that his own people would turn against him in the end. I think his biggest downfall was taking charge of the army, because he was inexperienced and incompetent as a leader. The Russian army were very unsuccessful in the war, so all the defeats they suffered were the Tsar’s fault which made him unpopular. Nevertheless, he did have some bright spells and knew opportunities to make him popular again. For example, Stolypin’s idea of a rich peasant would have boosted his status as a Tsar again. Overall, I think the Tsar should have listened to his people more and gained more knowledge about their desires and opinions.
