A progressive bloc soon developed within the Duma; this was a group of people, lead by Miliukov who wanted the Tsar to work alongside them to implicate policies on the home front, and they demanded a ‘government of confidence’ based on the attitudes of the bourgeoisie. The Tsar however refused to do this, and you began to see the growth of the bourgeoisie movement which as the war developed became progressively more voiced and anti-Tsarist.
Conditions on the front proved to be a point of importance to influencing the masses of people involved in the downfall of the Tsarist system. Russia began the war in a precarious position, the working class had very poor working and living conditions, and the middle class was still small and ineffective. Social and political tensions were near breaking point, and the arms industry was very weak. Communications were bad – because of the Geography of Russia, the fact that they were fighting on two fronts left a huge burden on the trans-Siberian railway, and the supplies proved to be too much for the separate controllers of the railway to coordinate. Russia was therefore unprepared for the crisis which was going to confront them, and this proved an important point in considering how the war caused the downfall of the tsarist system – people lost all confidence in their ability to handle the country at war, and therefore became desperate.
On the home front, taxes were high and Russia was unable to maintain their industry as there was poor equipment and a lack of workers caused by conscription. The first sign of revolution therefore centered round the working class – they discussed with the extremist political groups the possibility of overthrowing the system. This highlights how important the war was to change people’s attitudes and cause them to think about their future under the tsarist system.
Huge losses such as those seen at Tannenburg and the Masurian lakes caused huge drops in morale among troops, and the war in Turkey was a substantial factor in the declining conditions on all fronts as Allied supplies could no longer reach Russia. As news of the losses of men and ground reached the home front, there were calls for the removal of inefficient ministers, many of who were merely the lackeys of the Tsar himself. This showed that once the people realized this, there would be an increasing call for the removal of the Tsar, which is eventually what happened.
The war lead to the people becoming more and more voiced, and the Duma began to circulate rumours that the Tsar was only prolonging the war for his own purposes.
The deciding factor for the Tsar was his own action to try and stem the flow of losses and to try and improve the situation by a very naïve move of appointing himself as commander-in-chief and going out to the front. Not only had he no experience of this, it also left him as the figure which all the criticism for further losses would be placed on. It was a move on his part which left the country in the hands of the Tsarina and Rasputin, marking the beginning of the very end for the Regime.
The real problem with the Tsarist autocracy became clear to all the people – it was a headless administration staffed by very mediocre bureaucrats who ran a government apparatus that was out of date with the 20th century and out of touch with the real world. The inability to coordinate the war effort, the unwillingness to set correct priorities and the seemingly cavalier attitude towards running the war left the Tsar’s government with few supporters by the end of 1915.
Thus, while the anger of 1914 was directed at the numerous German establishments in the cities, from late 1915 anger was directed at the Tsar and his ministers. As commander-in-chief of the army, The Tsar now held direct responsibility for the losses being incurred. His long absences from the capital, the appointment of incompetent ministers and the scandals surrounding the Tsarina and Rasputin brought his government into further disrepute.
At the end of 1915 things only began to worsen. Production began to slump, and communications began to worsen as transportation along the railway of supplies failed. There were food shortages in the cities, and this began to make people desperate.
The bad conditions in winter 1916 lead to a wave of strikes around the major cities, and the refusal by troops to fire on the strikers highlights the feeling of discontent against the regime felt by all sectors of society. Desertation in the ranks of the army became an open scandal and the tsar stopped supervising them.
However, it was maybe not the Tsar that led to the revolution in 1917 – the actions of his wife Alexandra and Rasputin during the war were the final straw for the revolutionary parties.
It was largely on the advice of Rasputin and the Tsarina that Nicholas made the decision to assume personal control of the war effort
Then, with Nicholas spending more time away from the capital, Alexandra, firmly under Rasputin’s influence, took control of the government of Russia.
Ministers and bureaucrats were appointed, transferred or dismissed on Rasputin’s advice and whim. Transport, the food supply and even military appointments and strategy were thrown into chaos. Rumours that Alexandra was secretly assisting the Germans began to circulate, and some of the Progressive bloc within the Duma began speaking of a coup which would remove the Tsar and his wife. By the start of 1917 the internal situation had become hopeless for the Tsar’s government. Rasputin was murdered in December 1916, but this did little to change the attitude of those in power.
Some of the governing class hoped that the death of Rasputin would prompt the Tsar to return from the front and the Tsarina to withdraw from public life. Instead, the autocracy stood firm in its convictions and exhibited little concern for the problems facing the country
As fuel and food became even scarcer, strikes over took and by February the bourgeoisie movement was beginning the revolutionary process.
If it had not been for the war, the revolution would not have occurred. It was the beginning of the end – everything that took place was part of the tsarist regimes downfall. The Tsarina and Rasputin provided intrigue and an unacceptable government for the people of Russia. The Tsars actions on the front, and his leaving of Alexandra and Rasputin left him exorbitantly unpopular and brunt of all the criticism from the actual military side of events. Food shortages caused directly by the war left people desperate and ready to do whatever was needed to get out of the war and rid them of the regime. This all points towards the fact that the war caused the Revolution of early 1917.
