Was the War or the Period Prior to the War more to Blame for the (Russian) Revolution?

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Was the War or the Period Prior to the War more to Blame for the Revolution?

INTRODUCTION

The period during the war was more to blame for the Russian Revolution than the period prior to the war for a number for reasons. The war acted as a catalyst for the Revolution. Problems that existed were intensified and others were added. These included short-term triggers, such as the Rasputin and his assignation, suspicions about the German Tsarina, but most importantly, Nicholas II was a useless Tsar. Not only did he lack intelligence, but also he was not forceful enough to maintain order within the Russian Empire.

One of the problems during the war was the Tsar. Nicholas was hopeless. Although a loving father, he was a cruel man and always turned to violence against the opposition. He praised regiments that hung people who were out of order. He knew little about the people in his country. Then Tsar took over the running of the war and went to the war front, which was a huge mistake. Not only was Nicholas blamed for the defeats which Russia suffered, but he left Rasputin and the Tsarina in control. This was a bad idea because the people of Russia didn't trust either of them. The Tsarina was German and they thought that she was passing information to the Germans. Her closeness with Rasputin lowered her reputation even more. She made a mess of running the country and wouldn't work with the Duma at all. She replaced ministers with Rasputin's dirty friends and the economy collapsed. The railways stopped working so coal and food were left on the sidings to rot.
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Another problem during the war (and also partly prior to the war) that caused the Revolution was the bad conditions of the peasants. The Russian peasant communities were living in very poor conditions and their methods of farming were very undeveloped. This was a problem because the population of the commoners was increasing which caused many food shortages, and also adding to the problem, a lot of the food produced had to be sent to the men on the war front. Stolypin tried to make agriculture and life for the peasants more efficient. He set up banks to ...

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