Additionally, the working conditions for both peasants and industrial workers were very poor. They worked long hours, with low pay without a workers union. Russian people were becoming poorer by the day because of the rapid price increase on all provisions, and wages were not increasing to support the rising prices. People were starving and the Tsar did nothing to help. This enraged the people, as they were struggling to feed their families and he Tsar showed no car towards them. The situation built up over time and was literally waiting for a spark to trigger a revolution.
Russia was behind for years in terms of industrial growth and this caused many problems throughout the nation. It slowed down factories and farm’s production, which made the products most expensive. This increased poverty amongst the peasants and when prices began rising even higher, they couldn’t keep up. Transport throughout the country was also still very behind compared to the rest of the world. It the 1900s it was said that Russia had the same amount of railway lines as Britain. The lack of transport made communication very difficult, so enforcing laws became a complicated procedure. Representatives of the Tsar would govern individual parts of the country, to increase control of riots and demonstrations. However, when large riots began in cities it was hard to communicate to other parts of the country to call for assistance and help. Communication difficulties had a large role to play when the 1917 revolution formed, because word spread from person to person, which caused the revolution to grow by 1000s everyday.
Tsar Nicholas II played a significant role in the countries decisions. He affected the long-term and the short-term causes leading up to the March 1917 revolution. To begin with, many people felt he was not fit to run the country, as he had had no experience working in such a commanding job. He has no self confidence and was too involved in family matters. His wife Alexandra was not liked by the Russian people. She was very controlling of the Tsar and it is believed she made most of his decisions. When the royal family became associates of Rasputin, suspicions arose of their intimate relationship. Of course, the Tsar didn’t believe any of the rumours, as he believed Rasputin was a man of God who had amazing healing powers. When Rasputin healed their ill son, his relationship with the family grew ever stronger. However, Nobles thought his role was too influential and they referred to his as the root of all evil.
The Tsar made many mistakes leading up to the revolution. His first big mistake was going to war. People got the impression that he was abandoning their country. His second mistake was leaving Tsarina and Rasputin in charge. Russians thought that Tsarina was a spy from Germany, because of her German background, and were outraged that such a man as Rasputin could have an influence on the countries decisions. Not only that but having the Tsar in war meant they had someone to blame or all the armies mistakes. He was criticised repeatedly for poor performances on the battle ground while people in his home country were starving. The third mistake he made was not following Rodzianko’s advice to return to Russia. Instead, he decided to ignore the warning and continue in battle. He didn’t believe that the situation in Russia was as bad as Rodzianko had made it out to be. By staying on, he let the riots build up and the royal family begin to be torn down. His forth mistake was not listening to the Duma, and supplying the lower-class with the help and attention they needed to keep them satisfied and away from revolutionary ideas.
As mentioned before, one of the main short-term causes that affected the 1917 revolution was the war. The war cost the country millions to fund. They had to finance weaponry, transport, food, medicines and other equipment. This supply for goods took up the use of they’re main railway lines, which meant no food was being transported into the cities. This boosted prices up higher than they had ever been before, and people were just unable to afford it. This infuriated people that food was going to a war where they were desperately loosing when it should have been going to the cities to feed families who were left at home. Not only was that but because all the workers had gone to fight in the war, there was hardly anyone working on farms or in factories. Production rate slowed down to near nil and unemployment rate was sky high.
The two main triggers that set of the revolution were the war, and the effect it had on Russians, and lose in the support of the army. The war had a massive impact because it drained the cities of all its finances and it supplies. Nothing was left for civilians and so they had nothing left to loose when they started the revolution. People were also annoyed that the Tsar had deserted them to fight in the war when he should have been helping fight more problems closer to home. They felt they had been betrayed.
The riots began to build up drastically when the army stopped interfering. The army began supporting the demonstrations and started fighting back against they’re commanding officers. This event showed that royalty had lost complete control over the country. Riots built up and soon they uncontrollable, and so the revolution began.
To conclude, I believe that the revolution was down to a number of things. The poor working conditions outraged and annoyed the lower class citizens to a point were they were also starving. Management of the country was unable to cope with the continual riots, or organise the countries finances so they are prioritised to where the money is needed most. The close relations to Rasputin decreased his and the Tsarinas respect even more. He was thought of as a sex maniac who was controlling the countries decisions. The people of Russia felt the country was in the hands of the wrong people and something had to be done about it. The lack of industrial growth meant that Russia was very slow when it came to producing important products such as farming equipment. This meant prices were always high for necessities. The Dumas’ role was never large enough to make a positive impact on peasant’s lives, and so peasants continued to feel unheard. The Tsar refused to listen to their requests, which lead to the first revolutionary ideas, because peasants wanted to make a difference by themselves. The Tsar overall made many mistakes, which could have been resolved if he had followed advice from the people who really understood what was going on in Russia. The war and the Tsar’s decision to join the war-front, in my opinion was what finally triggered the revolution. It had such a economic setback for Russia as it deprived it’s cities from food and equipment needed. The country was left in the hands of Rasputin and the Tsarina of whom both were already hated by Russian civilians. However, I still believe that even if Russia had not gone to war there would have been a revolution later on in Russia, because there were so many different issues that had not been resolved for example, royalty were not taking into account the peasants struggles and issues. Later on in history, there would have inevitably been another spark, which would have set of a revolution concerning the same problems, if not more, than the March 1917 revolution.
