Because the Tsar got the blame for all the grievances in Russia, it meant that he lost a lot of support and gained a lot of opposition from various groups. The middle class didn’t support the Tsar because he was keeping all the power back and didn’t like his autocratic way of thinking. The Tsar also lost support fro the liberals who were the middle class, the generals who were in charge of the army and the monarchists who were in favour of them monarchy. They all united as one, which meant the Tsar was in big trouble by this time as they had all turned against him. The workers, who were already against the tsar for grievances such as their working and living conditions, went on strike and by February 1917 around 300,000 workers were on strike. This would be very hard for the Tsar to control. The Bolsheviks, who were the propaganda, gained support and campaigned against the war. The progressive block also turned against the Tsar who had before been willing to support him. One good thing to come out of that though was the fact that the progressive block were ready to take over if anything did happen i.e. the Tsar’s abdication. They would be a better government, as they owned all industries, which meant they could get foreign trade back on track.
As the generals were in charge of the army and the generals also stopped supporting the Tsar, the generals could easily use one of the only powers the Tsar had against him. In 1914 there was shortage of weapons, which meant that he didn’t have all the power he would need in the war. But they had a victory against Austria, which again would be a good thing but it started a war off in the end. They lost a lot of troops against Germany and in 1915 the general turned against the government. They lost an incompetent war leader and left them open to blame and criticism. There were four million casualties, the majority being original officers, which lead to a lack of leadership and had trouble defending against other countries. They did later on though, have success against Austria and the Turks. So the army did support the Tsar for a while. But this all changed in 1917 when on the 26th of February, the military took up positions and opened fire against the workers who were on strike. The Tsar still had his most powerful weapon. But when travelling back home from the front, the tsar’s journey was blocked by troops and was forced to make a detour. The army fraternised or associated with the workers, which is when the Tsar realised that he didn’t, really have anyone on his side any longer.
He didn’t have his closest ally anymore either as the aristocrats murdered Rasputin. This was because he alienated them and also pointed out the faults of Tsarism but then caused them himself. The Tsar seemed to be very unaware of what was happening behind his back. While the Tsar was at the front, there seemed to be an apparent affair going on between Rasputin and the Tsarina. The Tsar had no idea. Rasputin influenced her and then of course the Tsarina influenced the Tsar, which wasn’t a good thing because Rasputin and the Tsarina were not very good at all when in control. The Tsarina was also a ministerial leapfrog, which meant that she kept on dismissing ministers and meant that the government was very unstable. The Tsar refused to share power and so might be making all the wrong decisions even someone had the right ones which is another reason for why the Tsar lost support. He wouldn’t listen to anyone else but himself and yet he expected everyone to listen to him.
The impact of the war had a lot to do with the Tsar’s abdication. Russia still required much improvement, but the Tsar resisted change in shape or form. The war didn’t have any impact upon the essentials of Russia i.e. the supreme autocratic power of the Tsar.
There are some similarities between the 1905 revolution and the 1917 revolution. The Tsar still wanted autocratic power; the same groups were still in opposition for example the working class still caused riots and rebellions, the workers and middle class came together to shake the monarchy and defeat in war fused liberal political hopes and dreams with grievances of the proletariat or the industrial working class. The differences were that the Tsar lost a lot more support during the 1917 revolution, especially from the army, timely concession, the army, restoring order and suppressing discontent were all unavailable to the Tsar in 1917 but were in 1905,the Tsar was defeated in 1915, there were food and fuel shortages in 1916, urban discontent, professional classes, industrial workers and liberals could all be controlled in 1905, a loyal army no longer existed, no one was prepared to save the monarchy and Nicholas became weak after failure to make concessions.
In conclusion I believe that the most important factors in the Tsar abdicating was the army as these were one of his most powerful weapons, not only in the war but also in controlling the various groups who were against him, and also the Tsar himself because he wanted autocracy and wouldn’t listen to anyone else’s views, he wanted to rule by himself in the way he wanted even if it was a mistake. I believe this is why he lost a lot of support from people. Russia was well behind the times in both military and economic terms. The war had no impact on the Tsar’s intent to preserves the Tsarist system and ultimately it was Russia and the Russian people who suffered and had the Tsar realised the Russian system of government was in desperate need for reform in order to make Russia a great power once more, then the Tsar may have been saved.
