The Tsarina and Gregory Rasputin were other figures that played a significant part in causing the Russian revolution. They were both very unpopular with the country. Rasputin was a monk in the Russian Orthodox Church and had increasing importance and influence on the Tsar as he helped cure Alexei of haemophilia. Rasputin made a mockery of the Royal Family and the people of Russia despised him for his rebellious background and the rumours surrounding him about heavy drinking and his influence on woman. The Tsar was so taken in by him; he left Rasputin and the Tsarina to rule Russia during the First World War. The people did not trust either of them, because the Tsarina was German they thought she would deliberately rule Russia badly so Russia would lose the war and Germany win. Even though this chaotic situation would have challenged the best of leaders, the Tsarina and Rasputin made it worse. They dismissed able ministers, replacing them with hopeless ones and wild rumours began to spread about Tsarina and Rasputin being lovers. The situation was on the verge of breaking point and had almost spelt the end of the Tsarist regime.The tsar might also have come across as a traitor for cavorting with the enemy. Anyone who is thought to have betrayed their own country is not exactly going to be wanted to rule.
The Russian economy was also a problem that helped contribute to the Russian revolution. Nearly 90% of people were peasants and most were poverty stricken. They worked with the most basic tools. Half the farming land belonged to 300,000 landowners but the other half was shared with 15 million peasant families. This outraged the people and the economy was in tatters. Industry was also a big failure, there were large numbers of poor landless peasants who worked long hours with low wages and lived in appalling slums. The Tsar did not seem to have any concern for them and seemed to focus on the higher-class people. In addition, people starved, not because of shortage of food, but the fact that most of it was left to rot on the railway track or in the trains during transit. The war made things worse there were severe food shortages in the year leading up to the 1917 Revolution, There was not enough food at too high a price. The prices of goods were rising with the low wages staying the same. The situation was approaching breaking point and the Russians felt the Tsar was doing nothing to stop it. The people couldn’t rely on him to make it better, so they started rioting in the hope of improving their conditions.
The Russian army consisted of millions of peasants but they had bad equipment to fight with. By December 1915, more than one third of all men of the working age had been recruited into the army of fifteen million troops. By 1916, peasants were being asked to bring pitchforks with them when they were called up for their service. Not surprisingly, Russian casualties were very high. In 1916, two million soldiers were killed or seriously wounded and one third were taken prisoner. Soldiers saw their comrades as they were being slaughtered in a futile manner - officers were blamed and it was severely disturbing and unjust. Consequently, when these people were being recruited to fight in the war, the unemployment rate in the cities increased and factories were desperate for workers. Wages got lower and lower so the factory owners could afford to employ them and more and more strikes broke out. In December 1916, workers in Petrograd starved due to lack of workers - Russia was in chaos. Not only the soldiers but also the civilian population became angry.
The Tsar’s fall from power was due to his poor leadership and control of his country. He made many vital mistakes when ruling his country and everyone lost trust in him and stopped supporting him. Strikes had risen to epidemic proportions. Discontented with the war, meager pay and criminal working conditions, and with no Cossacks to stop them this time, Russia began to implode. This is not a picture of fragmented incidents, but a series of closely intertwined factors. All this could have been put to a halt by a competent leader. That was why the tsar abdicated he had lost absolutely everyone’s support even the Duma the generals and some of his most loyal supporters.
Lorraine Phillips 10H.1
