Through various political factors, Russia was led to a revolution by the long term and short term causes. There has been some reconsideration of the part played by the revolutionary and liberal parties in Russia 1917, but long term they were seen as having a role in the events leading to the revolution in February. The contribution of the revolutionary opposition played its role by providing propaganda, which helped undermine people’s loyalty to Tsarism. The very presence of the Revolutionaries frightened the government into repressing the Russians even more which therefore further alienated support for it. The Revolutionaries were able to show the underlying weaknesses in Russian society and a government that had lost credibility in the eyes of the people which was a cause (but not a trigger) for the Russian Revolution. In 1917 Nicholas was faced with humiliation of war social and economic pressures, lack of reliable support amongst the respectable groups in society and he had no armed forced to fall back on. The incompetence shown by Nicholas II led eventually to a breakdown in the loyalty of his traditional supporters. He made a mistake in assuming the role of Commander-in-Chief of the army in 1915 for then he was held personally responsible for the army’s defeats. Moreover, his presence on the Eastern Front increased his isolation pushing him to rely on the support and advice of his wife, rather than his ministers. The presence of Rasputin, added to the disrepute of the royal couple. Alexandra and Rasputin’s influence proved disastrous for they advised Nicholas against making any concessions. A bigger cause for the Russian Revolution, were the succession of ineffectual ministers contributing to the government’s instability. The Duma and zemstva developed their own organisation to co-ordinate the war effort and to organise aid for those affected by war. Dominated by liberals and industrialists, these became the nucleus of an alternative government, which was a dangerous development for Nicholas II. The willingness of the recalled Duma to co-operate proved short-lived. By 1915 hostility has revived and expressed itself in a number of intrigues by its members. By 1916 it was clear that the regime was heading for a crisis which finally arrived in February 1917. The build-up from the gradual desertion of the regime by its liberal and conservative elements, though the final trigger came in a form of a strike. The Kadets, Octobrists and the right-wing deputies formed a progressive Bloc, which campaigned for traditional liberal demands of representative which had the confidence of the public. Nicholas rejected the demand and dismissed the ministers that showed that they were liberal in any shape or form, also anyone who was against his command of the army in 1915. His advisors were replaced with ones who were not prepared to advise Nicholas, and there were an increase in enemies amongst the liberals and they gained ground and directed their attacks against Alexandra. This increase in opposition between the liberals and the revolutionaries, were a main factor in a developing conflict within the Russian people which lead to an outbreak in Russia, as the parties highlighted the instability of the government through propaganda, and they were able to gather huge armies to support allow the revolution to happen.
Through various social factors, Russia was led to a revolution by the long term and short term causes. The root causes of 1917 Revolution have been seen to lie in the deterioration in the condition of life of the mass of the people and the failure to modernise society and economy under Tsarism. For a very long time, the peasants and the working class have been alienated, they have had to work and live under dreadful conditions while having no freedom. This was clear evidence that the working class had been unhappy and angered with their treatment for a long time. This irritation was exacerbated, when the impact of the war had hit the home front hard. The war’s disruption of communications added to the problem of supplying the cities with food and other essential products. The working class had to take second place to the needs of the army and the war, the supply of food also deteriorated by the rapid growth in population in the towns, especially Moscow and Petrograd, as workers from the villages were pulled into main towns to help improve the industry. This act of repression enforced by the government increased the discontent in the Russian people under the food shortages and working conditions. Landowners, who farmed for the market, found it very difficult to find labourers as peasants were either drafted into the army or pulled into factories in the towns. The low prices paid by the government for its grain was a further disincentive since there was a inconsistency between their income from sales and the high prices they had to pay for industrial goods. In this situation the government found that supplies of grain to the cities declined from 25% of the grain harvest in 1914 to 15% in 1917, a situation which added to the hardship experienced by the civilian population. This has a very huge factor in the trigger of the Russian Revolution, as the very first events of the revolution; February 22nd, there was a strike at the Putilov engineering works in Petrograd. Workers demanded pay rises and the re-employment of some sacked workers. February 24th the strike spread and it was followed by violent demonstrations, bread riots, and strikes caused by food shortages and inflation. February 25th there was a general strike involving 240, 000 workers affected factories, transport, banks, shops etc. Slogans read ‘Down with the war’, ‘Bread’, ‘Return our husbands from the front’. The role of strikes and demonstrations, showed the weaknesses of the government, and how it was capable now to break it.
Through various economic factors, Russia was led to a revolution by the long term and short term causes. The government was trapped between a fall in its revenues on the one hand and spiralling expenditure on the other. Part of the problem was the decline in foreign trade (Germany hand accounted for half of the total), the export of grain stopped an important route, though the Dardanelle Straights was closed. Apart from these factors, which were outside government control, Nicholas had contributed to a 30% drop in its revenues. As soon as war was declared he had made the decisions to bad the production of alcohol in an effort to avoid a repeat of a strike in 1905 when the discipline of his reserve troops had collapsed in drunken riots. Despite the advice of his Ministry of Finance and the Duma, said that the war relied on the sale of alcohol as a part fund. This was a foolish decision as it only encouraged the organisation of the production on vodka and denied the government any financial advantage. It was not until 1916 that the Ministry of Finance developed alternative source of income, which included the introduction of an income and profit tax, borrowing but most disastrously the printing of more money which led to rapid inflation; money supply grew by 336% but prices rose by 398% This meant that the working class was unhappy as they had food shortages, food queues, cold damp living conditions and poor working conditions. By 1916 the police department warned the government that ‘the proletariat of the capital is on the verge of despair…the mass of industrial workers are quite ready to let them go to the wildest excesses of a hunger riot….the labour masses, led by the more advanced and already revolutionary elements of a hunger riot…the labour masses, led by the more advanced revolution elements, assume an openly hostile attitude towards the government and protest with al the means at their disposal against the continuation of the war…”
In conclusion, there were many causes to the outbreak of the 1917 February Russian revolution, which ranged from long term causes to a trigger to the epidemic. The most important cause overall is the military defeats in World War One. This brought a low moral to Russian Society and Nicholas upset most of the population by discriminating against the peasants. Nicholas arrogant and oblivious behaviour was also a very important cause for the revolution, and it made the population want change, this would never have happened though if it wasn’t for the liberals and revolutionaries impact, steering the propaganda alongside.