Furthermore, the Russo-Japanese war contributed to the decline of the prestige of the Tsarist system. Russia, a great power, had lost against a non-white country that was racially inferior, under the leadership of the Tsar. This created anger in the Russians towards the Tsar and there was a wide disapproval to the Tsarist system. In 1914, once again Russia saw herself involved in a massive war that had exploded in Europe: the First World War that made matters for the Tsarist regime worse. Three years of total war damaged the Russian economy greatly bringing a contraction in the economy, inflation and a decline in the living conditions of Russians. Russia’s blocked trade routes only aggravated the situation as Russia could not export her grain. As Figes explains, Russia was like a house that you could only enter by the chimney. The military body was also weakened as the soldiers did not wish to continue fighting for the Tsar and had lost their faith on their ruler. This was a great problem for the Tsarist order as the army had been the body who had maintained stability and order in Russia under the Tsarist regime. Without the army’s support, the government was in fact weak and incapable of controlling the country. Food shortages in the cities increased during the war as railways were used to transport ammunitions and war supplies as well as soldiers which made it impossible for peasants to send food to the cities. As well, the full scale mobilisation took over 15 million men from the countryside that before would have provided food for the Russians. This increased discontent, and made the previous enthusiasm towards the Tsar at the beginning of war disappear. Moreover, war made the transport system collapse as the improved railway system did not prove to be adequate for the demands of the war. People in St Petersburg became even more discontent and angry with the Tsar over this as they were far away from the food-producing regions. What made matters worse was that its population had increased due to the destitute refugees that were moving to the cities increasing demand for resources at a time were resources were scarce. The food intake of Petograd workers feel by a quarter and infant mortality rates doubled. Furthermore, Russia’s heavy defeats against the world’s best army during war such as the Battle of Massurian Lakes and Tannenberg badly affected the Tsarist government’s reputation. War clearly undermined the Tsarist system. In fact, the Liberal View argues that if there had not been a war Revolution would never have come. Pavlovsky stated “Then, as a thunderbolt came the terrible catastrophe of 1914, and progress changed into destruction”. The factors mentioned above convey that it was not the Tsar himself but rather the Tsarist system and the events that took place at that time that were to blame. The truth was that Russia due to its immense territory and ethnic diversity was difficult to reform and also difficult to rule. As well, Stolypin’s death in 1911 was a great blow to the capability of the government as he was the last capable chief minister and servant of the Romanov’s. Lastly, during his youth the Tsar had been inculcated conservative ideas by his personal tutor, Pobedonostev, which contributed to his narrow-mindedness and his believe that the autocratic system should be preserved.
On the other hand, Tsar Nicholas II’s nature and actions during his dynasty also contributed greatly to his own downfall. He was an incompetent man who’s narrow-minded mind and chauvinist ideas ignored the fact that changes needed to come. He’s stubborn nature was shown in the wrong times. For example, he failed to create a political stable government and to widen support for political order by bringing in a parliamentary government as he believed only in an autocratic government. Therefore, he used repression to control his regime and as Pipes states, he “employed five instruments: the civil service, the security police, the landed gentry, the army and the Orthodox Church.” The employment of force brought discontent and made the Tsar unpopular. The Cossacks, the soldiers who maintained stability, were hated due to their violent methods to stop demonstrations. Furthermore, although the Tsar managed to handle and survive the Revolution of 1905, he mishandled the crisis and made things worse. A perfect example is “Bloody Sunday” were a peaceful procession heading to the palace to present the Tsar with a petition of grievances was stopped by troops shooting into the crowd. A couple of hundred were killed and 800 injured. This action horrified Russians all over the country and damaged the prestige of the Tsarist system even further. As well, in order to gain the support from university students the Tsar made a reform that prohibited the police to enter the university grounds. However, the Tsar had already angered the students by prohibiting traditional student celebrations and his reform came too late; students were already against him. What resulted from this reform was that the universities became revolutionary centres from which radicals started to politicise the workers in nearby factories. The Tsar also encouraged Pogroms, which were attacks on the Jews, as the government believed that by attacking the Jews, who were very unpopular amongst the Russian society they would gain support. Nevertheless, the Pogroms only encouraged violence and chaos and increased the peasants’ disrespect for law and order as they now believed they could attack the land owners. Attacks to the landlords and their properties was made worse after the October Manifesto as the unrest in the countryside from conservative peasants who were disturbed that the Tsar had been forced to give up his God-given rights only worried and provoked other peasants who took advantage of the chaos to attack landlord estates. Moreover, even though, in 1905 Nicholas signed the October Manifesto creating a legislative parliament called the Duma, in 1906 he published the Fundamental Laws where he made it clear he was still an absolute monarch. Furthermore, after the death of Stolypin in 1911, Nicholas failed to appoint any capable chief minister going into a stage called leapfrog as chief ministers were changing constantly. What is more, he failed to win the support of the parliament by restricting its legislative power with the Fundamental Laws. As well, in 1911 the Beiliss Affair illustrated the narrow-minded and incompetent intolerance of Russian Tsarism as they accused an innocent Jewish worker of the murder of a boy. This accusation of an innocent man made the government more unpopular and angered the Russians further. Moreover, the Lena Goldfield massacre in 1912 also added to the unpopularity of the government as the miners who demanded better pay and conditions were killed or wounded by the Tsar’s troops.
When the war exploded, the Tsar made no attempt to help the people who were suffering from food shortages that came from the breakdown of the transport system and inflation making people all over Russia, but mainly people in Petograd, discontent. Furthermore, in 1915 the Tsar appointed himself Commander-in-chief of the war even though he did not know anything about war and the war was going badly. Every defeat and catastrophes that now happened in the war were blamed on him. His incompetent handling of the war exacerbated social and economical disorder. As well, during his leave to handle the war he left Alexandra, who was inexperienced and influenced by Rasputin, in charge of the country. Many believed Alexandra, of German origin to be a traitor thinking the truth for her incompetence was that she was helping the Germans to accomplish victory. She also appointed corrupt ministers that along with Rasputin’s personal behaviour that included alcohol made the prestige and reputation of the regime decline even further. Moreover, the Tsar ignored the chaotic events that took place just before his downfall such as riots and strikes and failed to make concessions in time. He also ignored the warnings from Michael Rodzianko who clearly told him that “Discontent is general and on the increase” and that the “formation of a new government was required”. He, thus, did not accept the Duma’s proposal to share government in time and when he finally did, Rodzianko told him it was simply too late for this concession. The actions of the Tsar and his government made even his closest and most loyal supporters turn against him. Even, the Tsar’s cousin Prince Yusupov went against him and killed Rasputin in 1916. In 1917, at the eve of his downfall the Tsar was unaware of the seriousness of the situation and Alexandra disregarded warnings.
In conclusion, although several external factors that aimed for the abolition of the Tsarist system were greatly to blame for the Tsar’s downfall it was the Tsar’s actions and incompetent nature that was mainly responsible for the revolution. His actions made his regime weak as he lost support from all his followers and from the army, his guarantor of stability. Although, war made things worse, it was only a catalyst to a revolution that was bound to happen due to the general discontent in the country. Without any support, the Tsar was made to abdicate his throne on 15th March 1917, bringing to an end his regime and the Tsarist system.
