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Introduction

Anne Tuchelt How far was the February Revolution caused by the length of World War One? At the beginning of 1917 the atmosphere in Russia was really bad. People were unhappy and did not want to suffer in silence anymore. The length of the war was a main factor causing the revolution however not the only factor. Nicholas II?s political decisions which include him deciding to continue the war against Germany were significantly responsible for the revolution. He decided to enter the war because he wanted to prove the world that Russia was a powerful and potent country. But he knew for sure that Russia had not got any military strength in comparison to Germany. Nicholas tried to defeat them with the high amount of soldiers but Germans had much better equipment and trained armies. Besides he had to get anyhow money because making war is very expensive and he did not want the soldiers to be distracted by getting drunk. Therefore he increased the taxes for alcohol highly what the men did not like at all. Nicholas also closed the Progressive Bloc. As the crisis emerged in summer 1915 by the Gorlice-Tarnow offensive the duma was recalled and the new liberal coalition was elected. ...read more.

Middle

Of course people were upset about this as they thought that the war would be short and that they get it quickly done it made them impatient to suffer any longer because they became doubtful of a soon victory. The political impact of the Tsarina Alexandra and Rasputin also caused unhappiness and discontent in the public. By conducting the army Nicholas II was cut off from other politics ? he could not lead the government anymore. As the wife and confidante to Nicholas Tsarina Alexandra took control of the government even though she had no had many experience at all. Having the only son suffering from haemophilia tsarina had employed Grigori Rasputin who was a peasant priest. Alexandra took advice by Rasputin and therefore he became her confidant. Rasputin did a quite good curing Alexis and so he had great influences on church as well as the government. The holy man sacked ministers and gave power to his friends and cronies. Rasputin was the one who brought chaos into the government. In the publicity a rumour was going about that Rasputin and Alexandra had a love affair but there has never been found a reliable evidence. ...read more.

Conclusion

On the 23rd February, the International Women?s day, firstly women in Petrograd started are peaceful march but later they went to factories and spurred workers into action to support them. Women working as tram drivers went on strike. By the afternoon they were a big crowd of women and men marching into the centre of the city. The demonstrations began and increased in the next days. On 24 and 25th of February socialist cells took responsibility for the growing demonstrations and in Petrograd general strike occurred. Then also soldiers joined demonstrations who were afraid fighting in the field. Thus they had nothing to lose because they would probably die in war. The regiments opened fire against the protestants. On the 2nd of March the tsar Nicholas II abdicates for himself and a provisional government has been appointed by the Duma. We can conclude that the length of the war caused the revolution to a small extent because there were many other factors which are at least as significant as the lasting war. However there some things which are linked to the length of the war as well as the war on its own: the shortages of products. One of the main causes are Nicholas II?s decisions and their consequences because it made the people losing their faith in the Tsar and getting really angry about the government. The length of WWI was ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level Modern European History, 1789-1945 section.