How far was the Feburary Revolution of 1917 due to the mistakes made by Nicholas 2nd

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How far was the Feburary Revolution of 1917 due to the mistakes made by Nicholas 2nd?

In the space of a few days in February 1917, Tsarist Russia came to an end. The Romanov family, who had ruled Russia since the seventeenth century, was overthrown and the monarchy was no more.

In 1917 there were no signs of revolution, but the Tsar and Tsarina were hugely unpopular in Russia.

The outbreak of World War One in 1914 temporarily strengthened the monarchy, with Russia allied to France and Britain against Austria-Hungary and Germany. Russia’s role was to reduce the pressure on the Western Front thus causing Germany and her allies to divert some of its resources to Eastern Europe; it did this by attacking Germany and Austria from the east.  In mid-1915 Nicholas made the disastrous decision to take direct command of the Russian armies. From then on, every military failure was directly associated with him. Russian troops were slaughtered in their millions. This meant that he was seen as being an ineffective political and military leader.

The Tsarina was left to rule the country in Petrograd. This is one of the effects of the Tsar making himself commander-in-chief. Alexandria was German, and with Russia’s poor performance in the war, people started to question her allegiances.

The plan was that Russia was to secure a quick victory against Germany in 1914. However, this was not the case, Russian forces suffered defeats against Germany at Tannenburg and the Masurian Lakes. The First World War was a showcase of new technology and tactics. The Germans were far more advanced the Russians at this period.

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Nicholas II may have believed that, by taking charge, his army would be inspired. Unfortunately, the Tsar knew little about the command and organisation of large military forces due to his inexperience, and the series of defeats and humiliations continued. The retreat from Russian Poland resulted in 1.5 million casualties and also the loss of territory. By December 1916, just 2 months before the revolution, over 1.6 million Russian soldiers were dead and 3.9 million injured. The morale within the armed forces and amongst the Russian people was at a low due to these crushing, humiliating defeats.

The organisation ...

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