The February Revolution 1917 - Was Nicholas responsible for his own downfall?

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Juri Gregurec

Russia 1905-1914

The February Revolution 1917

Was Nicholas responsible for his own downfall?

        In Durnovo’s memorandum 1914, he states that a long war is imminent and that Russia is not ready for it. They would lose causing the government to be blamed resulting in complete social revolution. Durnovo was completely right. He predicted that war would break out which it did later in 1914 with Germany. Russia then suffered heavy losses after the battle of Tannenberg 1914 and the loss of Russian Poland 1915. Then Nicholas decided to make himself commander-in-chief of the army but Russia still took heavy losses. As a result of this, just as Durnovo predicted, the government were blamed which resulted in a complete social revolution in February 1917.

        Source B is Alexandra’s view of what is happening in 1917 a few days before complete revolution broke out. It says that people are protesting only to get attention and that everything will pass when they get bored, cold or hungry. It gives the impression that the situation is not serious at all and if it is ignored, it will go away. Source C is Rodzianko’s view of what is happening also written in 1917, just before complete revolution broke out. It shows the situation to be a lot more serious. It says that mutiny has broken out among the soldiers. The soldiers of course are nothing more than peasants with uniforms that have been told to fight for the country. It says that now it is in their interest to fight with the other workers on strike. Alexandra however does not know what is going on because she is inside her palace. She has no idea of the seriousness of the situation because she is not around and can’t see what is really happening. Rodzianko is president of the Duma and therefore has a better idea of what is going on even though he says the mutiny was unexpected. He shows the seriousness of the situation and how likely a complete social revolution is.

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        Source D and source E do not support what is said in source B but do support source C. Source D is showing the numbers of workers on strike each day from the 22nd to the 25th of Feb. The amount of workers on strike increase by over 800% in 3 days. This shows exactly how serious the situation is and goes against Alexandra’s view because it proves that the workers will not stop when they get cold and it is not just to get attention, it is something far more serious. However it agrees with Rodzianko’s view because he realises the ...

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