As well as the Tsar not listening to his experienced advisors, he had left his wife in charge while he was on the war front. This was definitely not a popular decision with the people as a great number of them disliked her. She was German, and Russia was fighting a war against Germany, so they thought she was a spy and the other main reason she was disliked was because she listened and relied on Rasputin instead of the ministers. Rasputin was a peasant monk who could control the bleeding of her haemophiliac son, so she trusted him, but he was gaining increasing influence over the Tsarina’s decisions, and she did as she was told. He convinced her into repeatedly replacing able ministers with no thought for their ability or experience, which turned more people against them as it would have been impossible to solve a problem if the ministers were being replaced so often. It was believed Rasputin had an evil influence over the government, which he acquired through the Tsarina, and it was rumoured that they were lovers. In an alternative source, a letter written to the Tsar by Rodzianko, he is warning Nicholas against Rasputin. He wrote, “ No one opens your eyes to the true role which this man (Rasputin) is playing”, which tells us that the Tsar was not believing anybody about the true face of Rasputin and that he should not have left the vulnerable Tsarina in charge, but an experienced minister or advisor as they would have had a better understanding of Russia’s situation.
Another factor which supports the view that Tsarism collapsed because Nicholas II was a weak Tsar was the failures in the war. Russia faced early defeats in many battles, showing how weak they were, but this could have been due to the fact that Russia was by no means equipped to fight a war. Of the 6 500 000 men in the army, only 4 600 000 had rifles, and there was a shortage of boots and ammunition for the soldiers. The Tsar sent millions of young men to fight with no means to defend themselves, which shows another weakness in the Tsar, as a war cannot be won without any means to fight, so this meant more deaths and failures in the war, which the Tsar was seen to be responsible for, being the Commander-in-chief.
The strikes which took place were also another reason for Tsarism collapsing as more and more people turned against the Tsar. From source D, we can get an estimate of the huge number of workers who went on strike which shows how unhappy people were. The workers of Putilov Steelworks were locked out after demanding a 50% pay rise on 7th March, and went on strike. They were joined by workers from other factories and even some of the troops, causing mutiny in the army. They sympathized with the workers and joined them instead of shooting at them, and some troops mutinied against their officers, even shooting them in some cases. The Tsar ignored the frantic messages from Rodzianko about the seriousness of this situation. In source A we are told that “nothing can save the country from revolutionary upheaval” if the military go against the government, which they decided to do. This contributed to the collapse of Tsarism as the army had always supported the Tsar in the past, but was now going against him and Tsarism, so the Tsar’s weakness was not the only cause of collapsed Tsarism, and the war could never have been won with the mutiny in the army, but many people were against the war anyway as we are told in source E.
A reason which does not agree with the view is the situation of Russia’s collapsed economy. By the end of 1916, the cost of living had trebled and able-bodied workers were called out to join the army. Factories and fields were emptied of workers, which was a result of so much work and effort being put into a losing and destructive war. In source A we are told “it is impossible to find food”, which tells us about the huge food shortages, but the Tsarina is not aware of the situation and thinks that people shout there is no bread simply to create excitement, which shows how unaware she was of the situation, and didn’t inform the Tsar about the serious truth of the situation. The Tsar believed the Tsarina’s letters rather than his experienced advisors, which supports the idea that Tsarism collapsed as he didn’t listen to his advisors.
The transport problems contributed to Tsarism’s collapse as there was lack of fuel so supplies were also disrupted. People were steadily losing support for the Tsar, and there was enough food for Russia, but not enough means of transport, as there was only one main railway which was being used greatly by the military and there was nowhere near enough trains to transport the food around to the people, so tonnes of good resources such as butter and meat just went to waste, rotting at the railways in the countryside. The cold weather lowered people’s spirits and it was one of the coldest winters in Russia, with the average temperature being minus twelve degrees and more and more people were starving.
In my opinion I agree with the view because if the Tsar had listened to his advisors and not his wife, he would have realized the situation much earlier and may have been able to return to Petrograd to perhaps start sorting things out and may not have had to abdicate as the situation may not have been as bad as it was when he did actually realize how bad everything was. But even thought the weakness of the Tsar was a very significant factor towards the collapse of Tsarism, it was not the only reason as the sources show. The failures in the war, mutiny in the army and shortage of supplies also caused the collapse of Tsarism as did the strikes, him making himself Commander-in-chief and also him being out of touch with the people, as he did not know what they wanted. All of these factors together caused the collapse of Tsarism, but the weak Tsar not listening to his advisors played a major role towards it.
