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Introduction

Why did Russia leave World War 1? From the offset Russia were always going to be fighting two wars, one against the enemy and one against themselves. The Triple Entente's pressure was keeping the Russians fighting, as with them involved, Germany would be fighting on both a Western front and an Eastern front. As mentioned, Russia had many problems on its home front; regarding its governmental decisions, weaknesses in the Royal Family and general unrest in the cities and countryside. The Russian army were also suffering due to a lack of food and fuel. These problems were to form the basis of what was to become a murky era of Russian history. In my opinion Russia's main problem was its unstable government. Before this time the Romanov family had successfully run the country for three hundred years, however they had not moved it forward in terms of economical development. ...read more.

Middle

Lenin's plans were formulated in three words; 'Peace, Land and Bread'. The order of these words suggests his priorities. In addition to the revolutions and riots there were strikes, protests and shortages, that which was most memorable was in Petrograd, October 1916, where rail workers went on strike and the army were sent to settle them down, but instead the soldiers joined in. This shows the attitudes of a multitude of people towards the ever diminishing government. While Russia was suffering at home they were still fighting a war. There were some early warning signs in battles early on. The battles which took place at The Masurian Lakes and Tannenburg in August 1914, totalled up nine and a half million casualties out of the thirteen million mobilised troops, to make matters worse the Tsar took personal command in September 1915, which would pin even more blame on him and make people have another reason to dislike him. ...read more.

Conclusion

Russia could not possibly cope with so much at one time. To rub salt in the wounds of Russia the Germans developed a treaty, called the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, whereby Russia would lose a third of its population and agricultural land, over half of its industrial land and nearly 90% of its coalmines as well as a 300 million rouble fine, all for Germany to profit on. To summarise, Russia had many reasons to leave the war, or in fact never get involved. But instead, they dragged out any remaining supplies for as long as possible because no-one had a decisive mind. Unfortunately for the Russians, neither their government nor military were able to cope with the pressures of a modern war; moreover they lost both battles the one against their enemy and the one against themselves. ...read more.

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Russia, USSR 1905-1941 section.