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=﻿How Did The Political Decisions Made in Russia During World War I Lead to the Tsar's Abdication? =

**Tsar Nicholas II and his Opposition Prior 1914**
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov was born near St Petersburg on 18 May 1868, the eldest son of Tsar Alexander III. When he succeeded his father in 1894, he had very little experience of government. Below is a video of his coronation. media type="youtube" key="2b-Cfe7fPok" width="425" height="350"

He had the potential to be a strong ruler. Nicholas was highly educated, diligent, and extremely religious. Sadly, his personality made him extremely unsuited to deal with the deep rooted issues that plagued Russian politics. He was weak and inconsistent, which was mirrored in his numerous weak political decisions. Due to his deep religious beliefs, Nicholas believed that God had chosen him to rule Russia, and he had the divine right to rule. Therefore, he rigidly supported the right of the sovereign and maintained the autocratic system. He held most of the power in the government with great reluctance to lose any of it, despite growing tensions from the middle and working class who wanted more say in the government. He tried to keep the same strict principle of autocracy like his father, but he lacked his father’s strength of character or cleverness. His rule from 1894-1917 was characterized by internal revolution and defeat in war. Below is a picture of Nicholas.

In 1894, Nicholas married the German Princess Alexandra who had a much stronger personality than her husband, and she was a tremendous influence on his political decisions. Nicholas mistrusted most of his ministers due to his own weak character. He dismissed his ministers whenever their power increased due to his jealousy, but funnily enough, he alone was incapable of carrying out the task of ruling the enormous Russian empire. One of Nicholas's minister's said:

===**//“His character is the source of all our misfortunes. His outstanding weakness is a lack of willpower.”//** //Sergei Witte// ===

Follow this link to learn more about the tsar:

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**Political Opposition to the Tsar Prior 1914**
Political opposition against the Tsar grew as he failed to consider reform. To give some background information, these were the main political parties against the Tsar:

**The Liberals or Kadets** wanted to see a strong parliamentary government based on the British system, with a figurehead king. They were mainly comprised of middle class people.

As Russia began industrializing in the early 1900’s, the growth of the working class lead to the rise of socialism. In 1898 the **Russian Social and Democratic Labor Party** was formed following the ideas of Karl Marx. They called for a complete end to the Tsarist state, and in 1903 it split into the more extreme Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, and the more moderate Mensheviks.

In 1901, the **Social Revolutionary Party** was formed, and it drew its supporters from the peasantry. They called for land reform and they were keen on utilizing violence to attain their goal. The deep opposition that spread throughout the country could be seen in the Revolution in 1905. The above photo shows a riot during the revolution. This revolution was caused by political discontent from Nicholas’s reluctance to consider political reformation, economic discontent caused by low wages and increasing taxation, and the humiliating defeat of Russia in war against Japan. Violent strikes and riots forced Nicholas to issue the October Manifesto. This granted a constitution, established a parliament selected by popular vote, the Duma, and the Russians were promised full civil liberties. Below, you can see the document of the October Manifesto.

Nicholas's concessions were only temporarily followed, and he soon restored his autocratic power. After the first two Dumas presented an overwhelming opposition to the Tsar, advocating reforms, Nicholas dissolved them and put severe restrictions on their powers. Changes were made in the voting laws to prevent the election of radicals and he created a secret police to defeat any opposition. Although there were some reformations which indicated that Russia might've been heading down a path to modernization and liberalization, the war ruined any of these hopoes. Nicholas never agreed with the several Dumas that were created before the war, or during the war, and he dissolved them as soon as they had ideas that were too radical, liberal, democratic, or clashed with his rigid regime. During the war, this stubbornness was a crucial factor in leading to his abdication. On the breakpoint to war, Nicholas and his regime faced three main difficulties that would inevitably lead to his abdication in the war: To learn more about the Tsar's rule and his opposition, plus activities, go to: []
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">1. The tsarist regime had a hunger to place their mark in history. This desire joined with the Tsar’s militaristic nature and the general intensity of European militarism, doomed Russia to fight a war against much stronger, more advanced enemies such as Germany and Austria-Hungary. The consequences would undoubtedly be far worse than the Russo-Japanese war in 1904.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">2. The Russian society was extremely divided. The many political and social groups, such as the Democrats, Revolutionaries, Liberals, and Socialists were growing in numbers due in correspondence with the people’s growing distress over their liberties and lack of involvement in the government.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">3. The traditional view of the Russian monarchy held by Tsar Nicholas II that strictly held an autocratic principles, kept backwards Russia from modernizing their politics. Also, Nicholas’s reluctance to work with the Duma and to assist the progression towards modernization in politics became evident during the war. This was a major push towards his empire's collapse.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Nicholas’s Wartime Decisions**
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Nicholas’s autocratic system of government failed during the war for two main reasons:
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">1. There was no representative government, as there were many struggles between the Duma, who held the countries only hope for civil liberties, and the tsar who was greedy with his power.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">2. Nicholas saw the war as his golden opportunity to reassert the position of autocracy that he had lost after the 1905 revolution. He wanted to reclaim his outdated view of divine right rule autocracy and keep a very distant relationship between the tsar and people.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Although Russia was euphoric with patriotism going into the war, those sentiments soon evaporated once they began defiantly losing. This was due to poorly trained, fed, and equipped troops, and awful transportation systems to the front line. On the whole, the tsarist government organized Russia’s war efforts in the most haphazard way, and with constant retreats and losses, the morale in the Russian army was extremely low soon into the war. Below is a photo of the Russian army preparing for battle on a cold winter day in 1914.



<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Russia's catastrophic participation in World War I caused the Tsarist regime to crumble. Russia was not prepared for the new warfare and technology of World War I, especially while fighting the extremely well trained Germans troops who mastered the new warfare. Consequently, Russia suffered complete failure in the battles at Tannenburg and Mansurian lakes against the Germans in the first two months of war.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">As Nicholas’s weaknesses unfolded as it became very apparent that he was unable to keep Russia's politics stable during the war. As political unrest emerged, within the Duma, a new liberal coalition of Kadets, Octobrists and Progressists emerged called the Progressive Bloc in autumn 1915. They proposed to the tsar that he create a Ministry of Public Confidence, which would include liberal leaders. However, from the tsar’s point of view, it looked like another attempt to reduce his power, and he dismissed them. He then made the most calamitous decision of his career by appointing himself figurehead commander-in-chief of the army, despite efforts to dissuade him. From then on, every military failure was directly associated with the Tsar. Below is a photo of the Tsar on a horse before a battle with the troops grouped around him. The Duma was promptly closed and they had to watch the civilian government fall to pieces under the power of tsarina, Alexandra and her spiritual adviser, Grigory Efimovich Rasputin.



<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Russia plunged further into turmoil as the economy spiraled deeper and deeper into despair. This was due to the government’s inability to finance the war and jobs for the working people. There were less crops being grown and sold, which left the troops and country poor and hungry. The economic hardships caused by war brought the tsarist system to its knees, which can most obviously be seen in autumn of 1916. By that time Petrograd and Moscow were receiving only a third of their fuel and food requirements. This was made worse by hyperinflation causing prices to increase fourfold during the war. These factors created serious discontent among the working classes in the cities. There were a number of strikes by hungry, poor workers in cities that had to be put down by troops. Below is a photo of some of the peasant farmers in 1916.



<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Instead of retreating from the front and taking control of the hardships that Russia faced, Nicholas spent most of his time at the front, which was a fatal decision. The offensive of 1916 had cost the Russians a million casualties and discontent was beyond toleration in the army. The Tsar and his regime took full responsibility for all of the losses and sufferings caused during the war, and public unrest heated to its boiling point. The combination of a harshly cold winter and intense food shortages in 1916-1917 proved to be fatal for Nicholas as it amplified the discontent amongst his troops and his people.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">**Domestic Governmental Wartime Issues**
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">With Nicholas commanding the army, he foolishly put the country's political issues in the hands of Alexandra (photo below) and strange monk, Rasputin, in the face of Russia’s greatest military and economic crisis ever. What was even worse was that Nicholas did not take any action to remove Rasputin until he was murdered in December 1916. Russia was suffering severe losses in war on top of undergoing high inflation and intense food shortages on the domestic front, which was only made worse under the feeble government of the tsarina and Rasputin.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">German-born Alexandra soon became the focal point of blame and dissatisfaction, as did her trusted assistant, Rasputin. He was a mystic man with ‘hypnotic powers’ and greatly influenced Alexandra through his acclaimed ability to cure her son and heir to throne, Alexis, of his haemophilia. Alexandra was foolish to let him influence her every political move, and one historian claimed:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">**//‘Tsarist Alexandra had a will of iron, linked to not much brain and no knowledge’ (Lieven, 1994)//**

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Rasputin greatly advocated the continuation of an autocratic regime, and his ideas always conflicted with those of the Duma. The Duma saw him as a complete threat to Russia’s already deteriorating stability, and although they complained about him to Alexandra, this only prompted her to further limit the Duma’s power. They also took their problems concerning Rasputin to Nicholas, expressing their discontent that there was no competent government ministry back in the cities. Nicholas did nothing about it.



<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">With Alexandra’s loyal support, Rasputin (seen in the photo above) dismissed many significant ministers who disagreed with him and introduced complete discredit to the whole Tsarist system of government. Howeve, the tsarina and Rasputin could not be blamed for the abdication of the tsar, as Nicholas still made all the vital political decisions and was only influenced by the tsarina and her assistant. Nicholas was fully aware of what the Tsarina and Rasputin were doing, however he didn’t take action against Rasputin. Below, you can see a cartoon depicting how Nicholas and Alexandra were almost like puppets to Rasputin, and Rasputin greatly manipulated them. Many competent and important ministers and governmental figures were either dismissed because they had clashing ideas with the ruler or they resigned because of Nicholas’s stubbornness to make concessions. One historian claimed,

//<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Georgia,serif;">"By 1916, Rasputin had become an important figure of the corruption of the Romanov court and it's treacherous, unpatriotic behavior." //


<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Russian discontent grew at an alarming rate from 1915 to the end of 1916. Rasputin continued corrupting the government and the Romonov reputation until he was assassinated in December 1916, at the brink of Russian breakdown.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">**March Revolution and The Tsar’s Abdication**
<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">A severe winter made conditions for farmers, the army, and civilians even worse, wages were extremely low, and there was almost no food in the cities for the poor. With poverty hitting the Russians harder than ever, civilians were extremely unhappy, especially with the Tsar who had abandoned them to go to war when they needed him most. Not only had he abandoned them, but he refused to listen to their pleas for a modernized government which granted them liberties and rights. The centuries old Tsarist regime was on the brink of collapse. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;">



<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">On March 10th 1917, thousands of hungry, furious Russians rallied in the streets of Petrograd and began strikes for higher wages and lower bread prices, as you can see in the photo above. Petrograd was soon put at a stand still with 240,000 workers on strike. The Tsar ordered that the troops crush the strikes. Consequently, forty people were killed as troops fired on the crowds.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">The Duma established a Provisional Government following rumors that troops were being sent from the front to put down the strikes. However, they had nothing to fear as the Tsar’s troops were weaker than ever, and thousands of soldiers deserted the Tsar along the way. The Provisional Government had vital advantages against the Tsar because they had full control over the railways and the loyalty of the troops. Although he was urged not to, Nicholas sent General Ivanov to the city to restore order. His enervated troops again joined the revolutionaries. All military commands in the city failed, as Nicholas lost the support of the army who instead joined the revolutionaries. Without his army, the Czar had lost control in the city. Below, is a photo of the chaos in the streets during the revolution.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">When Nicholas finally returned to Petrograd on March 13th, he had almost no popular support, the Petrograd Soviet had grasped control of the city, and the Russians held a great abhorrence for him. He took advice from his leading generals and decided to abdicate. On March 17th he abdicated his throne, and he confirmed the existence of the Provisional Government by asking for Russians support, in order to continue their battle against Germany. Nicholas and his family were placed under house arrest. However, by the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks took control of the major cities of Russia and enforced communist rule. Here is a great short video describing how the tsar's decisions lead to his abdication:

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%; line-height: 0px; overflow: hidden;"> media type="youtube" key="p_e7K4tyN6g" width="425" height="350" align="center"

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Here is a powerpoint describing the Tsar's rule during the war, abdication, and revolution. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #1e00ff; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">The transition in Russia over the space of the four years of war, saw the fall of an autocracy and the establishment of the world’s first communist government. Nicholas’s weak and thoughtless political decisions and incredibly rigid autocratic system of government was the fatal blow to his regime, as he turned his back on his country in the midst of political turmoil.