How far was the Tsar weakened by the First World War?

events of the march 1917 revolution

jan-feb:

• strikes occur in all major towns across the empire due to high unemployment and food/fuel shortages

• government introduces bread rations

7-10th march:

• 40,000 putilov steel workers strike with thousands of women on international women’s day

• by 10th march over 250,000 workers are on strike

12th march:

• duma prepares to govern russia

• tsar orders the army to put down protests

  • but many soldiers refuse and join the strikes

• petrograd soviet takes over control of supplies in petrograd

15th march:

• tsar abdicates the throne

explain why the revolution had popular support + why it’s known as a ‘revolution from below’

• fuel and food shortages: caused by 1st world war

  • so people felt like they had no choice but to protest

• russia suffered casualties in the first world war

  • thi

explain how russia’s failure of military supply weakened the tsar

minister for war (sukhomlinov)’s strategic misjudgement on the war’s length

• he predicted war would only last 2 months, not 4 years

• this meant soldiers didn’t have adequate weaponry after 2 months:

  • in 1914 6.4m men shared 4.6m rifles

  • soldiers told to limit themselves to 10 bullets a day

  • supply lines were poor which increased the issue

• this lowered morale and decreased popular support for the tsar’s handling of the war and his credibility as a leader

explain how russia’s failure of command + military weakness weakened the tsar

russian intelligence could not equal german intelligence + commanding officers were inexperienced

• germans intercepted the non-encoded russian military orders so they could predict russian troops’ positions and cause many russian casualties

• trenches were poorly built leaving little protection from german artillery fire

• russian commanding officers were mostly inexperienced bourgeois nobles who did not have adequate training to command peasant soldiers

  • so they were more likely to be exposed to german artillery

• this meant many casualties occurred which turned people against the war effort which the tsar spearheaded + his credibility as a leader by extension

  • the war disproportionately impacted peasants more than any other class so they were the most likely to riot

explain how a collapse in military morale weakened the tsar

discipline broke down among many russian, majority-peasant soldiers after many defeats as patriotism + morale decreased after heavy losses

• e.g losses at tannenberg + the masurian lakes

• this meant discontent grew among soldiers

• this meant they were more inclined to be persuaded by the bolsheviks and social revolutionaries to desert and incite violence against the tsar

  • most of the soldiers were peasants so they were already not in support of the tsar due to his failures in increasing quality of life

• so soldiers were more likely to kill government members, weakening the tsar’s regime

explain how food scarcity in ww1 weakened the tsar’s regime

food shortages worsened due to diversion to soldiers, so food prices increased because peasant’s weren’t selling their surpluses to food markets

• this was because high inflation caused money to lose its value rapidly so grain was more valuable than money

• this meant many workers could not afford to buy food

• which caused food riots in towns and cities and increased anger by the workers at the tsar’s economic failings, weakening support of his regime

why would some people say ww1 did not weaken the tsar

the 1905 revolution proved nicholas’ regime was failing before ww1

• proved russia was not as strong a military power as it should have been

• fundamental laws + not enforcing laws on protection of workers: proved to the workers and middle classes that the tsar wasn’t committed to equality

• proved the tsar couldn’t rely on the divine right of kings anymore to justify his autocracy

explain how rasputin came to weaken the tsar’s regime during ww1

when nicholas took personal command of the russian army for the war effort, he left his wife alexandra in charge

• rasputin interfered with political decisions

  • alexandra used rasputin as her adviser

    • because he was a homeless peasant getting involved with such impactful decisions, the power and credibility of the government was weakened

    • weakening overall support for the tsar from the population

• the tsarist government became estranged from key ‘pillars’ of russia

  • the orthodox church gave less support to the tsar due to rasputin’s influence

    • due to rasputin’s immoral and sexual behaviour, which conflicted with russian orthodoxy

  • this meant orthodox russians stopped supporting the tsar, weakening support for his regime

    • orthodox christianity: most popular religion in russia at the time

how does the battle of tannenberg evidence for the failure of russia

battle of tannenberg, august 1914

• significant victory for germany

• over 30,000 russian soldiers killed or injured

• stopped russia’s advance into east prussia

how does the battle of the masurian lakes evidence for the failure of russia in ww1

battle of the masurian lakes, september 1914

• russia lost 125,000 men and 150 artillery guns

• germany forced the russian army to withdraw from east prussia

how did the brusilov offensive weaken the strength of the tsar’s regime

brusilov offensive: attack on austro-hungarian army in june 1916

• russian army lost 500,000 soldiers

  • this massive casualty loss turned many russians against the tsar’s war effort, reducing patriotism and support for the tsar’s regime