the course of the war and its impacts

August 1914

• war with germany and Austria Hungary- war greeted with enthusiasm (russia can gain prestige)

• every politicalpart apart from bolsheviks behind tsar and war effort

• russia had largest army and gained some early success against austria and Hungary

failure of russian campaign against Germany

• invasion of Eastern Germany to relieve pressure on French split German forces

• German forces transfer, led by Hindenburg

• start to push Russian forces back

August 1914- Battle of Tannenburg

• East Russia- first major defeat

• Russia sufferes 300,000 casualties

• further 100,000 taken prisoner

september 1914- Battle of the masurian lakes

• Germans led by Hindenburg

• Russia pushed out of German territory completely + Germany invades Russian empire

August 1915

• war going badly as Russians were retreating

• August 1915- tsar took direct control of the army

• made himself commander-in-chief

• alexandria left in charge, heavily influenced by Rasputin

• both unpopular with people + court

autum 1915

• Russian forces had been driven out of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia

• highly populated- impacts national morale

• impacts infrastructure

winter of 1915-16

• russians recoverd and launched Bruslov offensive

Summer 1916

• Brusilov offensive killed or captured half the austrian army (poorly equipped)

• German forces fighting large battles on Western front: - Somme/ Verdun

• Brusilov offensive fails and ends in stalemate

end of 1916

• russian army still fighting germany and austria

• lack of supplies

• poor leadership

• low morale amongst soldiers

• wounded not well treated

• 10,000 desserted

railway impacts

• railways now overloaded

• signalling system collapsed, trains left stranded on lines due to engine failure

• loss of land in poland and western russia knowcked out 2 of most important railwayd lines from Northern to Southern Russia

grain impacts

• lack of grain because of railway

• peasants not selling grain because of conversion of factories to military work

• inflation led to hoarding of grain and food products

• high food prices but also scarse and low quality

economic impacts

• unemployment rose

• impossible to get foreign imports of raw materials

• drafting into army led to shortages of labour

• war destroyed farmland and peasants livelihoods

• abandoned gold standard and started printing money to pay wages - government spending rose

• inflation

• 1915-16: wages doubled, food and fuel prices quadrupled

• increased taxation

• domestic bank loans

• borrowing money from abroad

• caused inflation

money spent on war 1914-1916

17,000 roubles spent on war

production of machinery

production of agricultural implements and machinery fell to 15%

number of men mobilised intro russian army

1914- 6.5 million

1915- 11.2 million

1916- 14.2 million

1917- 36.7 million

daily civilian bread ration in petrograd

january 1916: 2.7 pounds

march 1917: 1.8 pounds

social impacts

• overcrowding and consequently living standards declined even further

• ban on vodka sales

• strikes increadising in number, frequency and militancy by 1916

urban population growth

1914: 22 million

1916: 28 million