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The causes of the collapse of tsarism
Reasons for the downfall of tsardom
The causes of the collapse of tsarism
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Discuss the reasons for the downfall of the Russian empire in 1917
There is so much that can be said in regards to the question “Why the Downfall of the Russian Empire? “ You cannot blame it on just a few individuals or because of any single factor, but you have to consider the historical and spiritual situation during the time Tsar Nicholas reigned. You have to consider historically development of Europe, its spiritual changes and also of course, the political aspects that had deeply affected the internal life of the Russian Empire and contributed to the downfall of the Tsar and the empire. In Russia, there were various spiritual changes that took place. Citizens began to turn away from their beliefs in God, and instead were influenced by new philosophical ideals and beliefs, many of which came from writers based in Germany. These writings had a tremendous influence on the Russian political life. Atheism was the new philosophy. The outcome was highly significant for Russia. There was a turning away from Divine Revelation and from the former attitude of respect and love for Tsar. Treason also was a key ingredient. From Germany, the Kaisers agents found Russian willing to collaborate with their plans of conquest, and used every means to influence supporters of the revolutionary cause. There were frequent, emotionally charged rallies, and much use was made of the press to exploit the revolutionary atmosphere being created. Rumors were encouraged and spread rapidly, and most citizens believed what they read, whether it was true or not. There was an fwere a German spy. Her Iapkaeokpamperial Highness Tsarirqtkoewna Alexandria, the empress and wife of qwettkgoeTsar Nricholas was accused of being a spy s born in Hesse, Germany. The war with Japan in 1904 didn’t help intrernal matters and the war wif Germany in 1914 caused Russia to lose some territory. Both of these wars severely damaged the economy of the Tsarist dEmpire, and the revolutionaries took advantage of these internal rand manipulated them to bsring afbout the efnd of Imperifrojqdqal governmentwnever been adequate and thrqfaunjnace war had reduced its capacity to transport essential supplies. The lack of food and medical supplies, which could no lrqrqiqcnonger be transferred from Western Europe rail, accelerated thafkoeakjorjnqe problems of the Russian Empire, and the Germans made safaeiijwure the trains did not get through to reach the needy people. The distress and anger this caused also contributed to the downfall of the Russian Empire.
For centuries, autocratic and repressive tsarist regimes ruled the country and population under sever economic and social conditions; consequently, during the late 19th century and early 20th century, various movements were staging demonstrations to overthrow the oppressive government. Poor involvement in WWI also added to the rising discontent against Nicholas as Russian armies suffered terrible casualties and defeats because of a lack of food and equipment; in addition, the country was industrially backward compared to countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and the USA. It had failed to modernize, this was to do with the tsars lack of effort for reforms. The country was undergoing tremendous hardships as industrial and agricultural output dropped. Famine and poor morale could be found in all aspects of Russian life. Furthermore, the tsar committed a fatal mistake when he appointed himself supreme commander of the armed forces because he was responsible for the armies constant string of defeats.
With the coinciding of a revolution on the brink of eruption and the impacts of the First World War beginning to take hold of Russia, considered analysis of the factors that may have contributed to the fall of the Romanov Dynasty is imperative, as a combination of several factors were evidently lethal. With the final collapse of the 300 year old Romanov Dynasty in 1917, as well as the fall of Nicholas II, a key reality was apparent; the impact that WWI had on autocratic obliteration was undeniable. However, reflection of Russia’s critical decisions prior to the war is essential in the assessment of the cause of the fall of the Romanov Dynasty. No war is fought without the struggle for resources, and with Russia still rapidly lagging behind in the international industrialisation race by the turn of the 20th century, the stage was set for social unrest and uprising against its already uncoordinated and temporarily displaced government. With inconceivable demands for soldiers, cavalry and warfare paraphernalia, Russia stood little chance in the face of the great powers of World War One.
The Seizure of Power by the Bolsheviks in 1917. How did the Bolsheviks seize power of the Russian Empire in 1917? They were able to do this as a result of taking advantage of the current political and social situations in the country at the time. Through such decisions as disbanding the army and siding with the majority. the peasants, through such promises as land, food, equality and peace.
lt of a variety of factors and reasons but the far-reaching effects of the war were to have devastating results in both social and economic quarters. Moreover, the war on help increase the opposition to the government and led to their downfall in October 1917. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] John Reed, Ten Days That Shook the World (1919) [2] Maxim Gorky, letter to his son (April, 1917) [3] E.H. Wilcox was very impressed with Kerensky and praised him in his book, Russia's Ruin (1919) [4] Morgan Philips Price, My Three Revolutions (1969) [5] Extract from an interview of Alexander Kerensky by Harold Williams [6] Extract from an interview of Alexander Kerensky by Harold Williams [7] Leon Trotsky, statement made to the Petrograd Soviet (24th October, 1917)
... food making it into the cities and towns and the little food that was already there was now overly expensive due to inflation. There was trouble in the countryside, peasants had started demanding land in order to grow their own food to survive. The people in Russia were fed up with how things were going and were ready for a revolution.
Others view the Russian Revolution as a success because of Stalin’s introduction to education. The peasants of Russia were known to not be so intelligent when it came to reading or writing, which was also considered to be upon the majority of the population. According to the magazine article, “Education, Literacy, and the Russian Revolution”, Megan Behrent speaks about how the Russian Revolution changed Russia’s society in a positive way. As she states, “Free and universal access to education was mandated for all children from the ages of three to sixteen years old, and the number of schools at least doubled within the first two years of the revolution” (Text 2 ).
Much of the blame for the fall of the Romanov Dynasty lays with Nicholas II. His abortive role as a leader and his failure to provide for the people of Russia were just some of the factors that lead to the collapse of the 300 year old dynasty. The fall however was not something that happened instantaneously but instead was a gradual collapse that had many contributing factors such as the influence of Revolutionaries, and the impact of World War I which introduced the detrimental rule of Alexandra and Rasputin while Nicholas was away at the front. Alexandra and Rasputin played a role in developing the social and economic grievances of the country.
It was said that the educated people, the contact with other countries should contribute to the government policy. As said in document 1 , "By 1900 there were political parties raging from far right defenders of autocracy and russian power over all other ethnicities, to far left revolutionaries calling for the overthrow of the government." The government there was autocratic, which was when the tsar had all the power/control of the government. Another cause for the Russian Revolution was the outbreak of WW1. "Even before the war urban workers all over the Russian empire had been increasingly radical, but the war brought the government's incompentence and the people's grievances into sharper relief. The first months of the war were a disaster for Russia." It is much easier to overthrow a government than to try andcreate a new government. As said in document 2,"Chaos, conflict, uncertaunty; more violence are much more common and often led to centralized, authoritarian governments." There was celebration all over the streets after the indication that the tsar was overthrown after 300 years of a tsarist government ruling. "The problem was that, after the party, governing problems arose immediately.
Czar Nicholas’ poor leadership forced him to abdicate and caused the Bolshevik takeover. One of the reasons I say that is because of the way he handled “Bloody Sunday”. “Bloody Sunday” was when troops killed over a thousand people in a peaceful worker assembly. After “Bloody Sunday”, workers all over Russia went on strike, and peasants caused uprisings that were suppressed by Nicholas II’s troops causing tensions to increase. Another reason was his disastrous involvement in World War I. In the beginning of the war, Russia’s armies did not do well. To fix this, Nicholas became the commander. Now under his command, their continued failure reflected the Czar himself, further decreasing his popularity. Lastly, civil unrest grew as food riots, chronic food shortages, and labor strikes continued to proceed. This eventually erupted into open revolt, and Czar Nicholas had no choice but to abdicate. Soon after, the new government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin.
I recollect as a child how I cherished the way my mom took care of me and made all my executive decisions. I recall getting excited about my weekly allowances and about her picking out my clothes for school. However, when I became a teenager I wanted my independence. I know longer wanted her to buy my clothing and I wanted to financially support myself by getting a job. I was so tired of her telling me what to do and how to do it that I revolted. At first it was difficult trying to establish independence in my mother's house, but after a while it seemed as if I had won the battle. Unbeknownst to me that battle would be short-lived and ultimately my mom won the war. Basically, I had constructed my own crazy revolution against my mother. You see a revolution is “a fundamental change in political organization; especially: the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed .Activity or movement designed to affect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation (Webster Dictionary).”One revolution that is said to have inspired communism was the Russian Revolutions of 1917.
It was Tzar Nicholas 2 political naivete and extreme obstinance that led to the downfall of the Russia
The government and reform; the actual character of Nicholas II hindered his time in office, for example his outlooks on situations meant he did not trust a lot of his advisors, he was also seen to have been very lazy with respects to making decisions, other observations included him being, weak, timid and lacked guts. This all adds up to a very weak leader that is vulnerable to opposition, due to his tunnel vision and un-ability to see the main needs of the country. The duma was another challenge to the tsar; after the 1905 revolution the tsar had set up an elected body called the duma, this was a way of showing the public that he could be open minded in that delegating decisions to other people, looking back in hindsight this would also be seen as a challenge to the tsar as he never gave the duma any real power, and were easily dissolved, this meant that people were further angered and he was receiving opposition from all sides, it did however hold off opposition for a small period of time in order for the tsar to retain his power. Other individuals had an influence to the challenges facing the tsar, Nicholas had brought some new people in to try and conquer some problems, these included Rasputin who he had originally appointed to become saviour of family, he managed to influence the tsar in many of his decisions, this inevitably caused there to be conflict as the he was relying on Rasputin to relay details of the state of the country, these were not accurate which meant that tsar could not act upon opposition. Other people did help the tsar for example stolypin and his reforms.
Altogether, the causes made a ‘mood for revolution’ and put a yearning for change in the hearts of men. They made the people against the monarchy and the Provisional government and, combined with the Bolsheviks’ ruthless methods, gave them an open path to leading Russian into becoming a true Communist state.
out of touch with his people. 'He heard of the blood and tears of the
These are some of the many reasons, along with the Romanov family’s inability to lead either troops in modern warfare or the Russian population into a modern industrialised society, that brought about the inevitability of the 1917 Russian revolution and thus, the USSR.