Reasons that the Russian Empire was so Difficult to Rule in the Years Before the Outbreak of the First World War

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Reasons that the Russian Empire was so Difficult to Rule in the Years Before the Outbreak of the First World War

The Romanov Tsar Nicholas II faced many difficulties when ruling

Russia before the First World War. Though the size of the country was

a very important reason for this, there were also many others. These

included the different Nationalities and social groups inside the

country, and also the fact Russia had poor trade and industrial works.

Another reason was the weak Tsar himself and his corrupt government.

This I believe to be the most important reason. Nevertheless it was

not solely his fault as many other factors were involved. In the

following paragraphs I hope to prove this.

[IMAGE]Firstly, I will start with what I believe to be the main

reason, and that is that the Tsar was not a strong or powerful leader.

He was much more of a family man (see right) but unexpectedly became

Tsar at the early age of 26, following the death of his father

Alexander of liver disease.. He was neither mentally or physically

strong and he lacked the leadership and conference skill. He also

lacked authority and never made up his mind. These were not the skills

that are needed to running a country as big and as unsuccessful as

Russia. However he ruled as an autocrat and believed God had made him

Tsar and that he had absolute authority to rule Russia. He had the

support of the autocracy who owned the land, Church and the army. But

he also had opposition these included the Liberals, Social

Revolutionaries and Social Democrats. The liberals wanted an elected

government to run with the Tsar while the other two wanted to end his

rule. Overall I believe as he and his government were weak the

county was weak and open to any attack. Whenever he did feel

threatened in his own country he would send out the Cossacks who were

skilled mounted soldiers who would slaughter and kill anyone that

opposed him. He also used the secret police, the Okhrana to spy on

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