Why The Tsar Fell From Power In 1917

Why the Tsar Fell From Power in 1917

On March 2nd 1917 the Tsar agreed to abdicate, this was the accumulation of a series of factors associated with the Tsarist Russian society. All workers, middle classes, aristocrats and even some of the Tsars oldest and most faithful supporters were starting to resent the system they were under. Famines, inflation, strikes and incisive rumors all took their toll on the populace. The icing on the cake came in the form of the extremist feelings of anger the army felt towards Nicholas I, and their withdrawal of support for him. Here are some of the events that led up to the 1917 revolution in more detail.

In August 1915, the Tsar left Petrograd to command the Russian

They considered the Tsar irresponsible for taking over the army and held him responsible for everything; as a result more conflicts between the people were started.

The Tsarina and Gregory Rasputin were other figures that played a significant part in causing the Russian revolution. They were both very unpopular with the country. Rasputin was a monk in the Russian Orthodox Church and had increasing importance and influence on the Tsar as he helped cure Alexei of haemophilia. Rasputin made a mockery of the Royal Family and the people of Russia despised him for his rebellious background and the rumours surrounding him about heavy drinking and his influence on woman. The Tsar was so taken in by him; he left Rasputin and the Tsarina to rule Russia during the First World War. The people did not trust either of them, because the Tsarina was German they thought she would deliberately rule Russia badly so Russia would lose the war and Germany win. Even though this chaotic situation would have challenged the best of leaders, the Tsarina and

By December 1915, more than one third of all men of the working age had been recruited into the army of fifteen million troops. By 1916, peasants were being asked to bring pitchforks with them when they were called up for their service. Not surprisingly, Russian casualties were very high. In 1916, two million soldiers were killed or seriously wounded and one third were taken prisoner. Soldiers saw their comrades as they were being slaughtered in a futile manner - officers were blamed and it was severely disturbing and unjust. Consequently, when these people were being recruited to fight in the war, the unemployment rate in the cities increased and factories were desperate for workers. Wages got lower and lower so the factory owners could afford to employ them and more and more strikes broke out. In December 1916, workers in Petrograd starved due to lack of workers - Russia was in chaos. Not only the soldiers but also the civilian population became angry.

The Tsar's fall from power was due to his poor leadership and control of his country. He made many vital mistakes when ruling his