Important To The Tsar's Downfall example essay topic

Although some of the causes of the Tsar's fall from power seem more important than others, it is hard to choose a most important cause because each cause links into another, which leads into another. However I have come up with two causes which I think were the most important in the downfall of the Tsar. One was a long-term cause, the foundations of all the other causes, without which the country would not have been in such a bad state. The second one is a short-term cause, which tipped the balance into the Revolution and subsequently the Tsar's fall from power.

The long-term cause is, Rominov mis-rule, and the short-term trigger is the 1st World War. The mis-rule of Russia by the Rominov's had been going on for many, many years, coming to a head with the Russian Revolution of 1917. The Rominovs especially Nicholas 2nd believed that they were appointed by G-d to rule the country, and that whatever they thought, must be right. This led them to rule the country for their own interests and for the interests of the rich and important, not for the interests of most of the population, the peasants. The Tsar didn't listen to the peasants or most of his ministers, appointing and firing them at will. The Tsar, by not listening to his people or caring about their needs, helped Russia to stay very economically backwards when compared to the rest of the world.

This helps to link into the cause of social and economic hardships, another important cause. Many people believe that the influence of Rasputin was the reason that the Tsar fell from power, but I don't agree. Rasputin was an important factor in the lead up to the revolution and consequently the downfall of the Tsar. He was a rough, smelly peasant, who indulged in lots of sexual acts.

The peasants resented him because he seemed to represent what was wrong with Russia. He was uncouth, showing the poor economic state of Russia and the poorness of the majority of its population. He was wild, showing the way that the Cossacks kept order and he was suspected of having an unfair with the Tsarina, degrading the royal family. However it was not Rasputin alone as some people think, that was the problems.

It was the way that the media and Opposition groups portrayed him. However these still lead back to my original cause, Rominov mis-rule. Had the Tsar listened to his advisors, and ministers then he would have seen the Rasputin was bad for his reputation, and what the effect that making Rasputin influential in his decisions would be. Opposition Groups were another important factor in the downfall of the Tsar. However they were nowhere near as important as any of the two factors that I have chosen.

There has always been and always will be opposition to any leading government / ruler. However Russia was the only government that suffered two revolutions in such a short space of time resulting in the downfall of the Tsar. Although it may be said that the Opposition groups were quite successful, this is mainly due to the fact that there were so many problems with the Tsar and the way that he ran the country, which comes back down to Rominov mis-rule, showing how all the factors are inter-linked and how Rominov mis-rule is the main underlying factor. As I said before, a factor, which I think was very important to the Tsar's downfall, was the 1st World War. It was the final straw, the trigger that set off the fall of the Tsar. Why did the 1917 revolution end up with the Tsar's downfall and not the 1905 revolution a few years before?

The one main thing that happened was that there was a World War. In July 1914, Imperial Russia declared war upon Germany and Austria-Hungary. The immediate effect of the outbreak of war, was that it helped get support for the monarchy. The Duma was suspended for some months and voluntary organisations were set up to help the war effort. Unofficial War Industry Committees were established in major cities and some provinces to bring together representatives of local authorities, co-operatives, merchants, industrialists, and workers for mutual consultation on economic priorities. The Russian invasion of East Prussia in August 1914 was a failure: in two unsuccessful battles nearly 150,000 Russians were taken prisoner and morale dropped.

The military troubles of 1915, and especially the shortage of munitions, generated a strong swell of opinion in the Duma and State Council in favour of trying to compel the government to become more responsive to public opinion. The Opposition groups all ganged together in an effort to create a 'progressive bloc. Its aim was to bring about the formation of a 'government enjoying public confidence,' whose ministers would be drawn if possible partly from the legislative chambers. The bloc called for a broad program of political reform, including the freeing of political prisoners, the repeal of discrimination against religious minorities, emancipation of the Jews, elimination of the remaining legal disabilities suffered by peasants, repeal of anti-trade-union legislation, and democratization of local government.

The Tsar, surprisingly enough did not approve of the Progressive Bloc. He entertained quite different ideas of how to deal with the crisis. In August 1915 he announced that he was taking personal command of the army and moved with his suite to Mogilyov, in Belorussia, where he remained until the revolution. During the next few months he dismissed all eight ministers who had supported the Progressive Bloc. Cut off from the capital city, Nicholas found it increasingly difficult to play the co-ordina ting role that was so vital, while he still insisted that he was autocrat.

From afar he ordained frequent pointless ministerial changes, partly under the influence of his wife and Rasputin. This made the peasants even angrier. In the end it was the economic effect of the war that proved too much for the government. The shock of the munition shortage prompted a partly successful re organisation of industry to concentrate on military production, and by late 1916 the army was better supplied than ever before.

But life on the home front was grim. The German and Turkish blockade choked off most imports. The food supply was affected by the call-up of numerous peasants and by the diversion of transport to other needs. The strain of financing the war generated accelerating inflation, with which the pay of ordinary workers failed to keep pace.

Strikes began in the summer of 1915 and increased during the following year, taking on an increasingly political tinge and culminating in a huge strike centred on the Putilov armament and locomotive works in Petrograd in January 1917. The government made matters worse by arresting all the members of the worker group of the Central War Industries Committee. The revolution began among the food queues of the capital, which started calling for an end to autocracy. Soon workers from most of the major factories joined the demonstrations. The vital turning point came when Cossacks summoned to disperse the crowds refused to obey orders and troops in the city garrison mutinied and went over to the insurgents.

The workers and soldiers rushed to re-create the institution they remembered from 1905, the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. Soon their example was followed in many other towns and army units throughout the empire. By agreement between the Petrograd soviet and the Duma, the Provisional Government was formed, headed by the chairman of the Zemstvo Union and consisting mainly of Cadets and Octobrists, though Aleksandr Fyodorovich Kerensky joined it from the Trudoviki. On March 2 (March 15, New Style), this government's messengers reached Pskov, where the Tsar had become stranded in his train, attempting to reach Petrograd. He dictated to them his abdication and thus brought to an end the 300-year-old Romanov dynasty. What I just told you above was what happened but from this we can see the importance of the 1st World War in the downfall of the Tsar and also how the mis-rule of the Rominovs combined with the social structure and economic hardships helped.

The World War led to the revolution, which led to the fall of the Tsar, but it was not this alone. Being the fact that it was a world war, Russia was not the only country involved. Many other countries were very close to revolution but none of the other countries ended up with such a series of events as Russia did, which means that there must have been some other cause (s) to help them happen. The mis-rule of the Rominovs left the country's economics in a very bad state and left the country very backward compared to the rest of the world. This meant that when it came time for war there was not enough food for the army and for the peasants. There was not enough equipment for the army and against the Germans they had no chance.

The war left morale within the troops very low as did the poor conditions that they were in. This added more fuel to the fire, in them hating the Tsar even more then they already did, especially when he took control of the army and left Rasputin and the Tsarina in charge. Once the people realised that things were going to get worse before they got better, unless they did something, and the army mutinied, then there was no stopping them. This was important because there was no one to stop the peasants revolting and the Tsar couldn't do anything and so had little choice but to resign.