The Fall of the Tsarist Regime

Modern History Assignment

Focus Question: Why Did the Tsarist Regime Fall so quickly in 1917?
Although the Romanov Regime had always been very unpopular with the Russian people over many years, the regime had always managed to survive until 1917. In order to discover why the regime fell so quickly, it is necessary to look at the number of different factors which led the Tsarist regime to fall in March 1917. Tsar Nicholas II 's regime was autocratic, which means that the rule of the country is placed on the ruling of one person in this case, Nicholas II. There were a broad number of factors that led to the downfall of the Tsarist regime, and these can be placed in long and short term factors.
The problems had climaxed in the year 1904, when there were general strikes and attempted revolutions, with increasing demands for new constitutional reforms for the country. Furthermore the peaceful demonstration known as bloody Sunday, when hundreds of workers were killed in cold blood, triggered the series of events known as the 1905 revolution of Russia (http://history1900s.about.com/od/Russian-Revolution/a/Russian-Revolution.htm). It is from that year when problems became worse, and worse as the tsar ruled on. Actions such as Bloody Sunday and, the Russo-Japanese war over territory in the Pacific Ocean. This resulted in a number of deadly protests, which truly showed the people 's growing discontent and hate of the Tsar.
In 1904 the problems became more evident as the population rose by huge amounts, such as St Petersburg which rose from 1,033,600 to 1,905,600 people in 20 years (http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/nov2007/russian_revolution.html). Over 16 people lived in each apartment in St Petersburg and the Tsar was apparently oblivious to the situation. There was no running water. Sewage lay on the street which caused major problems to health. The poor conditions only made the situation worse, as people continued their dislike for the Romanov rule due to the miserable way they were living. This was a long term issue that would have led to the fall of the Tsar. Poor conditions in working areas, and overcrowding in the cities became a major problem in future years, due to the massive industrialization in Urban Russia.
The system of government that the Tsar was using became increasingly outdated as he continued his rule. In comparison to countries such as France and Britain which did not rely solely on an autocrat, the rule of a one person such as Nicholas II was a bad choice. His rule over the years led to many economic and political problems building over the years of his rule which led to his downfall. After these got out of hand, it dealt a major blow to the structure of the autocracy, as this had become a large problem in 1917. Nicholas was not able to handle the way the country was running. Institutions became increasingly oppressive over the years of his rule, especially the army. The bureaucracy also became increasingly corrupt, as most of the social institutions did. Industry and the different types of social classes created by the new economic conditions in the years before 1917 were starting to increase the gap between the citizens that had both money and power, and those that did not. The demand for democracy was becoming progressively larger, especially in the new middle classes, and in the educated.
In 1914 almost all European states/countries went to war which led to Nicholas II, with the state that his country was in, was fearful of having confrontation with Germany, and signed the Triple Entente, (http://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-i/triple-entente.htm) with Great Britain and France. However Russia was not at all ready for the condition of war as these problems, had been become increasingly worse over the years. Russia at this time was due to incompetent and, corruption due to the terrible rule of the Tsar. Russia had a lack of arms, food and even transportation. As the war waged on the Duma, the aristocracy and army turned against Nicholas II as they had believed that revolution was possible, without creating problems for the lower classes. In January 1917, the same year the autocracy was overthrown, people were disappointed with the way the Tsar had handled his forces, and the outcome of Russia 's place in the war. The ongoing war caused many casualties for Russia, caused a large mutiny, in the Russian army in 1917. After soldiers had stopped fighting the Tsar did not have the Army on his side and no one to protect him or his family, and riots waged on.
The Russian state was already close to breaking point in 1914 and the war took it over the line. The war took men from the farms to the front line of war with hardly any experience. This led to severe food shortages in the rural and in towns as this left no place for food to travel along the railways. Food prices went out of hand, nearly quadrupling as a result of inflation (http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/nov2007/russian_revolution.html). Huge defeats in WW1 at the battles of Tannenburg and Masurian Lakes made the Tsar look even worse. This was when the Tsar who did not have much experience in war, took charge of the army on the front lines. This led to the Tsar 's wife (known as Tsarina) in power of the country while he was gone, which is when the peasant of Siberia, Rasputin had a wide chance to coerce the Tsarina.
The personality and the leadership of the Tsar, was one of the problems in itself (Adams, M. (2007, 06 19). Hellum: European History 02/ 25, 2011). He hardly had any experience in knowing how to run the country. He dismissed the government, and although that left him in full power he did not know how to rule his country. The problem was that he gained this power due to hereditary purposes, from the Tsar before him regardless of his qualifications to run the country. Nicholas II was weak and hesitant to the tasks at hand, and the problems that became worse. There were many opposing parties against his rule. There was a party known as the Kadets, who wanted a rule like England (Lowe, N. (2005). Mastering Modern World History), the Social revolutionaries who wanted a peasant revolution and, the communists (which were Mensheviks and Bolsheviks).
In March 1917 the same month the Autocracy was overthrown, starting on March the 8th when there were marches which were part of International Women 's Day, turned into full blown riots (http://history1900s.about.com/od/Russian-Revolution/a/Russian-Revolution.htm). At first troops fired on the crowds and soon mutinied against the Tsar, and joined the Rioters as they too, were distasteful of such a terrible ruler. The same day the Duma set up the provisional government and that was the downfall of the Tsar and his regime.
After a further 8 months of the provisional government, The Bolsheviks took over as the next ruling party of Russia (Bunyan, James and H. H. Fisher, Eds. The Bolshevik Revolution). As a result of all of the mentioned reasons, the Tsar 's rule can be seen as a weak ruler, and with the abdication of the Tsar himself led to the Russian Revolution of 1917. These reasons which built up over the Tsar 's rule had reached new heights in March of 1917, when no social class of any standing could take the Tsar 's incompetent rule for longer. His ruling was not for the people as it should have been and this was the catalyst that led to his downfall. Consequently due to all the reasons listed the Tsar was not seen as competent ruler of Russia, and therefore he and his regime, were overthrown. Bibliography
Books
1- Lowe, N. (2005). Mastering Modern World History (Fourth εκδ .). Hampshire, England: Palgrace Macmillan- This book is one I have at home containing a large amount of information on all branches of history. It gave a good description on why the Tsar 's regime was not as good compared to England 's, and also on the people 's view of the Tsar.
Bunyan, James and H. H. Fisher, eds. The Bolshevik Revolution, 1917–1918: Documents and Materials (Stanford, 1961; first ed. 1934).- This book gave me an outline after the government had fallen as talked about in my conclusion, it was a good source and allowed me to see what had occurred after the Tsar 's downfall, and what happened to the provisional government.
2- Cannon, M., Jones-Nerzic, R., & Keys, D. (2009). 20th Century World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - The sources from this book had given me a good outline on most of the social and economic problems that had been created in Russia.
3- Adams, M. (2007, 06 19). Hellum: European History 02 25, 2011, - A book that had also given me a good outline on the problems the Tsar had created in Russia. This gave me information on his personality and on the war in Masurian lakes and Tannenburg.
Sites
4-Why did Tsar Nicholas II fall in 1917:? http://www.helium.com/items/405648-why-did-tsar-nicholas-ii-fall-in-1917?page=2- this page provided reasons on why the Tsar had fallen, giving me a solid outline on the major issues in Russia.
5- http://history1900s.about.com/od/Russian-Revolution/a/Russian-Revolution.htm- This site had overall provided me with a descriptive response on the Russian revolution and why it occurred which, in turn led to the fall of the Tsarist Regime http://history.howstuffworks.com/world-war-i/triple-entente.htm- Provided me information on what the triple Entente was which was mentioned in body paragraph 3, it also gave me which countries were a part of it and why it was signed. http://history1900s.about.com/od/Russian-Revolution/a/Russian-Revolution.htm- this site provided me with information on the multiple types of riots in Russia, leading to the fall of the Tsarist Regime, such as the international women 's day riots and more. http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/nov2007/russian_revolution.html- a great site that had provided me with the information on inflation and food shortages. The site also allowed me to find out more about social and economic problems. It contained various amounts of information on different problems in Russia especially the urban areas.

Bibliography: 2- Cannon, M., Jones-Nerzic, R., & Keys, D. (2009). 20th Century World History. Oxford: Oxford University Press. - The sources from this book had given me a good outline on most of the social and economic problems that had been created in Russia. 3- Adams, M. (2007, 06 19). Hellum: European History 02 25, 2011, - A book that had also given me a good outline on the problems the Tsar had created in Russia. This gave me information on his personality and on the war in Masurian lakes and Tannenburg.