AREA 3 : IMPACT OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR ON RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY

Key areas:

n       What mistakes did the Tsar make?

n       How did the war turn people against the Tsar?

KEY INFORMATION

·    In June 1914 the heir to the Austrian throne was assassinated by a Serbian terrorist and this led to war between Austria and Serbia. As the protector of Serbia, Russia was dragged into the war. Soon Germany, Britain and France were all involved. Russia was on the side of Britain, France and Serbia; opposed to it were Germany and Austria

·     In 1914 the Russian Government believed that they could win the war against Germany easily. They did not realise how powerful the German Army was.

·    The Russian army was poorly equipped and old-fashioned. In August 1914 all messages were sent by radio. The Germans were able to listen in and find out just what the Russians were doing. The Russian telegraph system was so outdated that many commands simply got lost.

·    The Russians had neglected their infrastructure. Roads and railways were in a poor state. this made it hard to get supplies and men to the front. They had also not prepared for war: Russian industry was not able to keep the army supplied. There were 6,000,000 men in the army, but only 4,500,000 rifles. Soldiers went into action with no rifles. They were told to take them from soldiers who had been killed. There were inadequate medical supplies. Thousands of casualties were left unattended. 18,000 were left on a Petrograd station for a week. Soldiers lacked proper equipment : often no boots or winter clothing.

·    The Russian tactics were outdated :they relied on the bayonet. They had few machine-guns and most of their soldiers were untrained. They also believed that cavalry would be important but the Germans simply mowed them down with machine guns. Most of the Russian officers were appointed due to their rank, rather than their ability, whilst the Germans had a professional army. The Russian generals proved incompetent and the soldiers lost faith in them.

·    The Russians suffered a series of disastrous defeats at the hands of the German army. At the Battle of Tannenburg in August 1914 70,000 Russians were killed and 50,000 taken prisoner. In September 1914 100,000 Russians were killed or taken prisoner at the battle of the Masurian Lakes. In May 1915 the Russians were forced to retreat and 13% of their population came under enemy occupation as Germany and Austria conquered huge areas of the country. In 1916 at first the Russians made some advance, but the arrival of German reinforcements drove the Russians back and 1 million Russians were killed.

·    To try to put things right, Nicholas appointed himself Commander-in-Chief in 1915. This meant that he was now directly responsible, before he was able to blame his generals. His letters to Alexandra reveal his total inability to comprehend the situation in which he found himself. Peasants had believed their Tsar was a wise leader, now they saw that he was not. They lost faith in him.

·    The railway network was inadequate and soon broke down. There was plenty of food abut not enough locomotives to pull the trains. This led to severe shortages of food. The worst affected places were Petrograd and Moscow.

·    Food shortages led to inflation. In Petrograd prices rose by 300%, because the war meant that more and more people flocked into the city to work in the munitions factories.

·    Rasputin began to influence the Tsar through the Tsarina. He persuaded her to ask her husband to dismiss ministers and change military tactics. Rumours spread about the influence of Rasputin and his relationship with the Tsarina. Eventually he was murdered in December 1916 by a group of Russian nobles.

·    Not surprisingly the defeats and shortages at home, led to a decline in support for the war. Soldiers quickly lost faith in their commanders, and their Tsar. As news of disasters at the Front reached the cities, so unrest grew. Sometimes women lay on the tracks to prevent the trains from taking their men to the Front. In other areas people refused to join the army and violence broke out.

·    The war caused serious problems for the Russian economy : inflation took off and prices rose seven times between 1914 and 1917. As 14 million men were called up to serve i the army, so there were less men to grow food and so there was a shortage of food. This meant less food and higher prices. Also peasants lost their horses as they were needed for the war. this only made it harder to grow crops.

·    Industry was also affected by the shortage of men. Added to this was the shortage of raw materials and fuel to run the industries, or the railways and roads to transport materials. Soldiers suffered from lack of supplies, but so did ordinary Russians at home. Many factories simply closed and the workers lost their jobs and income at a time when prices were rising.

·    Those who did keep their jobs found that prices were rising faster than their wages and they were being forced to work longer and longer hours.

·    Soon there were shortages of food and fuel in the cities. What was available often failed to reach the cities due to the poor transport system. Food was left to rot on railway sidings.

·    By the end of 1916, everything had gone wrong : the Russian army was close to defeat, soldiers were deserting, people were starving and cold, people were losing their jobs and the Tsar and his government were being blamed.

·    To make matters worse the winter of 1916-17 was bitterly cold (-30 degree celsius) and there was no fuel.

·    With the Tsar at the Front, the Tsarina, Alexandra, was left n charge in Petrograd. She clashed with the Duma and refused to listen to them. As Russia was fighting Germany, so everything German was despised and she was German. People assumed she was a German spy working against Russia.

·    Alexandra relied more and more on Rasputin for advice. She sacked people on his advice and sent the Tsar military plans devised by Rasputin. With the rapid change of ministers, and the total lack of political experience among most appointed by Alexandra, there was nobody to organise the food and fuel problems or to deal with transport difficulties. As things got worse, so even the middle classes lost faith in the Tsar, his wife and the mad monk.

·    In December 1916 Rasputin was murdered by members of the aristocracy led by Prince Yusupov. They hoped that it would end the crisis and save the Tsar.

·    The murder of Rasputin solved nothing : the defeats continued, starvation continued, the cold winter continued and people began to strike and demand food.

·    Petrograd was crippled by a series of strikes as 1916 turned into 1917. The soldiers in the city mutinied against the Tsar and joined the strikers. The army had saved the Tsar from revolution in 1905, but now his army was deserting him.

·    Politicians lost faith in the Tsar. Members of the Duma set up a Provisional Government to run Russia. The Tsar tried to return to Petrograd but his train was stopped and he was forced to abdicate. The Romanov Dynasty that had ruled Russia for 304 years was over. This is known as the February Revolution.

Key Question : How did the war affect Russia?

1 – Russia was badly prepared for war – large army but not enough weapons. Men had to share rifles and were rationed on number of bullets allowed. They were fighting a well-armed and professionally trained German army. The slaughter of Russian soldiers led many to turn against the war and many soldiers deserted. Meant people were losing faith in their leaders and returning to the cities angry and in a revolutionary mood.

2 – As so many men were required to fight at the Front, so peasants left their farms – led to a shortage of food, both for the soldiers and the civilian population. Meant prices rose fast but wages either stayed the same or fell – many people starving – led to bread riots and a break-down of law and order in the cities. People blamed the government.

3 -- Many workers lost their jobs as factories shut.

4 – Up to 1915 people blamed the generals for the failure in the war, but in 1915 the Tsar made a major mistake – he took command of the war. He left Petrograd and travelled to the Front. People now blamed him personally for the disastrous war and his popularity plummeted. In addition, whilst he was away from the capital he left his wife, Alexandra, in charge. This was a mistake because she was German and so people believed that she was a German spy working against Russia. Also she relied more and more on Rasputin, which increased rumours about a possible sexual relationship. The Imperial Family became the object of ridicule and scorn.

5 – By 1917 millions of Russians had been killed in the war or had starved. The winter was bitterly cold and people went on strike. The Tsar’s troops refused to open fire on them and the Tsar lost the support of the military.

5 – When the Tsar tried to return to the capital, he was stopped and told the army generals wanted him to abdicate. He could not survive without their support. Also the Duma set up a new government, the Provisional Government, to replace him.

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