Wartime And Government Organisation

• Alliances - When Austria’s Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot dead in Sarajevo in June 1914 it triggered a wave of threats ultimatums and troop mobilisations. By August Serbia had been invaded by Austria-Hungary and Russia had declared war in response prompting the German Kaiser to declare war on his Russian cousin.
• The Tsar’s decision to go to war in 1914 was initially a popular one supported by a wave of anti-German sentiment
• Spirit of national solidarity was dampened when initial victories gave way to defeat at the hands of the Germans in the disastrous Battle of Tannenburg in East Prussia which left 300 000 dead or wounded in August 1914
• Thousands were taken prisoner
• Strike activity ceased
• Defeat at the Masurian Lakes in September 1914 forced the Russian army into temporary retreat from East Prussia
• There was a wave of patriotism and extremists were imprisoned for their lack of patriotism.The Germanic ‘St Petersburg’ was renamed ‘Petrograd’ (Slavonic)
• The Duma voted for war credits and then dissolved itself declaring that it did not want to burden the country with ‘unnecessary politics’ in wartime
• Soon clear that the war would not end in a quick victory
• A vast army was rapidly assembled (the Russian ‘steam-roller’)
• Reports of military incompetence inadequate clothing and footwear and a shortage of food and munitions were published