Timeline Of Wartime And Government Organisation

• Even before the end of 1914 there were disputes over the organisation of the war effort. This resulted in some changes
• July 1914: 

  The Tsarist government established ‘military zones’ where civilian authority was suspended where the military assumed command instead. This was opposed by the liberal zemstva who regard the government as insensitive to the needs of the people and believed that civilians had a major part to play in running the war.
• August 1914:

  The zemstva established a ‘Union of Zemstva’ which would provide the medical facilities which the State seemed to neglect
• May 1915:

  Factory owners and businessmen established a Congress of Representatives of Industry and Business to help coordinate production (included representatives from the Duma and of workers)
• June 1915:

  The Zemstva Union joined with the cities to form to form the All-Russian Union of Zemstva and Cities (aka. Zemgor). Chaired by Prince Lvov
• June 1915 continued:

  Claimed the right to help the Tsar’s government in the war effort but it was never allowed any direct influence and like the state Duma soon turned into a liberal focus for discontent. Rather than working with the organisation, Nicholas blamed it for stirring up trouble.
• August 1915:

  Some deputies from the Fourth Duma organised themselves into the ‘Progressive Bloc’ and demanded that the Tsar establish a ‘government of public confidence’. Nicholas refused. Deputies from: Kadets, Octobrists and Progressives
• August 1915 continued:

  Demanded that the Tsar change his ministers too. They were effectively asking for a constitutional monarchy in which they would have a dominant voice
• August 1915 continued:

  Had Nicholas been more of an astute man he may well have seized this chance to institute political reform and transfer responsibility for the war effort to a civilian government. However he was not prepared to contemplate such a move.
• September 1915:

  Nicholas appointed himself Commander in Chief of the Russian army and Navy. Defeats in Galicia (on the Austro-Hungarian front) led Nicholas to make this disastrous decision
• September 1915 continued:

  The move did nothing to help his cause. Although it had overtones of bravery and heroism Nicholas had already lost the confidence and support of the Russian General Staff and did not possess the military experience to turn the war effort around
• September 1915 continued:

  His new position made him appear even more responsible for the varying disasters that befell his troops and the State which distancing himself even more from the developments in Petrograd
• September 1915 onwards:

  Rasputin began to meddle in political appointments and policy decisions. The were also rumours that Nicholas’s German wife Alexandra was deliberately sabotaging the Russian war effort.
• September 1915 onwards continued:

  Whether Rasputin was quite the evil influence some contemporaries made out or simply the tool of political schemers we can’t be sure. Nevertheless there were many changes of ministers in the 12 months after September 1915: these were put down to Rasputin’s influence
• September 1915 onwards continued:

  It was hardly surprising therefore that liberals and socialists began to lose patience and demand changes in government.
• December 1916:

  Rasputin was murdered. The President of the Fourth Duma Mikhail Rodzianko and others warned Nicholas in vain of Rasputin’s unpopularity and the damage he was doing to the Tsarist cause but it would seem that Nicholas could not bring himself to take action against a person on whom his wife leaned so heavily.
• December 1916 continued:

  It was in an attempt to save the reputation of the monarchy that Prince Yusupov (a nephew by marriage to the Tsar) and his accomplice  invited Rasputin to an evening tea and murdered him. The event came too late however to quell the growing discontent.