Feb revolution

• Impact of Great War

  First industrialised war - fighting Germany and Austria

  Internal divisions forgotten and united under tsar
• Front positives 


  Winter 1915 -1916 army recover - summer 1916 launch outstanding offence that captured or killed half of austrian army

  Russian soldiers fought valiantly

  1916 - matched German shell production - 1000% increase in growth output of artillery and weapons

  Significant to allied front victory

  Not on verge of collapse by 1917
• Front negatives

  Heavy losses and had to retreat 1914

  Found thesmsleves in long retreat. - exit Poland, Lithuania and latvia 1915

  1915 - 1 million Russians killed and similar taken prisoner

  Poor leadership quality - appointed due to tsar loyalty - no experience - no command structure or plan - ministery performance dire - broken distribution, lack supplies, soldiers pick up dead soldiers rifles

  Rodzianko - head of Duma 0 complaints about wounded soldiers in filth with no dressings

  Morale hard hit at incompetence of officers and thousands desert
• Home front negatives - economic

  Huge strain on economy - exposed wekaness structure

  Railways could barely cope with freight traffic - overwhelmed

  Moscow became bottleneck and signalling system collpassed

  Goods and supplies werent being received

  Food totted and factories closed as they were starved of material
• Home front negative - social due to economic

  Persinal impact - 8 mil casualties

  Severe shortage of food

  Transport collapsed

  Food sent to front - grain market lacked - converted factories to military work - peasants had little to buy

  Inflation caused poverty

  Drop gold standard
• Price of food and fuel quadrupled between 1914 and 1916 whilst wages only doubled - poverty for necessities
• Home front - influx of German refugees led to overcrowding and deterioration of living standards
• Home front political

  Strikes broke out and increased in number and miltancy during 1916
• Incompetence - Tsar

  Pressured into reconvening Duma in July 1915 - progressive block offer to takeover gov brut rejected

  August 1915 - left petrograd and goes to front to take control - directly blamed for issues can’t scapegoat

  By end of 1916 autocracy was on knifes edge and tsar questioned - traditional supporters split and haemorrhaging - shift support to progressive bloc - Revolution is impending - October leader asks generals if they would leave tsar in revolution - indicated they would
• Tsarina - incompetence 


  Massivelt influenced by Rasputin- makes minister changes from him

  Thinks Zemgor are revolutionaries - dismiss war minister

  Ministerial leapfrog - constant change - 4 pm - 4 internal

  German identity led to mistrust - assumed affair with Rasputin
• Incompetence gov 


  inefficient and ineffective - total war people couldn’t cope

  Poeple lost confidence

  Zmestva took train and Medicare and food responsibility

  Zemstva create Zemgor - tent, food and boots

  Industrialists organise wartime committes

  Liberals take lead - highlight gov incompetent

  Oct 1916 0 prolitereat on verge of despair - stage for revolution - revolutionaries can politicise