Ce-Ce Jones
Was the February Revolution an overthrow from without or a collapse from within?
I believe that the February Revolution was a mainly a collapse from within. My opinion was made by the actions that Czar Nicholas II did while he was in power over Russia. Czar Nicholas was a selfish ruler; it seems as if he didn’t really know how to take control and get Russia running smoothly.
The first thing I believe Czar Nicholas went wrong was joining the Russo-Japanese war (source2). Czar Nicholas joined the war in my opinion to build up the Country Nationalism. Nicholas let his pride take over by trying to get in a war with a Country that he believe would be an easy win which turn out the opposite way of what he plan to occur. When Russia lost this war, which was a major upset to the country, it made it national pride go decline.
The second thing I notice would be the creation of the Duma (source2). The Duma was created to please the people, so that they would get on his side, but in reality Czar Nicholas could care less about what the people wanted are needed. This shows what kind of leader the Czar Nicholas was. He only cared about himself in my belief. I could imagine how the people felt who knew about the Duma, and saw that it wasn’t even being recognized.
Another reason why I believe it was an overthrow from within was the fact that Russia joined World War One, and not prepared as it should have been. When Russia joined the war they didn’t even have the weapons need to fight the war. When the soldiers were sent to war they had to find weapons at the battle front and use them, that how poorly equipped they were. The Czar Nicholas had no military training but tried to take over the army that was at war. When he went to the front he lefted his wife in charge the country, which was facing severe food shortage issues at the time (source1)
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I agree with you that the Czar's actions created most of the problems of the revolution. But could it not have been more for the reason that the Tsar was ill-prepared to fight the wars rather than he was not able too. The Russian army was the largest of the western world thus meaning it was most likely they would beat the Japanese. It was the poor leadership of the Tsar and the poor tactics of the military leaders that led to their defeat.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know if the people knew about the Duma but I agree with you that his decision to ignore the Duma was selfish and extremely ill-advised. Would you agree that he become conceited in his power as Czar?
Yes, I agree with you Meg. The Russian army was vast in terms of number, but when it came to supplies and tactics, the army lacked greatly. Also, i agree with your question that Czar Nicholas became concieted with his power as Czar. He hurriedly ran to the front lines to lead the military in hopes that if things turned around, people would think it was him that turned it around. My question to go off the concieted one is that if the Czar had not had such a big ego and listened to the Duma, would anything have been different?
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with you Meg that the Czar became conceited with his power. He did things without really consulting with others to make a decision. Like leading the military, when he had no military experience. The Czar I believe got caught up in the amount of power that he thought he could do anything. To answer Matt’s question I believe if the people had not have ignored the Duma then things might have changed. The country then could have addressed the problems they were facing, which might have save the country from collapsing.
ReplyDeleteI am one hundred percent in accordance with the point you make that the Czar's actions are what led to the February Revolution. As for the point you made about the Russo-Japanese war, I feel inclined to disagree with the fact that his intentions going into the war were to puild nationalistic feeling. I am more inclined to say that it was more his imperialistic ambitions and his selfish quest for power which led Russia to Japan. Therefore, when the military leaders failed to adaquately lead the troops, the Czar has to bear the brunt of the blame because he is the reason they were there in the first place. As for the Duma, I think the creation of this was very admirable. He was attempting to listen to the people and he cannot be faulted for these efforts. Despite the admirability of this movement, it was essentially "all talk" because it was basically ignored by the Czar and he did not heed any of their advice. This was a huge mistake on the Czar's part. Lastly, I am in full accordance with the point you make about the Czar having zero military background. This lack of background essentially led to failure in WWI and essentially a call for a new government.
ReplyDeleteI strongly agree with you in the fact that it was the Czars decisions that during the wars that lead to a collapse from within.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the Czar entered the Russo-Japanese with the hopes of exapanding his territory. The Czar entered this war with a poorly trained military. When the Russians lost the war it hurt the pride of the people ad they felt like their country was losing their status as a world power. These poor decisions continued when the Czar entered World War I. He hoped to redeem the country's respect but, the military was still poorly trained and also were inadequately equipped. Then as the Russian army suffered defeat after defeat the Czar decided to take control of the military. He had no military experiance and this led to tension between the Czar and his troops. This lead to a collapse from without though because when the riots began the soldiers joined these groups and helped in overthrowing the government
I agree with you and with what Meg said about the Russo-Japanese war. The decision to enter the war was to boost the country's nationalism and pride. To strenghten Russia as a whole. However, due to the poor leadership of the military force this was not the concluding factor as Russia suffered a humillating defeat against a country less than half their size. Russia possessed the largest army at the time, giving them the advantage and a greater chance of victory. Had the leaders been more adequate, this might have been achieved. I also agree with you about the effect of the Duma. The Czar created the Duma so he would not have to face the people himself and listen to their complaints. He was too involved in his own well being and that of his family that he continued living in the past instead of facing the future. (4) The Czar portrayed himself as a coward, running away from his problems and forcing others to attempt to fix them than dealing with them himself. This was a collapse from within as the poor decisions of the Czar were the leading factors to the Feburary Revolution.
ReplyDeleteThis also brings up the question as to why the Czar created the Duma then chose to ignore it instead of using it in bettering his country?