Thursday, October 29, 2009

Hall-Collapse from within

Due to the inadequate leadership of Czar Nicholas II, the Russian Revolution was an overthrow from within; since the Czar did and had control over many things that caused his dynasty to fail. For instance, losing the Russo-Japanese war to Japan in 1905 was detrimental to the credibility of his leadership and the military. Although the blame is placed on the Czar for entering the limited war, the loss was unexpected. The credibility loss because of the defeat during the limited war (which is a short, less destructive war) caused a lack of belief in the government, which could only be repaired through efforts made by the Czar to re-establish credibility and confidence within the nation. His reaction to the protesters that spoke out against the loss, however, was foolishly sought out; proving that his actions caused his rule to fail. Bloody Sunday, when the Czar has protesters killed, reassured the Russian citizens why they initially lost confidence in Czar.
To compensate for his mistake, the Czar's creation of the Duma, a collection of advisers, was another failure; rather than the reparation he had intended to establish. Czar Nicholas' motive for creating the Duma was solely to restore his image; not because of his concern for the people's opinion. By failing to recognize the Duma for their intended purpose, which was like a consultation group for his decisions, the Czar created a bigger bind for himself by enabling more hatred to form against him. After Michael Rodzianko, president of the Duma, tried to warn the Czar about the crucial state of Russia and his dynasty due to his actions, the Czar replied, "Again, that fat-bellied Rodzianko has written me a load of nonsense, which I won't bother to answer." This reinforces the Czar's lack of concern for the people, and his inability to take the reins of what was in his control.
Likewise, Czar Nicholas' decision to enter World War I was ill considered, based on the poorly equipped military; as well as the leadership responsibilities entering a war entails. For example, a total war changes the social, political, and economical aspects of a country due to the mass destruction and long period of war. To indulge in such a war but not promote government intervention to help the citizens was a major problem, for people began to suffer food shortages. This displays how the revolution was a collapse from within; things the Czar had control over, such as regulating rations and food quantities for both the soldiers at war and on the home front, led the people to become disgruntled to the extreme, which ultimately led to a collapse from within the government.

2 comments:

  1. Nit-Nit! When you say, "Although the blame is placed on the Czar for entering the limited war, the loss was unexpected," did you mean the loss was unexpected in Czar Nicholas point of view or the view of the citizens? I believe that it was from the Czars standpoint. He wanted to rebuild the national pride of the citizens by entering a war that he thought was winnable. However, when noting the fact the military had no experience on how to fight whatsoever, do you think that this means that the citizens really expected them to win?

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  2. ANITRA! ok i completely agree with you when you say that it was within and how the R-J war was very unexpected but the choices "which could only be repaired through efforts made by the Czar to re-establish credibility and confidence within the nation. His reaction to the protesters that spoke out against the loss, however, was foolishly sought out" that were made after this loss could have had more of an effect then the war itself the war could only go to an extent yes you talk about how he shoots the people on bloody sunday but i dont believe this lost all confidence in the CZAR. Also if the Czar could raation the goods it was still hard they had tried to but the supplies were very low (source 2) and they couldnt help but to do give out low supplies. I myself have used many of the examples here i deffinently agree just wanted to put in my opinion about certain things

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