Jolly: One after the other

During the February Revolution the Czarist government in Russia was overthrown from without because it was collapsing from within. Both of these factors, internal and external, brought an end to the Romanov dynasty which had lasted for 300 years. Extended resentment of the government, the ineffectiveness of Nicholas II, World War I, and power hungry revolutionary groups all combined to create the perfect storm of revolutionary movement, and has come to be known as the February Revolution.

Czar Nicholas II was infamous for selfish decisions and poor leadership, in source one it says "Nicholas II had welcomed the war to turn people's attention from the country's internal problems." His empire had the largest army in Europe, but were very poorly equipped and trained.(3) Besides not providing for his people before the war and restricting freedom of speech, during the war Czar Nicholas II left St. Petersburg to personally take command of the Russian Army, though he had no military experience or training. While he was at the front he left the Czarina Alexandra in charge of the country. The people resented her partly because of the social attitudes of the time, but also because she was German born.(1) Attempting to appease the people of Russia he created the Duma which was essentially a cabinet to advise the Czar on the people's wants and needs. The Duma was just a ploy however, Nicholas the II rarely consulted the Duma and continued to make his own selfish decisions.(2) Michael Rodzianco, the president of the Duma wrote to Nicholas II, pleading him to abdicate and allow a new government to form. Nicholas II did not even reply to the telegrams and went so far as to insult him in another telegram to the Czarina.(1) Nicholas's actions neglected the needs of the people and dramatically hurt his empire. The disrespect and disgust of the collapsing government caused peasants and workers all to rise up and take control of the Czarist government during the February Revolution.

The longstanding resentment of the Czarist government also contributed to the overthrow of Czar Nicholas II. This resentment was a direct result of the collapsing government, and increased the tensions between the people of Russia and the government. The resentment of Czars was not a new emotion during Nicholas's reign. Alexander II had been assassinated years before, and his successor Alexander III was involved in an attempted assassination that did not come to fruition.(3) Though the Czars were not totally liked by the people they governed, Russia had ample amounts of nationalistic pride before the Russo-Japanese War, which Russia eventually lost. This loss crushed the nationalistic feelings and left the people of Russia wondering why the mighty country they thought they were living in, was beaten by a supposedly weaker opponent.(2) But in 1905, strikers were fired upon by the Russian Army, which became a visible picture of the cruelty of the Russian Government and the people's resentment of it.(1) The longstanding resentment of the Czar and the government was increased after the Russo-Japanese War and Bloody Sunday, this showed the weakness of the Czar and the people's willingness to stand up against it.

World War I was supposed to be Russia's redemption ground to regain the support of the people during the short glorious war.(2) But as the war dragged on, millions and millions of Russians were being killed, most of the replacements reported to the front with little training and in some cases without weapons.(3) The soldiers were poorly supplied perhaps because of the inferior railway system, or the low level of technical and economic development, but the people on the home front had an equally difficult time during the war. There was severe shortages of food, and so the prices of the food that was available skyrocketed. The workers in the cities could not keep up with the raising prices and faced starvation. Amidst this turmoil, Czar Nicholas abandoned his capital to take command the Army, and made one last major push on Austria-Hungary, which was quickly repelled.(1) The war which was supposed to not only be short, but also a distraction from Russia's internal problems, turned out to be the exact opposite. It was long costly war that exemplified the country's internal problems, created new ones, and grew the resentment in the Government even more that it already was. World War I put pressures on the Russian government that pushed it to collapse internally and opened the door for a takeover from without.

The continued resentment of the government, the Czars ineffectiveness, and World War one all were factors that contributed to revolutionary groups being formed in Russia that would do the most damage in overthrowing the government. It was one of these revolutionary groups that assassinated Alexander II in 1881.(3) The most powerful revolutionary leader at the time was Vladmir Ilych Ulyanov but later became known as Lenin. Lenin admired the previous generation of Russian Terrorists and modeled his ideology around the ideas of "armed insurrection." His efforts to overthrow from without were devastating, however he was taken by surprise by the February Revolution, which exemplifies the extent of collapse of the Romanov Dynasty.(3) The revolutionary groups were major factors in the February Revolution, but were only successful because of the collapsing government. In later months the revolutionary groups would have much more of an impact as Lenin overthrows the provisional government.

Because the Czarist government was so badly weakened after World War I and ineffective leadership from Czar Nicholas II the door was opened for the government to be overthrown from without. The two explanations are not singular, one allowed the other. Had the Czar provided for the people and kept a strong government there would have been no need for revolution and even if there was one, Czar Nicholas would have been able to deal with the insurrection. Since the government was collapsing the people were able to overthrow it. The Czarist government was overthrown from without because the Romanov Dynasty was already in shambles.

1 Impact of WWI. doc
2 Belk Notes
3 Book Source