The February Revolution in Russia was a collapse from within because of the chaos happening from without. This means the strikes, riots and wars that were taking place right outside the Czars governmental control. The Russians lost to the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905 (Belk, 2). The Russian people felt they needed to prove to the rest of the world they were a world power. Losing to the Japanese, such a small Asian country, made the Russians appear weak and easily defeated to the rest of the world. Czar Nicholas recognized this and decided to mobilize his country fast when World War 1 the “short, glorious war” came about (Belk 2). The soldiers were sent to the front lines of the war without equipment to fight with (Belk 2). A country cannot expect to win a war without proper weapons of protection. This probably caused the soldiers to not respect the Czar as much because he could not even provide them with arms. The war was not over as soon as expected and Russia again looked weak to the rest of the world when they made a peace agreement with Germany. The Russian people were once again disappointed by their country and their Czar, who had taken over the army near the end of the war (WWI Impact 1). When the Czar made the decision to take over the Russian military he left the country to his wife Alexandra (WWI Impact 1). Alexandra was of German descent, which angered many citizens of Germany because of the recent war. Alexandra decided to take advice from Rasputin who many believed to be a German spy (WWI Impact 1). Obviously this choice of Czar Nicholas appointed his wife to power of his country was a decision that was not admired by many.
The Czar tried to make peace with the citizens of his country who were against his methods of ruling their country. He created the Duma to accomplish this task (Belk 2). Czar Nicholas did not really care what the citizens of his country wanted he just wanted to appear like he was for the good of the people. The people soon saw through his methods because he did not respect what the Duma had to say. This angered the people because they wanted their voice to be heard in order to make their country stronger (Belk 2). When the Duma began to fall through the workers and soldiers began to strike against the government (Book 3). The people wanted to be heard and because they were not heard they decided not to do the jobs the government asked of them. The soldiers knew it was not right to be made to go to war without appropriate equipment. When the Czar would not listen to their complaints the soldiers resulted in strikes. All over the country were food shortages and high prices, which eventually led to strikes (Book 3). In the cities crowds shouted “Down with war, down with the Romanovs, down with the government!” (Book 3). The people knew it was their right to be heard and believed in the Duma but no longer believed in the Czar because the promises he made were not kept. All around the Czar wars, riots and strikes were taking place but he was the main cause of all of the chaos. He decided to take over the military in their time of need of a good military leader, which resulted in failure. He decided to create a Duma to fool the people into thinking he was for the good of them. He made the soldiers go to war without the proper equipment. Therefore he, Czar Nicholas is responsible for the collapse of the February Revolution because he caused the riots happening from without.
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Many of the points you used were the same points I used in my blog post, but I used them to support the claim the February Revolution was a collapse from within causing a collapse from without. Your claim that the “February Revolution in Russia was a collapse from within because of the chaos happening from without” is the opposite direction of my thinking. I took the evidence of the lack of weapons for the soldiers(1) as a sign that a collapse from with in was taking place. The Russian soldiers lacked weapons because their government failure to supply. Had the Czar paid enough attention to this issue then the war supplies needed would have been present and he would not have lost the respect of his own soldier. Also if the Czar would have properly equip his soldiers then maybe Russia would not have been as weak in the war, and suffered less causalities. This would have caused an increase in the sense of nationalism and mussed the citizens’ calls for revolt. This lack of weapons was a sign of a collapse from within. The decrease in the respect by the soldiers for the Czar, was just a reaction to the poor decisions of the Czar and his government. Had the Czar taken proactive measures then the soldiers would not be as unhappy with his leadership, and not had cause for revolt. This is why I believe that a collapse within caused a collapse from without.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Allyson here.
ReplyDeleteThe way things played out, many of the outside events that led to the February Revolution could only be brought into play by a weak leadership.
It was Tsar Nicholas's poor leadership abilities in maintaining his people's respect and well being that gave rise to many of the problems that led to the end of the Romanov Dynasty. When people began to realize that the Tsar could not or would not support them, they began to have bad feelings towards the government. This gave the opening for the Soviets to come to power, along with leading to the rebellions by the people, and by the soldiers.
If the people had faith still in the government, there would have never been enough turmoil to topple a multi-century reigning dynasty. The Czar's leadership was inadequate, and he was not willing to get assistance, the Duma simply being a cooler for Bloody Sunday. The Tsar's incompetence along with his failure as a military leader were the groundwork for the factors from without adding into the eventual fall of the Tsar, and rise of the Soviets.