The fall of the Tsar was a result of an overthrow from without as well as a collapse from within.

The February revolution was the culmination of many factors. The Tsar’s rule was under attack from the outside world as well as from his own incompetence. The main assailant from the outside world came in the form of liberal, left wing literature that preached such things as equal rights, and power of the people. This literature caught on very rapidly in the colleges and universities around Russia, and became quite popular among scholars a.k.a. intelligentsia (source 2). This literature led scholars to see their country as “socially and politically backwards” compared to America and other European nations (source 2). To try to correct this backwardness the intelligentsia “strove to bring Russia up to western standards (source 2).” This became a problem to the Tsar because as the intelligentsia began to fall under the spell of these utopian Marxist ideas, so did the peasants and the workers who they preached them to. They probably began to feel that the needs and wants that were not being met under the current regime could be satiated under a new government, one that was in touch with and controlled by the people. This idea had to catch on very quickly. How could it not? Faced with the food shortages, and lack of civil liberties, anything would have sounded better to these people, especially a government in which they, the people, were in control. Therefore the ideas of democracy and communism would have become very popular as opposed to the autocratic monarchy that the Russians were ruled under at the time. As famous playwright Edward Bulwer-Lytton once said “The pen is mightier than any sword.” This has never been truer than in the case of the spread of liberal ideas against the iron fist of the Tsar.
Although the Tsar’s rule was weakened by the encroachment of western civilization, he made several key blunders that had they not been committed, the entire revolution could have been avoided. The Tsar’s first major mistake was Bloody Sunday in 1905. Bloody Sunday was named so because of the peasants massacred by the Tsar for protesting in front of his castle after the embarrassing loss to the Japanese in the Russo- Japanese war (class notes). This was a public relations nightmare for the Tsar that caused him to lose much of his credibility. Had the Tsar dealt with the protest in a more civilized manor like hear out the people’s complaints and try to solve them, his standing with the people would have probably improved. Sadly, he didn’t do this. He had his soldiers open fire on the protestors and kill them which not only angered the peasants of his country but also the soldiers for having to kill their own brethren (source 2). So not only did this one move cause the Tsar to lose the support of his subjects but also his guard. The Tsar’s second mistake was taking control of a floundering army. He made himself the commander of the armed forces after several years of ineffectiveness on the part of his generals in WWI (source 1). This was a mistake for the Tsar because he continued to fail just as his generals had before him; however, now instead of being able to blame his generals for the losses at war, he was now solely responsible. This hurt his image even more because now he was seen not only as a tyrant for the events of Bloody Sunday, but also as an incompetent leader for his lack of success in battle. The Tsars third and final mistake was making empty promises to his people. After the events of Bloody Sunday and general talk of rebellion the Tsar conceded some civil liberties to his people (class notes). He promised things such as freedom of speech and of the press, as well as giving the people some say in the government in the form of the Duma, a cabinet supposedly representative of the people (class notes). Unfortunately the Tsar chose not to fulfill the promises he had made (class notes). As the Russian people began to realize these liberties were not to actually be granted, the Tsar lost what little credibility he had left. How could the people follow a leader who was incompetent, tyrannical, and now deceitful? They couldn’t, and on February 26 their talk of revolution materialized in the form of the February Revolution.
Had the Tsar not made these mistakes, or had the Russian people not been made aware that other, fairer, forms of government existed then the Romanov’s may still be ruling Russia today. Sadly for them, this did not happen and the pairing of poor rule along with the influx of western ideals created a powerful storm of revolution that not even a king could escape.