Causes of the 1917 February Revolution

Causes of the 1917 February Revolution

1. Economic and Social unrest

   • Inflation
     • By 1917, had reached 200%
       • Price of flour had grown by 500%
   • Grain shortages
     • Petrograd received less than half of it's grain requirements
     • Army rations reduced
   • Population movement
     • Due to war economy growth, many male farmers left the countryside to work in factories
       • Less people working the farms
       • Petrograd population grew by 500k in 4 years
   • Urban Unrest
     • Despite inflation, value of wage of indistrial workers halved
       • Workers Sriked in major cities (Moscow and Petro)
         • End 1914 = 10,000 1915 = 540,000 1916 = 880,000
   • Peasant Unrest
     • Conscription of young male peasants led to shortages on the farms
     • Requisition of horses for war effort made farming harder
     • Grain prices kept low, but with rising inflation, living standards fell

2. Failures of Romanovs

   • Departure of Tsar to war effort left Tsarina in charge
     • German Tsarina distrusted
       • People suspected she was a German agent
     • Her being in charge undermined the government
     • Suspicion of affair with Rasputin
       • Thought that Rasputin had a great deal of influence over the two, and it was him running the country
         • Rasputin disliked by the population of Russia
           • This was recognised by aristocrats
             • In December 1916, Prince Felix Yusopov and others assassinated Rasputin
         • Damaged perceived authority and autocracy
     • Fired and appointed ministers at an alrming rate
       • Destabilised Govt.
   • Stubborn Tsar
     • Convinced of his Divine right to rule
       • Rejected the offer of a Constitutional Monarchy from the Progressive Bloc
     • Rejected offer from the Zemgor to assist with war
       • Became voice of liberal discontent
     • Unable to recognise issues within his country
     • Events of 1905 gave him confidence that despite discontent, his regime would reign supreme
   • Weak Tsar
     • The Tsar lacked the leadership qualities and desire to be Tsar
       • More of a family man
     • Influenced easily by his wife

3. Impact of WWI

   • Tsar took direct control, directly responsible for failures
   • Many militaristic failures
     • Despite initial success and optimism for war, many battles lost
       • Battle of Tannenberg - 300,000 dead or wounded
       • Brusilov offensive (1916) into Austro-Hung front lines regarded as a success
         • Massive loss of life
         • Issues in arms rectified for offensive
         • Despite success, had no long term gain
           • By the end of that year, morale rock bottom - 1.4 million desertions
           • The amount of desertions was equal to the size of the professional army pre-war (Biggest in Europe)
       • Great Retreat of 1915
         • Combined with previous military failure in Russo-Japanese war, source of shame and discontent
     • Conscripted 1.2 million between 1914-17, but 2 out of 3 soldiers had rifles and artillery limited to 2-3 shells per day
       • Russian industry undeveloped compared to rest of Europe
         • Russian arms production comparatively ineefiicient
         • Transport infrastructure not suited to mass transport of resources, many trains couldn't reach front lines
     • Death of high ranking generals early on
       • Many Generals incompetent, and had job due to family rather than merit
     • Conscription of peasants, largely inexperienced, unhealthy and uneducated
   • Jacob became cool