Li Chun Ho (Alvin Li) History Revision: February 1917 Revolution past papers.

November 2005 (b) Why was the revolution of March 1917 successful? [7] The revolution of March 1917 was successful as many Russian people of all classes had widely lost their respect for the Tsar. Because the war became worse, the conditions in the cities weakened, therefore resulting in even hatred of the Tsar in middle and the upper classes, the aristocracy. They lost their support of the Tsar as they were outraged that Rasputin, a person who supposedly magical powers, had great influence over the Royal family and therefore lost their trust. It was also successful because not only were their strength in numbers, but the military had also assisted and sided with the citizens. Most of the soldiers were peasants, and therefore they refused to fire on the crowds. Instead, there was mutiny and they shot their own officers dead during the early days of March 1917. The soldiers have had enough and were demanding political change, as well as the Duma to take control of the government. In addition, the Tsar himself was responsible for the revolution of March 1917 as he did not learn from what had happened in the 1905 revolution. Back in 1905, he had only relied on the armed services of his army in order to regain control and have revenge on the peasants who had caused rioting and participated in the demonstrations. This had failed in 1917 and he had no other plan. The railway workers had also played a major role in uniting with the rest of the Russians in preventing Tsar Nicolas the Second from regaining control by preventing him to return to Petrograd. Due to the refusal of the railway workers to start the train, the Tsar finally decided to abdicate on the 15th March of 1917, after being convinced by the actions of the railway team.