Nikolas Sanidas

Ms. Chatzoglou
Individuals and Societies
17 September 2022

Explaining the Causes of the March Revolution in 1917.

 Task: Choose 3 causes of the March Revolution 1917 and explain them.

From the pdf “The causes of the March Revolution 1917”, I have chosen three causes
which I will explain in this essay.
I have chosen, The incompetence of Tsar Nicholas II, Economic problems, and the impact of
World War I.
I have chosen these causes because in my point of view, there are the most significant causes for
the March Revolution of 1917.

 The incompetence of Tsar Nicholas II.

Tsar Nicholas II was most probably the only reason why the Revolution started. He was unable
to rule efficiently thus resulting into him making poor decisions for his nation and for his people.
He worsened relations with the government and the civilians. He also refused to comply with any
reduction to his absolute power because he thought he was governing the country in a good way,
this led to detachment from the Russian people.
Furthermore, the Progressive Bloc was established by a group of Octobrists and Cadets when the
Duma was called up during World War I. This faction want more authority over the conflict. In
reaction, Nicholas dissolved the Duma in 1915. This ostracized many people.
He also declared himself chief of the army with no history or education of war tactics which
drove Russian troops to ultimately fail.
We can conclude that with an incompetent government, a nation is unable to function therefore
destroying itself in the long run. Which is why I found this cause to be the main motivation for
the revolution of march 1917.
  Economic Problems.
Any nation which is facing economic issues will of course be outraged and demand change. If
the government choose to comply, then a revolution is not needed. However, if the government
decides to make the conditions event worse by taxing an already poor nation, then the people
will revolt. Some of the main issues in the economy were, Industry, Transport and Agriculture.
Industry meant there was vital since without it the nation faced a shortage in raw material and
weapons during the war.
Russia’s transport was underdeveloped and was not able to transport goods and supplies to the
army and to the people, causing more shortages.
Without agriculture the nation was facing borderline starvation since they could not cultivate
enough goods to support everyone in the nation.
Furthermore, the price for food and basic materials skyrocketed making it inaccessible to the
Russian people. To make matters worse, by 1916, inflation had surpassed 200 percent, making
life even more difficult, especially for the poorest of people.

This cause in my opinion is the most probable for revolution, since if there is no economy and
everyone is poor then the people will get mad, we have seen it in the past with the French and
American revolutions which can help us connect the dots as to why they revolted.

 Impact of World War I.

The war brought great suffering to the people of Russia including soldiers, about 2 million
soldiers died and a similar number of civilians died too. Morale was at an all time low at this
time in Russia.
People wanted to find someone to blame for their tears suffering, they did not have to look much
further then the Tsar. At the time, he was also the chief of the army which made him the perfect
target for the people rage.

This was probably Russia’s breaking point, and started the revolution with this and the rest of the
issues that had built up.