Nama : Muhammad Akhiyar Nur Ardianto

NIM : 22033120
Source : https://www.history.com/news/world-war-i-russian-revolution

How World War I Fueled the Russian Revolution

Russian Military Loses Confidence in Monarch

To compound the lack of preparedness for war, Nicholas II also led the Russian military, a
position that he didn’t have the training or experience to do.

“He fancied himself a military strategist, but he was not,” says Mayhill Fowler, a Russian,
Eastern European and Eurasian Studies professor at Stetson University. As she notes,
Nicholas disregarded a prewar memorandum from one of his advisors, warning that in the
event of a defeat by Germany, “social revolution in its most extreme form is inevitable.”

It also didn’t help that when Nicholas left Petrograd to join the troops, he left behind his
German wife, Czarina Alexandra, whose brusque demeanor and distaste for Russian culture
made her unpopular with the Russian populace.

WORLD HISTORY ARCHIVE/UIG/GETTY IMAGES

THE ROMANOVS VISITING A REGIMENT DURING WORLD WAR I, C. 1917. L-R:

GRAND DUCHESS ANASTASIA, GRAND DUCHESS OLGA, TSAR NICHOLAS II,
TSAREVICH ALEXEI, GRAND DUCHESS TATIANA, AND GRAND DUCHESS
MARIA, ALONG WITH KUBAN COSSACKS.

The war quickly turned into a disaster, with Russia suffering a brutal defeat at the Battle of
Tannenberg just a few weeks into the war. Some 30,000 Russian soldiers were killed or
wounded, and nearly 100,000 were taken prisoner by the Germans.
“Things didn’t Improve as the months dragged on,” Hartnett says. “By the end of the year,
the Russian empire had lost more than one million men.” Russia’s ammunitions were all but
exhausted and the country’s infrastructure was not equipped to efficiently resupply troops.

Though peasant soldiers suffered the most casualties, “for regime stability, the most serious
losses were among the officer corps,” Miner explains. Their loss weakened the army so
much, he notes, “that when push came to shove in 1917, the army was not a reliable defender
of the monarchy.”

Russians Retreat

By the spring of 1915, Russian troops had to retreat before a combined German-Austrian
onslaught. “Along with the horrifying large number of Russian soldiers killed and wounded,
this great retreat led to a massive number of refugees,” Hartnett notes. Those hordes of
desperate people streamed into Russian cities that already were struggling under the burden
of the war effort.

“Store shelves were emptied of their products and inflation soared,” Hartnett says. “With
losses mounting on the front and hunger and desperation growing at home, the Russian
government felt the pressure.”

But Nicholas II somehow didn’t grasp just how bad of a situation he was in. As Hartnett
notes, he clung to the belief that he and the Russian people had an unshakeable mystical
bond.

As the czar saw things, “his family had been in power for 300 years, and he was appointed by
God,” Fowler explains. His obliviousness is apparent in letters that he wrote to his wife, in
which he mentions news of protests against his regime with mundane family matters. “He’s
just not aware that his empire is in trouble,” Fowler says.

Breadlines Lead to Rebellion

Wartime Russia still produced sufficient food during the war to feed its population, but even
so, Russians still went hungry. “The problem was not production,” Miner notes, “but rather
distribution and transport, which led to periodic shortages.” The inefficiency of the czarist
state began to hollow out political support.
The Duma, Russia’s elected legislature, couldn't do much about Nicholas’ mismanagement of
the country, since he had the power to dissolve it if members dared to disagree with him.
Even so, “prominent members wondered aloud if the recent decisions made by the czar’s
government were the consequence of stupidity or treason,” Hartnett says.

By early 1917, Russia was in throes of a crisis so severe that Nicholas could no longer ignore
it.

“Breadlines grew in many cities and most notably in the capital of Petrograd,” Hartnett
explains. At the massive Putilov factory in Petrograd, workers went on strike in the early
days of March, demanding higher wages to compensate for the high price of food. Rather
than meeting the workers’ demands, he says, the factors responded with a lockout, prompting
thousands of workers to continue the strike.

A few days later, on International Women’s Day, tens of thousands of people marched in the
streets of Petrograd, with striking factory workers joining forces with mothers who demanded
food for their children.

FINE ART IMAGES/HERITAGE IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES

A RUSSIAN BREAD LINE GUARDED BY THE IMPERIAL POLICE, MARCH 1917.

“This led to the beginning of the end of the Romanov autocracy,” Harnett says. Three days
into the protests, the czar’s officials ordered the military and police to break up the protests—
using any means. The ensuing violence, says Harnett, claimed the lives of nearly 100. And on
the next day, soldiers joined the demonstrators.

The army had enough. Czar Nicholas’ generals convinced him to step down. Three days later,
Nicholas II abdicated in favor of his brother, Michael, who refused the crown. The reign of
the Romanovs was over.

Germans Arrange Return of Vladimir Lenin

The war had led to Nicholas losing his grip on power, but the February Revolution (which
has that name because, under the old Russian calendar, its events occurred in February) was
just the start. The czarist regime was replaced by the Provisional Government, composed of
moderate Duma deputies, socialists and liberals who bickered among themselves as they tried
to get Russia under control again. The new government tried to continue the war and honor
the alliances made by the monarchy, while it searched for an exit strategy.

The Germans, eager to get Russia out of the war so that it could concentrate on fighting
France and Britain, decided to destabilize the Provisional Government. They arranged
for Vladimir Lenin, a communist revolutionary who headed the Bolshevik party, to return
from European exile to Russia in a secret sealed train. When he arrived, his slogan was
“Peace, Land, Bread,” an appeal to Russians who were tired of the war.
“The war also helped give Lenin a platform for his coup in October,” Fowler says.

Alexander Kerensky, the final head of the provisional government, didn’t help his side by
leading what turned out to be a disastrous offensive against the Germans and Austrians in
July of 1917. “Casualties soared and so did desertions, helped by regular Bolshevik
propaganda among military units,” Hartnett explains.

When Kerensky tried to send pro-Bolshevik units to the front, soldiers took to the streets in
an uprising against the Provisional Government that became known as the July Days. While
that insurrection failed, Kerensky and the Provisional Government were doomed. In
November 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power.

The following March, the new Bolshevik government of Russia signed the Brest-Litovsk
treaty with Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria, giving up one
million square miles of territory to appease the Germans.

World War I, the conflict that had ended the Czarist regime, was over for Russia, but there
still wouldn’t be peace. Civil war broke out later that year between the Bolsheviks and
opponents to the regime. Ultimately, the Bolsheviks prevailed, and in 1922, a treaty was
signed to establish the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.