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Tsar Nicholas II began his reign after the death of his father Alexander III in 1894. He reigned until 1917, when he abdicated after a provisional government was formed. It was obvious from the beginning of his reign that the Russians were on the brink of revolution, and that the Russian throne was in danger. But the things that put the people over the edge were Bloody Sunday, opposition to the duma, Rasputin, and hardships caused by World War I. By 1903 Russia had established a sphere of influence in Chinese Manchuria and was casting greedy eyes on northern Korea. Diplomatic protests of Japan were ignored, and the Japanese launched an attack.
They scored many defeats against the Russians. In 1905 Russia was forced to accept defeat. At home, the people wanted political reform. Led by Father Gapon, a massive crowd of unarmed workers and their families converged peacefully on the Winter Palace on a Sunday in January of 1905. They were fired upon by troops. The Bloody Sunday massacre turned people against the tsar.
In the summer of 1905 strikes, uprisings and revolts were sweeping the country. The tsar issued the October Manifesto, granting full civil rights and promised a popularly elected duma with real legislative power. On the eve of the opening of the first Duma, the government issued a new constitution, taking back many of its promises, reducing the power of the Duma, and giving the power of absolute veto to the tsar over the Duma. Two Dumas were dismissed, because of opposition to the tsar.
On the eve of the First World War, Russia was partially modernized, a conservative constitutional monarchy with a peasant-based but industrializing economy. Like its allies and enemies, Russia embraced World War I with patriotic enthusiasm in 1914. However, the strains of war soon began to take their toll. In 1915 alone, 2 million Russian soldiers died on the front lines. The great problem in Russia was leadership. Under the constitution of 1905, the tsar retained complete control over the bureaucracy and the army.
Nicholas failed to form a close partnership with his citizens in order to fight the war more effectively. He came to rely instead on the old bureaucratic apparatus, distrusting the Duma, rejecting popular involvement, and resisting calls to share power. As a result, the people became more critical of his leadership. Demands for more democratic and responsive government exploded in the Duma in the summer of 1915. A Progressive Bloc was formed, which called for a completely new government responsible to the Duma instead of the tsar. Nicholas adjourned the Duma and announced that he was heading for the front lines to lead and rally the army.
This was the fatal turning point. With the tsar gone, his wife Alexandra and self proclaimed holy man Rasputin took control of the government. Alexandra was a devoted mother with a sick child (Alexis had hemophilia), and hated parliaments. She always urged her husband to get rid of the Duma, and tried to do so in his absence. Rasputin (meaning Degenerate), her top adviser, was an uneducated Siberian preacher, began his career with a sect noted for mixing sexual orgies with religious ecstasies, and his influence rested on mysterious healing powers. Only Rasputin could stop Alexis bleeding, perhaps by hypnosis, something that medical science could not do.
In an attempt to right the situation, three members of the Russian aristocracy killed Rasputin. The empress went into semipermanent shock. These events further pushed the government toward revolution. Food shortages in the cities worsened and morale declined.
On March 8, 1917, women calling for bread in Petrograd (St. Petersburg) started riots, which spread all over the city. From the front lines, the tsar ordered armies to be sent back to put down the riots. But discipline broke down and the soldiers joined the riots. The Duma responded by declaring a provisional government on March 12, 1917. Three days later, Nicholas abdicated in favor of his brother.
Being no fool, he renounced his claim immediately. The Provisional government rejected social revolution. The reorganized government formed in May 1917, headed by Alexander Kerensky refused to issue land reform. All efforts of the government went into the war. Human suffering and war-weariness grew, sapping the limited strength of the provisional government. The people demanded that the Russians pull out of World War I.
The army was breaking apart millions of men walked away from the front lines. Food shortages continually worsened. Finally the people had enough. They were not going to stand for these hardships anymore. The Bolshevik revolution began.
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Research essay sample on Bloody Sunday Front Lines
