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The Causes of the February Revolution 1917

The Causes of the February Revolution 1917. An Overview. The Tsar The political system The structure of society Industrialisation and living and working conditions The Revolutionaries The impact of World War I. The Causes of the February Revolution 1917:The Tsar.

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The Causes of the February Revolution 1917

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  1. The Causes of the February Revolution 1917

  2. An Overview • The Tsar • The political system • The structure of society • Industrialisation and living and working conditions • The Revolutionaries • The impact of World War I

  3. The Causes of the February Revolution 1917:The Tsar • Dissolution of the Duma – isolated from educated and middle classes. • Commander in Chief of Army – now held personally responsible for defeats • Tsarina and Rasputin – massively unpopular. • No lessons learnt from the 1905 Revolution. • Is was weighed down by 300 years of history – he could not see the way out beyond his belief in autocratic rule

  4. The Causes of the February Revolution 1917:The political system • Autocracy – not willing/able to share power • Out of step with development of democracy across Europe • Conditions perfect for the development of communism • Majority of people had no say in the running of the country • No social mobility

  5. The Causes of the February Revolution 1917:The structure of society • Top 1% of population owned 95% of the wealth. • Unfair distribution of power and wealth. • 80% of population were peasants. • Growing industrial working class (proletariat). • Growing middle class (bourgeoisie).

  6. The Causes of the February Revolution 1917:Industrialisation • Russia was rapidly developing moving from an agricultural to industrial economy. • Massive demographic change – population moved to the cities • Industrialization – poor pay, poor conditions, over crowding in factories and housing • Provided the crowds for revolutionaries to agitate.

  7. The Causes of the February Revolution 1917:The Revolutionaries • Increase in industrial unrest – strikes and food riots in Petrograd. • Women and disaffected soldiers • Members of the Petrograd Soviet return to try and organize discontent. • Limited role in the actual events. Most demonstrations economic not political. • Trotsky claimed workers had been “educated” by the works of Lenin.

  8. The Causes of the February Revolution 1917:The Impact of World War I • Russia not prepared for war and over confident of military strength. • Lack of enough industry to support a mechanized/industrial war. Reliant on imports. • War caused shortages of fuel, food and other essential supplies • Conditions in countryside, towns, cities and the army were intolerable. • Poor transport infrastructure. • Tsar as Commander • Tsar was a man out of depth and out of time.

  9. Historiography

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