Decline Of The Romanovs
More than any other factor WWI was responsible for the decline of the Romanovs. Discuss:
World War I was one of the defining factors leading to the decline of the Romanov dynasty. It highlighted the faults within Nicholas’s reign and also the division between the upper and lower classes. Whilst other factors contributed to the revolt, the war intensified the discontent among throughout mainstream society and for this reason can be regarded as being responsible for the decline of the Romanovs. Although the war was the largest factor in the decline of the Romanovs, there were many other factors that facilitated. These could be Alexei’s haemophilia, the influence of Rasputin, Nicholas’s poor military decisions as well as discontent among the people of Russia. There were also many groups who opposed the Tsar and worked towards his abdication, which was shortly followed by the death of the Romanovs.
Nicholas was not ready to rule when his father passed away and the throne was thrust upon him. Nicholas had a shy personality and was strongly convicted. He was also oblivious to the economic strains faced by his people and he “seemed insensitive to the increasing hardships faced by the Russian people at this time”[1]. He did not see the reality of his situation, he believed in a country where the Tsar had competed control, not a government where the Tsar has to give up some of his rights. He felt so strongly about it that he would not create a proper government, even when the people threatened to revolt. He created the Duma which was a half hearted attempt and it had no power. At first Nicholas was loved by the people and seen as their “little father”, however as time went on more and more people began to dislike Nicholas and saw him as a weak ruler. Nicholas was becoming more and more unpopular with every new law he enforced and every problem that remained unsolved. He started creating laws forbidding opposition, as he believed in an autocratic state rather than a...
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