Group+5+-+Fall+of+the+Romanovs

**__Romanov Family Background __**
The Romanov Dynasty dates back to 1613 when the 16 year-old Mikhail Romanov took the throne and marked the beginning of 300 years of royal power in Russia. Throughout the years there were a couple of revolutionary rulers such as Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. Both Peter and Catherine expanded Russia’s boundaries, improved the schooling system, and modernized the empire. Many tsars and tsarinas succeeded them and continued the Romanov’s reign until the end of the empire in 1917. The last emperor of Russia was Tsar Nicholas II who ruled from 1868- 1917. Nicholas II was the son of Emperor Aleksandr III and Empress Maria Feodoronova of Russia. Tsar Nicholas II’s paternal grandparents were Emperor Aleksandr II and Maria Alexandranova of Russia and his maternal grandparents were Cristian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel. His first cousins were Alexandra of Germany and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. Nicholas II ended up marrying his first cousin Alexandra, which resulted in the production of their hemophiliac son, Alexei in 1904. Alexandra and Nicholas also produced four daughters: Grand Duchess Olga (1895), Tatiana (1897), Maria (1899), and Anastasia (1901). When it came to their son, Alexei, Alexandra at first turned to Russian doctors, but, their treatments usually failed. This led her to turn to mystics or holy men, especially with an illiterate Siberian man named Rasputin. She seemed to believe that he had powers to cure her son. This relationship was questioned by the rest of the Russian government which led to Rasputin’s murder by members of the State Duma. Tsar Nicholas II’s abdication was also on behalf of his son, Alexis and truly marked the end of the Romanov’s reign.



__WW1 Perspective __
In 1914, the Russian government considered Germany to be the main threat to its territory. This was reinforced by Germany's decision to form the Triple Alliance. Under the terms of this military alliance, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy agreed to support each other if attacked by either France or Russia. In 1907 Russia joined Britain and France to form the Triple Entente. On the outbreak of the war General Alexander Samsonov was given command of the Russian Second Army for the invasion of East Prussia. He advanced slowly into the south western corner of the province .They made contact on 22nd August, 1914, and for six days the Russians had a few successes. However, by 29th August, Samsanov's Second Army was surrounded. Samsonov and his men attempted to retreat but most of his troops were slaughtered or captured. Only 10,000 of the 150,000 Russian soldiers managed to escape. Shocked by the disastrous outcome of the battle, Samsanov committed suicide. The attempted invasion of Prussia had cost Russia almost a quarter of a million men. This did not sit well with the Russian people, who did not support the war in the first place. By December, 1914, the Russian army had 6,553,000 men. However, they only had 4,652,000 rifles. Untrained troops were ordered into battle without rifles or ammunition. In 1915 Russia suffered over 2 million casualties and lost Kurland, Lithuania and much of Belorussia. Agricultural production slumped and civilians had to endure serious food shortages. Nicholas' decision to make himself supreme commander of the Russian army proved to be a terrible move, for he was now closely linked to the country's military failures and during 1917 there was a strong decline in his support in Russia. On 13th March, 1917, the Russian Army High Command recommended that Nicholas abdicated. Two days later the Tsar renounced the throne.

**__Tsar’s Mistakes __**
There are many events that led to the fall of the Tsar and the revolution of 1917. Many believe that after the Russo-Japanese war in 1905 the people of Russia started to question the Tsar and his capability to rule. The Japanese war was never popular with the Russian people, and demonstrations took place in border areas such as Finland, Poland and the Caucasus. Nicholas II also faced mounting domestic problems. The Russian industrial employee worked on average an 11 hour day, and conditions in the factories were extremely harsh and little concern was shown for the workers' health and safety. Attempts by workers to form trade unions were resisted by the factory owners. In an attempt to gain support of his people Nicholas introduced the Duma, a form of government elected by the people. When the Duma went too far with their demands they were dissolved and Nicholas appointed Peter Stolypin as Chief Minister. Stolypin attempt to provide a balance between the introduction of much needed land reforms and the suppression of the radicals. In October, 1906, Stolypin introduced legislation that enabled peasants to have more opportunity to acquire land. They also got more freedom in the selection of their representatives to the zemstvo (local government councils). In 1911, Peter Stolypin was assassinated by a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party. Industrial unrest in Russia continued throughout this period and in 1912 hundreds of striking miners were massacred at the Lena goldfields. During the first six months of 1914, almost half of the total industrial workforce in Russia took part in strikes. By this time the people of Russia were becoming very unhappy with their government. On 31st July, 1914, the Tsar to order the mobilization of the Russian Army even though he knew it would lead to war with the Germany and Austria-Hungary. The war resulted in great economical and social loss for Russia, leaving the country devastated. By this time the Russian government was in trouble, and was in desperate need of change. Nicholas decided to take advice from a preacher by the name of Gregory Rasputin. This would prove to be one of his worst decisions as emperor. Rasputin was helping his son live and Nicholas' wife the Tsarina was infatuated by him. Through her he was able to run the country, with Nicolas gone to the front, he appointed friends and passed laws making himself one of the most powerful men in Russia. This outraged the people who did not like the Tsarina to begin with because of her German roots. Rasputin continued to influence the government in till he was murdered in December 1916. At this time the image of the Tsar had been ruined. People no longer respected there government and questioned his ability to rule. On 13th March, 1917, the Russian Army High Command recommended that Nicholas abdicated. Two days later the Tsar renounced the throne and the Romanov Dynasty had come to an end.



**__“Voting with their feet”__**
Due to the intolerable conditions for Russian Soldiers during the First World War, many soldiers were accused of “voting with their feet.” The term “voting with feet” means to migrate when you perceive situations to be better elsewhere. Vladmir Lenin is said to have employed this term when describing Russian soldiers during the war. Lenin said that Russian soldiers voted for peace with Germany with their feet, because they were deserting in large numbers from the front line while the powers of Austria-Hungary and Germany were systematically plowing through their ranks.

The inevitable fall of Nicholas II occurred in March 1917, during an event known as “The February Revolution.” On March 12, in Petrograd, starving citizens in a bread queue charged a bakery. The police immediately fired on them in an attempt to restore order. This was a mistake, because many factory workers were on strike at the time, and were present in the streets, filled with pent-up resentment and energy. These people rallied to the support of those who had been fired on, and a full-scale rebellion ensued. On March 14th, troops were sent in to quell the rebellion, but these soldiers mutinied, shot their officers, and refused to put down the riots. This is another, more important example of soldiers “voting with their feet.” Nicholas II was forced to abdicate the throne on March 15th. He was executed by the Bolsheviks one year later on the night of July 16th. He and his family were all executed in the same room. Thus ended the Romanov Dynasty, and the era of autocracy in Russia.



__What was the Tsar’s biggest mistake? __

During the First World War, in August 1915, the Tsar Nicholas II took personal control of the Russian army. It is possible that this was his greatest mistake, which would lead to the fall of the Romanov Dynasty. By making this move, Nicholas II removed effective leadership from the war effort and absented himself from his empire in one stroke. Nicholas II was not an efficient or gifted military leader, and immediately after his acceptance of the post, Russia began to suffer heavy losses. The Tsar was now placed in a difficult position; he would be judged harshly for each loss suffered by Russia. With each military defeat, Russia lost hope and the Tsar lost popularity. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">While Nicholas II was at the front, his wife the Tsarina was left in charge of affairs in Russia. This proved to be disastrous, because the Tsarina was both German by birth and an even poorer leader than her husband. At a time in which Russia was fighting against Germany, the Russian population was inclined to be extremely suspicious. Popular belief was that the Tsarina Alexandra was actively working against Russia. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Tsarina Alexandra was aware of her failings, and she therefore depended heavily on the political opinions of a Serbian mystic named Rasputin. Rasputin was disliked by the general Russian public, because he also was a suspicious character. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Soldiers in the Russian army were equipped terribly for the war. At least 1/4 of the population had no boots, rifles, or ammunition. Peasants were sent out to fight, unorganized and untrained just to be destroyed by the better-equipped Germans. Russia’s casualties soon reached millions. Starvation and disease added to the losses. Nicholas II was to blame for this, and the people knew it. The Tsar was soon the most hated man in Russia. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By taking on his position as a military leader, Tsar Nicholas II lost all of his supporters. The soldiers resented their difficult circumstances, and each military disaster (for example the Masurian Lakes / Tannenburg) was another disgrace in the eyes of the public. In making this move, The Tsar also allowed politics to deteriorate even further in Russia, and allowed the odd doctor Rasputin to seize control of government. The resulting discontent of the people led directly to the revolts in 1917, and eventually to the Tsar’s abdication and execution.



<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__**Was the Fall of the Royal Family Inevitable?**__
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By the time Tsar Nicholas II became the leader of Russia<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">, the fall of the Romanov Family Dynasty was indeed inevitable. Events that are during the time of Nicholas II’s reign include the 1905 revolution and of course, World War I, however, general relations between the Tsar and his people had been becoming tense since before Nicholas II had come into power as well. For example, the Emancipation Act of 1861 freed the peasants from serfdom, but, it did not leave them with the land that they had the right to own. This led to problems between the peasants and the tsar which came to a head during tsar Nicholas II’s reign. Also during this time, industrial workers were given very poor working conditions after the rapid and tremendous growth of industry in Russia<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">. There were frequent workers strikes at the turn of the century which led to clashes between workers and the government. Therefore, organized opposition to tsarism began to develop because the citizens of Russia<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> wanted a radical change. When Russia<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> became involved in a war in Japan<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> in 1904, during tsar Nicholas II’s reign, military failures fuelled criticisms of the tsars governments and a revolution occurred. In the revolution of 1905, opposition to Nicholas II rose, which led to the creation of the October Manifesto. The Manifesto included the promising of full civil liberties and the creation of the State Duma which was Russia<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">’s first national elected representative assembly and weakened the power of the tsar. Also, after the open fire events of “Bloody Sunday”, peasants took advantage of the situation to assert their claims of land and many strikes and demonstrations against the tsar occurred. Although all of these events were a contributing factor to the abolishment of the Royal Family, World War I was most definitely the main cause. During this time, doubt of the governing ability of the Romanovs was not kept quiet. Even other traditional monarchists believed that Russia<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">’s best interests were being ignored by Nicholas and his wife, Alexandra. Not only did the public lose confidence in tsar Nicholas, but the State Duma also became increasingly critical of the governments conduct of war. The abdication of Nicholas II was the only answer to maintain peace. When Nicholas withdrew from the throne, he also withdrew on behalf of his son, Alexis which successfully marked the end of the 300-year Romanov Dynasty

__<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Bibliography** __
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Schapiro, Leonard. The Russian Revolutions of 1917. N.p.: New American,1908.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“Russia and World War One” 2000 <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“[]”

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“Why was there a disaster in 1917?” <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">“[]”