Czar Nicholas II: The Primary Cause Of The Russian Revolution

1074 Words5 Pages

Joyce Li
Ms. Ozard
Global History 10H
20 December 2016 In the beginning of the twentieth century, dissatisfaction was created amongst the civilians’ devastating working conditions as well as food shortage. A provisional government was created after the last czar, Nicholas II. However, this government was not able to support the country economically. The Russian Revolution began after approximately ten thousand working class women decided to protest at St. Petersburg in the desire for better working conditions and the stop of bread rationing. Seeking advantage of the czar’s downfall, the Bolsheviks overtook the weak provisional government and promised the people “Peace, Land, Bread”. Over time many historians have debated about the causes of …show more content…

Some historians believe that czar Nicholas II’s leadership over his country was a failure which led to constant rebellions. Additionally, he showed more concern about the war that went on worldwide than his own country’s political and economical conflicts. Citizens eventually lost trust in the government because they could not support them economically and their leader was away. In all honesty, Nicholas II was an awful leader because if he tried to satisfy the civilians’ aspirations, there would've been no revolution. That definitely was a factor of the Russian Revolution, however, it was primarily the indigent society people lived in that evoked the revolution. The czar was terrible but he was just one individual who could not possibly satisfy every single desire and needs. He played only a minor role in the Russian Revolution. The fact that citizens lacked supplies and food with insufficient income, that was the main cause for the desire for change. Industrialization impacted the society in a way where “[citizens] put in long hours for meager pay in miserable working conditions. As the cities grew, so did the crowded and unsanitary living conditions… Beginning with a strike at a manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg in January 1905, people throughout the land engaged in a series of strikes to protest their working conditions” ("Vladimir Lenin Leads the Bolshevik Revolution: November 7, 1917"). Even before Nicholas II left for war in 1914, the county was already in a state where the citizens were living in poverty. Discontent was already built up upon the citizens which were a result of the horrible living conditions in Russia. Therefore, Nicholas II was just a minor cause of the Revolution and the poor living conditions to be more of the main