Political Effects of WW1
History: KS3, topic 17.3.3
Political Effects of the First World War
The tsar took over direct command of the army, sidelining the Duma (the parliament), which was dissolved in 1914. But World War One did not go as he had planned.
The Duma
- The tsar took over direct command of the army, sidelining the Duma, which was dissolved in 1914.
- But the war did not go according to plan, and the Duma was recalled a year later.
- The tsar refused to follow the Duma’s request that he replace his ministers with new ones.
- By 1917 the Duma was a big source of opposition to the tsar.
The tsar as commander-in-chief
- The tsar had no experience of warfare but ignored his advisers anyway. This made him an unpopular commander-in-chief of the army.
- However, he usually followed the advice of the generals, and so had little impact on the running of the war.
- Because he was commander-in-chief, however, he was blamed by the people for the defeats.
- In fact, it was the bad training and bad leadership of the army which was more to blame.
Unrest in Petrograd
- As commander-in-chief, he was mainly based at the front.
- When the situation in Petrograd escalated, Nicholas II was not present to deal with the situation.
- In Petrograd, both soldiers and ordinary workers were disillusioned.
- The war led the tsar to lose the respect of his people and the support of those among whom he had once been popular.
- Nicholas II's status as a ‘little father’ to the people was reduced.
Test yourself on Political Effects of WW1
The Tsar in World war one
While virtually everyone agrees that the tsar looked like he ran the Russian war effort, how much power did he actually exert over it?