Before the war, there were lots of problems which led up to the revolution and we call them the long term causes. The peasants’ working and living conditions were very bad, but the government made it even worse by its own policies. Russia needed to develop its industries so that it was a modern agricultural country instead of a backward one and also to remain an important military power. To aid this dilemma, the government invested enormous amounts of money in improving Russia’s industries.
Where did most of this money come from? From the pockets of the people in Russia! The peasants had to pay huge taxes on nearly all everyday items, such as alcohol and salt, in addition to grain. However, workers’ wages still stayed very low as the government wanted to squeeze the people for every penny they could get to put into industrial development. Soon, iron and steel industries grew rapidly, but then thousands of workers lost their jobs, causing strikes and rebellions against managers and the government. Things were also not going well in the countryside. In addition to being taxed heavily, there were very bad harvests for a couple of years, leaving the peasants starving. As a result, they became violent and started burning landlords’ houses. Then, the Tzar went to war with Japan, hoping to make the public believe in the government again.
However, it backfired on him and caused all the same problems again but by a greater degree. That really infuriated the people! Leading up to the war, the peasants and workers still had:
- Inadequate clothing
- Insufficient and unhealthy food
- Long, hard hours at work
- Inadequate housing/shelter
- Self-made entertainment
- Impoverished standard of life
- Very low quality of life
- Age of death-early 20’s-30’s.
These were the huge differences in the quality of life between the rich and the poor as the rich had:
- More than adequate clothing
- More than adequate food
- Lived on rising and unearned income
- Entertainment was provided for them
- Excellent standard of life
- More than excellent quality of life
- Age of death-late 50’s, 60’s and above
In these years leading up to the war, as you can see, the living standard of the peasants and workers did not improve, so they were forced to rise up against these massive inadequacies! Politically, Russia was very unstable as the people had lost a lot of respect for the government and the Tzar. When the Tzar started to use the Dumas, people began to wonder whether they would have any real power. By the Dumas first meeting, it was clear they could not pass laws, they could not appoint ministers, and they could not control finance in such important areas as defence.
Was there much point in them if the Tzar did not like what they were doing or proposing to do? So, no. In my opinion, the people’s views were not being heard through the Dumas. There are lots of opinions as to whether the Tzar was fit to rule Russia. In my opinion, the Tzar was not fit to rule Russia, but this was by no means his own fault.
He was taught as a soldier, and he was not taught to act and behave like a king, so it was his statesmanship that was at fault, not himself! The war affected not only the army but also the people at home. Food was becoming scarce, and all the male peasants had to be taken off to the army, leaving only women and invalids to tend to the farms, shops, etc. All the working trains were being used for the war effort, so food was not getting through from other places.
Nearly all unnecessary factories in the cities were closed, resulting in another massive unemployment. People were not getting coal and wood to burn because the coal industries were shut down, so the people were freezing as well. Not only that, but the prices were rising because of the shortages. Wages were not going up, workers had to work longer hours, and vodka had stopped being made during the war, so the people now had nothing to drown their sorrows in. There was greater poverty all around, a loss in confidence in the government, and there was no end to the awful news about the terrible deaths and casualties from far at the front lines. Nicholas II made two very large and obvious mistakes. The first was that he made himself head of the armed forces.
