Was the World War I the Main Cause of the March 1917 Revolution in Russia?

In March 1917 a revolution broke out in Russia. Since then the main cause has been heavily disputed and many believe that the coming of the First World War was to blame. However this may not essentially be true. There were many different factors that played a part in the revolution and the main cause is still difficult to determine.

At the time of the revolution the country was in pretty bad shape. The majority of the population were incredibly poor and many lived in extreme poverty. Most of the country’s money went to the nobility or rich land owners who made up little over 1.5% of the population. The largest group of people living in Russia were the peasants. Often peasants worked on the land, producing food and crops for the wealthy landowners yet having hardly enough for themselves to survive. Prices were far too high to be able to afford the necessities with their minuscule wages and so many had to go without shoes, proper meals and decent accommodation even through the harsh winter months.

The conditions that workers lived in were as bad if not worse than those of the peasants. Several families would share a single room often housing as many as thirty workers, the only form of privacy being a flimsy curtain or screen. Many people had to share beds if they worked in the twenty-four hour factories, one person would sleep during the night the other during the day. Conditions at work were just as terrible. Hygiene and safety had been ignored and workers had to brave the horrific conditions to earn meagre wages.

Eventually a Duma or government was set up to give the people a voice. The Duma had little to know power and could be dissolved by the tsar whenever he saw fit as he did on several occasions. The Duma did not seem to be fulfilling its purpose; the tsar often manipulated the people in the Duma to be those that would support him and his decisions. By doing this he made it clear that he didn’t want to hear the opinions of his people which considering the lack of support from the worse of part of society was probably a bad idea.

Of course there is also the Rasputin factor. Rasputin was the ‘holy’ man who spent his time healing, giving advice and seducing women. The Romanov’s already diminishing reputation was further damaged by accepting Rasputin into their lives. The family had their reasons for keeping him around, the main one being the welfare of their youngest child Alexis. Alexis suffered from haemophilia, resulting in painful, uncontrollable and on a few occasions near fatal blood loss. Apparently however, simply by touching him, Rasputin could stop the bleeding and ultimately saved Alexis’ life. This did nothing for his public reputation though, and the royal family’s support shrank considerably, there were even accusations that Rasputin’s relationship with the tsarina went deeper than mere friendship.