In 1913, the Romanov family celebrated 300 years of ruling Russia. The capital city of Saint Petersburg and the former capital Moscow celebrated with the royal family for weeks with endless parties and hope that the family will rule for another 300 successful years. Little did they know at the time, but in a year Europe would be faced with their bloodiest conflict, known as The Great War, now known as World War I. Russia entered the war with high hopes of victory, but due to riots begging for revolution, Russia dropped out of the war in 1917, leading to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the start of the Russian Revolution. A year later, the royal family was murdered by members of the Bolshevik Party under the order of Vladimir Lenin. When it comes to asking what contributes to the fall of the Russian monarchy most historians agree that World War I was the last straw. Most historians stick to the structural reasons such as industrialization, poor military, and social hierarchy, yet most don’t focus on the core of the Russian monarchy, the Tsar and his consort, the Tsarina. The list of causes for the Russian Revolution are endless, but one that has often been ignored is the theory that the personality faults, personal issues, and personal failings of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna helped curve the downfall of the Russian monarchy during World War I.
Tsar Nicholas II didn’t expect to abdicate from his throne in four years and murdered in five when he celebrated three hundred years of his family ruling Russia in 1913, but many Russian citizens had been praying for the end of the monarchy for some time. Many historians believed the revolution was bound to happen even before Nicholas took the crown in 1894, James Heinzen, a history professor at Rowan University, quotes in the History Channel documentary, Russia: Land of the Tsars: “People since the Decembrists had been plotting revolution for almost one hundred years. Many people in this country lived and breathed revolution, dedicated themselves to it, hoped that it would come, or expected that it would come. Yet when it did come, it surprised everyone.”[1] Tension had been rising in Russia for the past century to keep up with the modern world and destroy the monarchy, which would mean revolution. Many historians argue what the main cause of the Russian Revolution was, and many believe it was World War One. The Russian Revolution was inevitable due to the Age of Enlightenment in the previous centuries, as well as other events such as the French Revolution. Russian-American writer Isaac Don Levine agrees with this theory in his book, The Russian Revolution, published in 1917, the same year the main revolution began and the Tsar abdicated: “The democratic doctrines which emanated from France after the Revolution, spreading throughout Europe and sowing the seeds of democracy, were destined to penetrate Russia in a most peculiar manner.”[2] This belief goes along with the theory that industrialization contributed to the Russian Revolution because as industrialization hit Russia, so did the ideas of the Enlightenment, such as democracy.
Historian Virginia Cowles opens the World War I chapter of her biography of Nicholas and Alexandra, The Last Tsar and Tsarina, in a brief, accurate statement about Russia in World War I: “No country ever went to war so poorly equipped, so badly lead, so foolishly optimistic, as Russia.”[3] Russia joined their allies Britain and France in August 1914 in World War I by declaring war on Germany and Austria-Hungary with high hopes of victory. The Russian military was one of the strongest in not only Europe but the world. Before Nicholas’s reign, Russia had only lost one war, The Crimean War, which was nothing compared to the disastrous naval failure in the Russo-Japanese War in 1904: “With faster ships and bigger guns, in a single battle, the Japanese sank two thirds of the Russian fleet. The pride of Russia, the navy Peter the Great had founded, was all but obliterated.”[4] Since the devastating loss, Nicholas had been determined to redeem himself and saw World War I as an opportunity to prove that he wasn’t a failure, which unfortunately backfired. His optimism blinded him to the reality that Russia was no longer the great military power it used to be, and could not compete in the modern world.
