Unit 3 History
1)
Week 7
World at War
The First World War lasted five years from 1914 until 1918. How did Russia become
involved? Germany, under the leadership of Nicholas’s cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II, was seeking
to expand its political role to match its industrial dominance. Germany, therefore posed a
challenge to Britain and the other European powers. After the assassination of Australian
Archduke Franz Ferdinand a series of events led to Russia mobilising its troops towards
Serbia and Germany declaring war.
2)
Popular discontent with political and economic circumstances in Russia was forgotten
amidst the patriotic fervour of the declaration of war. People carried flags and placards with
‘Long Live Russia‘ and this helped to repair the growing division between the Tsar and his
people. Bruce Lockhart, the British Vice-Consul in Moscow in 1914, wrote that the patriotic
support for tsardom meant that ‘revolution was not even a distant possibility‘.
3)
However
, a member of the upper class and later the Minister of the
under Prime Minister Witte, warned against joining the war. He warned
Nicholas of the
dangers of joining the war and argued that Russia would be
irreparably damaged whether it won or lost. He declared that a loss for Russia would result
in the ‘… total
of our entire national
primary concern was that the war would create a rise of
‘. Durnovo’s
within the popular
arguing that Russia would be flung into ‘hopeless
4)
Meanwhile,
‘.
declared the war to be merely another example of the wealthy
upper classes using the
masses for their own gain.
He encouraged people to engage in a ‘social
‘ and encouraged soldiers to
form socialist
. However, his approach (at
with their fellow German
the start of war anyway) received little
due to the wave of
in Russia at the time.
5)
Russia had the
Austria-
army in the world, with more soldiers than
combined. However, the majority of Russia’s soldiers were
conscripted
poor
with very little
. Russia also suffered from
leadership, as well as a critical lack of
supplies and organisation.
6)
Complete the table below to show your understanding of Russia’s key military defeats in
1914:
Matthew Elliott
and
Red Cliffs Secondary College
,
Unit 3 History
Week 7
Battle
Region
Galicia
South
Result
North
Masurian Lakes
7)
In the first
World at War
130,000 Russian casualties. Over 100,000
prisoners of war.
North
months of war, the Russians lost over
million men, with
million people in the region captured by
offensives. Russia was in no
position to fight a large-scale war due to a lack of
and ammunition. General
favoured using
in traditional warfare. He
encouraged the generals to storm enemy
to engage in hand-to-hand combat,
which was unsurprisingly less than successful against the modern
guns and
barbed wire fences of the Germans. Sukhomlinov was pretty stupid.
8)
Despite
having built the Trans-
the poor
railway system in the 1890s
of the trains meant that the
despite there being adequate supplies in the
sent
often went hungry,
and Siberia. Russia also
men to war, leaving the trains without
or
mechanics.
9)
The historian
highlights the
evident in the
Russian army by comparing the ratio of soldiers captured as
those
in action. By
more men captured than killed (
who had
, Russia had witnessed four and a half times
million to
thousand) compared to the British
times more men killed than taken as POWs. Moynahan argues that Russian
soldiers preferred to be
10)
General
to be fight to the death.
reported in
1916 that ‘the influence of
ideas is spreading very rapidly’.
11)
seen as an act of selfish
but Bolshevik
encouraged soldiers to
or to
Nicholas replaced the popular and
Matthew Elliott
of war to
Red Cliffs Secondary College
In war had previously been
themselves to avoid war.
Grand Duke Nickolai
Unit 3 History
Week 7
World at War
in
1915 and became the
Commander in Chief of the Russian army. His wife
, wrote
letters to the front to encourage the Tsar to prove the importance of his
rule. However, the Chairman of the Fourth State
attempted to provide
, Mikhail
to the Tsar about the
Russia was
having in the war. Rodzianko criticised the Tsar’s decision to replace
and warned that it placed his
12)
at risk.
Nicholas’s decision to leave for the war
for
left the
affairs. Encouraged by the advice of
in confidence and was focused on maintaining
was
13)
responsible
, she grew
rule. However, Alexandra
, people didn’t trust her because she was
-born and
people were also suspicious of
‘.
By 1916 the war was costing nearly
times more than had been budgeted for in
1913. The problems at war, a lack of supplies and poor organisation, were also experienced
by
families in the cities and
families in the Russian
provinces. Complete the table below to show your understanding of the economic and social
impact of World War One on Russia:
Food Shortages

Russia relied on coal fuels to operate
homes and businesses.

Transport crisis meant that factory
production was severely reduced.

The fuel crisis was heightened by the
freezing winter of 1916-17.
Unemployment

Wage increases were surpassed by
rising prices with the Okhrana
reporting that wages had risen 50%
while goods rose as much as 500%.
14)
Military
, distant
resulted in significant social
Matthew Elliott
and economic
and tension. Women in
Red Cliffs Secondary College
Unit 3 History
Week 7
World at War
lay on train tracks to stop new
from being
to the front and there was a violent
to
conscription. The government became increasingly concerned about
15)
agitation among the
workers.
Grigorii Effimovich
represented everything the
elite were not, contributing to both his fame and
literate rather than
from
. He was semi-
,a
rather than upper-class,
not Petrograd or Moscow and a
not grounded in
scientific logic. He was also known for his
16)
Tsarevich
was born in
staring eyes.
, with
, a genetic
condition that prevented his blood from forming the
thicken blood if and when
cells needed to
occurred. This meant that he was also
accompanied by a
throughout his childhood.
into the confidence of the royal family in
entered
through his mysterious ability to
heal Alexi’s haemophilia and was able to exert his influence over every member of the
family, particularly
were also rumours of a
17)
. While he had many fans there
relationship between Rasputin and the Tsarina.
When the Tsar left for war Rasputin increased his
influence by
providing advice to Alexandra who was in control of the
Nicholas’s absence. Alexandra despised the
in
and made many enemies with the
in the government who did not
to political
or trust Rasputin. This led
between 1915 and
of Rasputin’ influenced the selection of
Ministers of War and
where being a ‘
Prime Ministers,
Foreign Secretaries,
Interior Ministers. Eventually Rasputin was
but the damage had already been done.
Focus! Questions 1 to 3
(p64)
Analysis Activity 3 –
Questions 1 to 3 (p75)
Focus! Questions 1 and 2
(p69)
Practising Paragraph
Answers 2 and 3 (p76)
Analysis Activity 1 –
Questions 1 and 2 (p73)
Essay Question 1 (p76)
Please also complete and submit these activities in a plastic sleeve by Friday 13th of March.
Matthew Elliott
Red Cliffs Secondary College