Causes of World War One.

Militarism.

Alliances.

Imperialism.

Nationalism.

These were the four main causes of World War One.

Militarism
Germany had the most powerful army, but it wanted a better navy. Britain thought this was a challenge, and there was competition between the Dreadnought battleships. (Britain had 29 and Germany had 17 in 1914.) Britain needed a bigger navy because it was an island, could be attacked by two countries at once, needed to bring food from oversea etc.

Alliances
There were 2: the Triple Entente (Great Britain, France and Russia), and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy, and Austria-Hungary).

Imperialism
Britain and France had huge empires. Germany was envious and wanted a ‘place in the sun’, to build up its wealth and importance as a country. Britain and France saw this as a threat. Additionally, Britain was losing its trading markets to Germany in 1900.

Nationalism
Russia and Austria-Hungary tried to extend their influence in the Balkans; in 1908, Bosnia-Herzegovina became a part of Austria-Hungary. Slav groups in Austria-Hungary also wanted independence, like Serbia, but hostility between Austria-Hungary and Serbia was at an all-time-high because of their defeat of Balkan states in the Balkan Wars in 1913.

Russia #4: The November Revolution

In November 1917, there was a second revolution: the revolution of the Bolsheviks.

In September, the Bolsheviks had taken control of the Soviets. Whilst Lenin was in exile, he instructed the Bolsheviks in Petrograd. In October, though, he returned from Finland (illegally).

Leon Trotsky became chairman of the Soviet, and he utilised the Military Revolutionary Committee  (MRC). The Red Guard had 25000 troops.

Timeline: The Bolshevik Takeover.

3rd November. MRC took control of Petrograd Garrison.

5th November. Kerensky planned to close down newspapers in an act against the Bolsheviks.

6th November. Trotsky and the Peter and Paul Fortress garrison made friends.

7th November. All of Petrograd was taken. Kerensky left to get help. The Winter Palace was captured after the army fired a blank shell as a signal for attack–the provisional government gave in without a struggle.

Later. Other cities in Russia, like Moscow, were monopolised by the Bolsheviks.

Russia #3: The Provisional Government.

Preceding the Tsar’s abdicationm, the Duma set up a provisional government to take over. It was led by a man named Alexander Kerensky. Simultaneously, a council (Petrograd Soviet) comprised of representatives for soldiers and workers was set up. However, the provisional government faced some serious issues.

War
Money
Lenin
Kornilov

The provisional government put its efforts into winning the war. Kerensky was the Minister of War, and he, in hopes of a victory raising the morale of Russia, attacked Austria in the summer. However, the Russian army failed. (Again.)

At the same time, money was also an issue.  There were still food shortages and high prices because of the continuation of the war. Striking and mutinying wasn’t uncommon.

Lenin returned from exile in April, and the Bolshevik party began to become more popular. The provisional government tried to arrest him, however, and he therefore fled to Finland.

A general named Kornilov attempted to take over Petrograd in order to instate a dictatorship, and many Bolshevik leaders were released from prison in order to abet their defeat.

Russia #2: The February Revolution 1917

Many events led to the first revolution, in February. Russia had gone to war, and though the notion of war had been popular at first, arousing patriotism and loyalty to the Tsar in Russian people, reality quickly emerged, and the soldiers were turned against the Tsar. They suffered a series of defeats due to a lack of equipment and good leadership. In addition, the home front wasn’t doing too well either, as transport had been stopped and peasants could not sell their produce; there were not enough workers on the land as most of them were out fighting, horses had been taken for the war, and there were food shortages.

Then, in August, 1915, the Tsar unwisely chose to go out on the front line himself, and became commander-in-chief of the army. However, this didn’t really help matters, as most began to blame the Tsar for Russia’s problems. He had left behind the irresponsible Tsarina, Alexandra, to take charge. Many did not trust the Tsarina, and rumours were abound of an affair between her and close friend of the family, mystic Grigori Rasputin. When Rasputin was murdered by a group of conspirators including Prince Felix Yusupov, the Tsarina lost control, and essentials such as food, ammunition and clothing failed to reach the Russian army.

The army had begun to mutiny, and most wanted to go home to Russia.

At the same time as this, the Duma (Russian government) had decided to stop supporting the Tsar, as the Tsar had barely returned any of their support.

Because of this, the Tsar eventually abdicated, and the provisional government was instated.

Russia #1: The Tsar’s Government (1894-1917)

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia was an autocrat. He could do pretty much whatever he wanted, and a government (Duma) was not introduced in Russia at all until 1906. Though he did have a few advisors (ministers), he was free to ignore their advice if he so wished.  The Tsar needed the army (as the officers were generally noblemen), the church (which preached faith and loyalty to the Tsar), the nobility (to keep peasants under control), the Civil Service (which helped maintain the status quo!) and the Okrahoma (Secret Police) by his side to keep the country in order.

Army
Church
Nobility
ivil Service
Okrahoma

Inequality and Poverty.
There were many, many more peasants than there were nobles and middle classes–in fact, it got to the point when 2.5% of the population owned 80% of the wealth.

Russia was a pretty backward country, and its methods of farming had become obsolete–even though they were quickly industrialising, they were still far behind the rest of the world between the years 1900 and 1914. Most were poor, working long hours for little money; disease and death was rampant, and living conditions were awful, too. After 1900, lots of country people moved so that they might work in a factory in towns and cities. However, if they couldn’t find a place in the slums in the city, they generally ended up living in a box in one of the factories, often without heat, light, water or sanitation. So, as you can imagine, many were a bit upset by this and started striking and causing a fuss.

Political Parties Opposing The Autocracy:

• Social Democrats – Their ideas were often influenced by those of Karl Marx and the Communist Manifesto–they thought that there would be a revolution, and that the middle class would overthrow the upper class, and the working-class (proletariat) would overthrow the middle class, until everyone was equal, capitalism would have failed and everything would be shared.
• Bolsheviks & Mensheviks – The Bolsheviks were different from the Mensheviks in that they believed that the revolution could be acheived with one small party, whilst the Mensheviks thought that it’d be better if everyone revolted at the same time.
• Socialist Revolutionaries – said they’d share all land and industry after a revolution (therefore, a load of peasants really liked them)
• Cadets – weren’t revolutionary, but hoped that Russia would become more like Western Europe.

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