IGCSE History: World War I – Factors within Russia that led to their withdrawal
Tactics
Tactics had not evolved much:
- They still used cavalry charges.
- Their main tactic was to fight a bloody retreat back deep into Russian territory using guerilla warfare and then, when the enemy was nearing exhaustion, refill their ranks with Russia’s reserve of manpower and destroy the enemy
- This did not work because the Russian industry could not supply them with the weapons and ammunitions necessary to arm its vast reserve of manpower.
- Russia’s economy was still dependent on farming.
- Russia did not have sufficient steelworks and munitions factories.
Infrastructure:
- Road systems were bad.
- Railway system was inadequate.
- Telegraph system was outdated.
Economy:
Their economy was built up on agriculture:
- They did not have the steelworks or munitions factories necessary to supply their army for a prolonged war.
Commanders:
Russian generals were overconfident and incompetent:
- They were not even on speaking terms with each other.
- The Germans had also broken the code used for Russian military messages.
- The Tsar (Emperor) was a bad military commander.
- Tsar was blamed for defeats.
- Peasants soon lost faith in him.
In the Tsar’s absence his wife the Tsaritsa Alexandra (a German) and a holy man named Rasputin assumed power:
- Rasputin had much influence over the Tsaritsa but both he and the Empress were extremely unpopular and were assassinated (Rasputin in 1916 and the Empress in 1918 along with the rest of her family.)
- The Empress’s German blood caused for the people to think of her as a spy.
Revolution:
By the end of 1916 many Russian soldiers began to desert.
- Loss of discipline in the military.
- Russian soldiers desired peace.
- Anti-war propaganda had a hand in this.
There was a massive hyperinflation with costs increasing by 5 -10 times.
February Revolution started soon after in 1917.
- This resulted in the emplacement of another King in Russia: This king was Prince Georgy Lvov.
- He was very unpopular for continuing the war.
- He was ousted by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks in the October Revolution in the sane year.
- They promised “Peace, Land and Bread”.
Lenin signed an armistice with Germany in November 1917:
- This led to the Treaty of Brest-Litvosk in March 1918.
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