Czar Nicholas was an extremely weak and ineffective leader of Russia. He broke the chain of Czars ruling Russia for hundreds of years with his downfall and the up rise of revolution.With his three main mistakes, he led Russia to fall into chaos and into a communist state.
His first mistake was leading his country into war against Japan. The two countries had competed for areas of land in Manchuria and Korea. They created multiple peace treaties, however, Russia broke them causing Japan to declare war. Russia was first attacked in Manchuria in February of 1904, leading them into over a year long war. Russia wanted to boost moral and nationalism back at home with the war, but they soon faced terrible losses against Japan and because of that, large civilian revolts appeared throughout the country.
Nicholas's second mistake was to be known as Bloody Sunday. On January 22nd, 1905, over 200,000 workers of Russia marched to the Czar's Winter Palace to demand better working conditions, more freedom, and a elected legislator. The soldiers guarding the palace were told to fire upon the unarmed protesters. Over 1,000 people were wounded and hundreds were killed, this provoked waves of protests and strikes against the Czar. To reason with the civilians, he created Russia's first parliament called DUMA. DUMA only lasted about 10 weeks, because citizen's demanded a constitutional monarchy and Nicholas did not want to share his power anymore.
His third and final mistake was leading Russia into World War I. The country was extremely unprepared for the massive war, lacking strength and warfare technology. German machine guns has the power to murder thousands of Russians everyday, and Russia lost almost every battle. Over 4 million Russians were either killed, wounded, or taken prisoner in the first year of war alone. This exposed the weakness of the Czar's leadership and caused unrest among the citizens, along with anger of the short food and fuel supply. He moved his headquarters to the war front to motivate the soldiers, and left his wife, Alexandra in charge of the country. She ignored his advisers and gave power to a holy man named Rasputin. He gave powerful positions in government to his friends and opposed many reform measures, out of fear, he was murdered.
It is important to understand the steps of why Russia crumbled. Without Czar Nicholas and his mistakes, the citizens would not have lead major revolts to change the government.
This is a video over viewing the Russo-Japanese War in greater detail
Here is a video of actors demonstrating what happened on Bloody Sunday
His first mistake was leading his country into war against Japan. The two countries had competed for areas of land in Manchuria and Korea. They created multiple peace treaties, however, Russia broke them causing Japan to declare war. Russia was first attacked in Manchuria in February of 1904, leading them into over a year long war. Russia wanted to boost moral and nationalism back at home with the war, but they soon faced terrible losses against Japan and because of that, large civilian revolts appeared throughout the country.
Nicholas's second mistake was to be known as Bloody Sunday. On January 22nd, 1905, over 200,000 workers of Russia marched to the Czar's Winter Palace to demand better working conditions, more freedom, and a elected legislator. The soldiers guarding the palace were told to fire upon the unarmed protesters. Over 1,000 people were wounded and hundreds were killed, this provoked waves of protests and strikes against the Czar. To reason with the civilians, he created Russia's first parliament called DUMA. DUMA only lasted about 10 weeks, because citizen's demanded a constitutional monarchy and Nicholas did not want to share his power anymore.
His third and final mistake was leading Russia into World War I. The country was extremely unprepared for the massive war, lacking strength and warfare technology. German machine guns has the power to murder thousands of Russians everyday, and Russia lost almost every battle. Over 4 million Russians were either killed, wounded, or taken prisoner in the first year of war alone. This exposed the weakness of the Czar's leadership and caused unrest among the citizens, along with anger of the short food and fuel supply. He moved his headquarters to the war front to motivate the soldiers, and left his wife, Alexandra in charge of the country. She ignored his advisers and gave power to a holy man named Rasputin. He gave powerful positions in government to his friends and opposed many reform measures, out of fear, he was murdered.
It is important to understand the steps of why Russia crumbled. Without Czar Nicholas and his mistakes, the citizens would not have lead major revolts to change the government.
This is a video over viewing the Russo-Japanese War in greater detail
Here is a video of actors demonstrating what happened on Bloody Sunday