Military faliure

Question 1

Topic sentence and context

Answer 1

Russia experienced a string of crushing military defeats and disappointments from the outset of its involvement in WW1, causing widespread opposition to the regime. Russia suffered early losses at Tannenberg and Masurian Lakes, dealing a blow to national morale and exposing weak Tsarist leadership. Continual defeats were exacerbated by the lack of basic supplies such as weapons and provisions, as Russian casualties climbed to 2.4 million by 1915.

Question 2

Wood (2003)

Answer 2

As Wood (2003) comments, “revulsion [at the] slaughter soon engulfed the whole nation”, leading to “widespread manifestations of grief and indignation”. Wood explains that the staggering human toll, with little to no military gain to show for such sacrifice, caused growing criticism of the Romanov regime’s incompetency. Consequently, anti-war protests emerged in cities like Petrograd, further humiliating the Tsar - whose reputation was already maligned by his presence at the front rather than resolving internal divisions at home.

Question 3

Buchannan (1917)

Answer 3

As noted by Buchanan (1917), Russia’s British Ambassador, “if Russia was still united as a nation it was in opposing [the Tsar’s] present policy”. Here, Buchanan demonstrates Russia’s floundering war policy exposed the weakness of leadership to such an extent that Russia was “united as a nation” against it, as any support the regime had left rapidly evaporated. Overall, Russia’s military failure in WW1 was crucial in creating internal divisions that splintered confidence in the Tsarist regime and paved the way for revolution.