War economy

Question 1

Topic sentence and context

Answer 1

The Tsarist regime’s gross misallocation of resources to the failing war effort engendered severe domestic shortages that provoked widespread public antagonism. As factories were diverted to produce war materials, civilian manufacturing collapsed, with agriculture plummeting to just 15% of its prewar output.

Question 2

Okhrana (1916)

Answer 2

As noted in a 1916 Okhrana report, the resulting acute shortages of food and fuel led to “unfair distribution of foodstuffs, a rapid decrease in the cost of living, an inadequacy in sources of supply.” Here, the report highlights that grave neglect of domestic needs caused starvation and economic turmoil across Russia, concluding there were now “exceptional feelings of hostility” towards the Romanovs. With inflation spiralling (reaching 200% by 1916), and families starving, outrage erupted in frequent worker strikes protesting poor conditions and lack of supplies.

Question 3

Waldron (1997)

Answer 3

Historian Waldron (1997) comments “The government proved incapable of recognising the strains that a war economy placed upon the ordinary people of the empire… By 1917 the Russian people had no will to support… the monarch.” Waldron notes that the regimes disregard for public living conditions while waging a futile war fuelled rising discontent, as the regimes legitimacy was called increasingly into question. The war thus exposed fundamental flaws in Russia’s economy, further straining the fragile unity and loyalty binding the Russian people to the Tsarist regime.