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In 1917 Russia saw the collapse of the "Little Father of Russia." There were many reasons for this, and when they all came together they caused catastrophe for the Tsar's regime. Some problems could have been averted, but because there were so many other problems, they couldn't all be dealt with.
When the First World War happened, the Tsar became very patriotic, which made the country support him once more, temporarily overseeing his previous faults. He wished the army well and kept repeating how Russia would easily crush the oppositions, Germany and Austria.
They could have done this the Russia army was skilled enough, but without several essential things, they'd be useless. At one point "there was only one rifle to every ten soldiers and artillery guns were rationed to two or three shells a day," sources show. Some people didn't even have boots, which was a huge hazard when the Russian winter came, as they'd get frostbite and then be unable to fight. If only one in ten soldiers had a gun, presuming the rest had swords, how was one supposed to get past huge mounted calibre guns with only a sword? Fifty to seventy percent of those who went over the top died with guns, let alone swords it was just unimaginable. Also, considering the winters in Russia get extremely cold, it wasn't wise to not have proper cold weather clothing, which many of the soldiers didn't have.
Leadership is the key to a good army. The leaders were poorly organised, and poorly trained, with some still believing in bayonets, which were less than no match for heavy artillery and heavy machine guns. The soldiers were not much better trained with only a few weeks training for some soldiers, and without guns and boots, made them useless. They also needed more than just men to win the war. They needed large-scale industry and modern transport to have a chance to win. Scene as they had none of these, they didn't have much of a chance. Combined with poor leadership, only disaster would follow. This all came to show after the Russian army failed miserably in Tannenburg, where they were easily beaten by the German forces.
Back at home, there were also problems. There were severe food shortages throughout Russia that put pressure on the Tsar to do something, although unfortunately nothing could be done. With the war going on all the peasants that normally farmed the land were out fighting, so not much food was produced. Also, the transport wasn't very good, as Russia was so vast; there wasn't a very
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by Adam White
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