Rasputin Responsible For The Collapse Of The Tsarist Regime?

How far was Rasputin responsible for the collapse of the Tsarist Regime?

When it collapsed in 1917, the Tsarist regime had been damaged by a number of factors, some the fault of Nicholas II, the Tsar, and some inherited from previous Tsars. The short term factors included Rasputin, the Tsarina, the Tsar himself, and the War, which could have been prevented with correct action from Nicholas II. The long-term factors included the Tsarist system, economic and social problems and the rise of opposition parties, which Nicholas was blamed for but was not his fault. One of the most well-known of these, portrayed in music and media, is Rasputin.

Rasputin was a self-ordained holy man from Russia, who through the influence he found over the Romanovs,

At the beginning, tensions within the country appeared to disappear, and the Tsar was popular amongst his people, applauded for his actions. There was a huge surge of patriotism within the country and many were almost excited for the war, which was a good decision for Nicholas in the short term as he gained a lot of support. However, this was quick, as throughout the war the Russian people were once again shown what an incapable leader they had, and paid the consequences for the war. The army were mostly conscripted, and fought bravely to defend their country from the Germans. However, they were ill equipped and suffered great losses. They were fighting a losing battle from the start, as the sometimes only had 3 bullets a day, fighting the advanced German war machines which fired 3 bullets a second. Nicholas stepped in and took personal control over the army, which did not help as he was not a great leader and the Russian people just blamed him for everything that went wrong with the army. Although he could not have done anything to better the situation, the Russians now had a scapegoat to blame their losses on, and this huge blow to Russia was blamed entirely on Nicholas II. There were also food and fuel shortages, as the government could no longer be relied upon to pay for the goods by 1916. The food was still being grown, but farmers were more hesitant to sell it, wondering if they’d ever see the money. The railways could not cope with the needs of the army and the cities, and by 1917, most working class citizens did not have enough food and fuel to live, and cursed the Tsar for causing this. The Tsar was engaged in a war he could not possibly win, and his refusal to admit this was killing his people, on and off the battlefield. His decisions in the war, taking personal command, left his faults projected onto Russia, and this caused most people who had stood up for him to turn against the Tsar