The Russian Revolution: History in an Hour. Rupert Colley
set in, the Duma proposed political reform and the formation of a government that would ‘enjoy public confidence’ but the Tsar, again protective of his autocracy, blocked such proposals, sacked all those who had instigated it, and dissolved the Duma.
In 1915, Russia lost Poland and the Baltic States to the Germans and Austrian–Hungarians. In September 1915, the Tsar, furious at the extent of Russian defeats, dismissed the commander-in-chief, his cousin, the Grand Duke Nikolay Nikolayevich, and took personal command of his armed forces. It was a disastrous move as not only did he lack any experience or expertise, he could no longer blame any defeats on his commander-in-chief, for they were now his responsibility.
The Tsarina’s Rule
With Nicholas away at the front and divorced from what was happening in Petrograd (the Tsar had changed the name of St Petersburg to the less Germanic-sounding Petrograd in August 1914), his wife, Alexandra, ruled on his behalf. Influenced entirely by Rasputin, she exasperated the government with a constant change of personnel. The government’s handling of both internal affairs and the economy, and its failure to stem the run of defeats, had many questioning its ability and loyalty.
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