How did Russias involvement in World War I contribute to the Russian Revolution?
A big question. Russia lost more soldiers at the start of WWI than any other army. They were under fed, under equipped and did not have proper clothing. The Germans mauled them at Tannenburg and the Russians never really recovered. The Tsar was an absolute autocrat and did not allow dissension. He had already suffered a revolution in 1905 after the disastrous defeat at the hands of the Japanese and was rife for another revolution. It came when things got so bad that workers decided to strike and whole army units began to abandon the front line. The Tsar went to the front to personally take command – a job he was wholly unqualified for. In his absence the Duma under Kerensky took control. Unfortunately for Kerensky, in order to gain any kind of aid from the Capitalist west he had to continue the war. This was too much for the Russian people and, in their name, the Workers and Peasants Soviets – bodies that existed before the communist take over – backed Lenin and his Bolsheviks in their
