Was the First World War the most important reason for the downfall of the Tsar?
To an extent, yes. In August 1915, the Tsar went to take charge of the Russian army at the front despite the fact that his ministers and the president of the Duma (small parliament) warned him that it might be a huge mistake. They thought it could be such a terrible mistake because the Tsar would then be linked with any failure of the army. Initially the Tsar was popular but he soon became personally associated with failure. The generals felt that unless the Tsar was removed, there could be no victory. This was a disastrous mistake because it left the Tsarina in charge of running the country and when the army did fail the Russians blamed the Tsar. This was not good for his relationship with the citizens of Russia and many started to become less loyal to him. With Tsar Nicholas II helping the Russian army, the government was left under the control of the Tsarina (Alexandra). Her relationship with the Russian people was somewhat strained because she was German and there were rumours that
