Sorry, this content is not available in your region. Jump to navigation Jump russian woman killed leaning out of car search This article is about the 1917 revolution in Russia. For the 1848 revolution in France, see French Revolution of 1848.

Lesser Coat of Arms of Russian Empire. The revolution appeared to break out without any real leadership or formal planning. Russia had been suffering from a number of economic and social problems, which compounded after the start of World War I in 1914. A number of factors contributed to the February Revolution, both short and long term. Historians disagree on the main factors that contributed to this.

Liberal historians emphasise the turmoil created by the war, whereas Marxists emphasise the inevitability of change. The February 1917 revolution  grew out of pre-war political and economic instability, technological backwardness, and fundamental social divisions, coupled with gross mismanagement of the war effort, continuing military defeats, domestic economic dislocation, and outrageous scandals surrounding the monarchy. Despite its occurrence at the height of World War I, the roots of the February Revolution date further back. Chief among these was Imperial Russia’s failure, throughout the 19th and early 20th century, to modernise its archaic social, economic and political structures while maintaining the stability of ubiquitous devotion to an autocratic monarch. The first major event of the Russian Revolution was the February Revolution, which was a chaotic affair, caused by the culmination of over a century of civil and military unrest. There were many causes of this unrest of the common people towards the Tsar and aristocratic landowners. These conditions caused much agitation among the small working and professional classes.