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| 1 August 1914 (declaration of war by Germany) |
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Tsarist autocracy and empire to 1917. A parliament - the Duma - was created following the 1905-06 revolution, but its role was purely consultative.
In March 1917, the Tsar was forced to abdicate as a result of growing discontent with the war and deteriorating conditions at home. He was replaced by a provisional government in which Alexander Kerensky became the dominant figure.
In November 1917 (October in the Russian Julian calendar), Kerensky's Provisional Government was overthrown by Lenin's Bolsheviks and Russia became the world's first communist state. The Tsar and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks in July 1918. |
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Nicholas II: tsar, 1894-1917
Vladimir Lenin, 1914-17 |
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| 1.4 million men (1914). Russia's army was the largest in the world and, by December 1914, had grown to 6.5 million men |
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| 9 battleships, 12 cruisers (different classes), 29 destroyers, 67 torpedo boats, 15 submarines, 8 minelayers, 7 coastal gunboats in the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets (1914) |
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| 360 aircraft, 16 airships (1914) |
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Russia had been humiliated by Japan in the 1904-05 war, and this had triggered a period of reform, unrest and modernisation. The Duma was established following the 1905-06 revolution, and the armed forces were modernised.
Russia regarded Germany as its main threat, and signed an Entente with Britain in 1907.
In 1914, the country was still racked by political dissent, which, three years later, would explode into major revolution. |
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| Russia's army was huge but poorly equipped: in December 1914, 6.5 million soldiers shared 4.6 million rifles. The country's primitive transport infrastructure made it difficult to deploy this huge force |
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| 1.7 million dead, 4.95 million wounded; 2.4 million taken prisoner |
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