In regards to Russia’s involvement to WWI. I read a book on the Gallipoli “Epic Fail” Campaign. Gallipoli by Alan Moorehead. In reading history I love reading about cause and affect.
One that caught my attention in this book was that Russia was heavily dependent on grain shipments from the US that came in through the Dardanelles, into the Black Sea. Turkey after a coup by the “Young Turks” so far had been sitting out the war. They were being wine and dined by both Germany and Britain for military contracts and aid. Germany saw how getting Turkey in on their side of the war would be a great diversion against Russia and Britain.
Germany had the contract to train and arm the Turkish Army and Britain had the contract to train and advise the Turkish Navy. Churchill, who then was First Lord of the Admiralty, seized two battleships that had just been laid down for the Turkish Navy. They had been meant to be the flagships of the newly reinvented Turkish Navy. But Britain decided they needed the ships more. This pissed the Young Turks off.
The German Ambassador to Turkey seized the moment and cabled back to Berlin who granted his request of offering a newly built battleship and a slightly old one to Turkey in exchange for alliance. The Turks readily agreed. The two ships were already in the Mediterranean and headed for the Dardanelles. With the British Mediterranean fleet hot on their heels. As soon as the two ships passed the Dardanelles straights. The German officer in charge of Turkish defenses closed the straights.
The effect was that all commercial traffic bunched up at the entrance. This was a huge amount of shipping traffic. Most of which was the grain barges making for Russian Black Sea port. After about a week the barges turned about and heading back to the US. This deprived Russia of badly needed grain.
The biggest reason for the overthrow of the Tsar was that the people were starving. These grain shipments was what was allowing Russia to feed its huge army and the populace at the same time. Without the shipments they couldn’t do both. Russia pleaded with Britain for help in opening the Dardanelles. So the Gallipoli Campaign was born, albeit reluctantly and poor planning on the British side. First was the failed Naval attempt. Then the combined Naval and Army full on invasion.
When it was apparent that Britain was not going to force the Dardanelles opened, Russia should of existed the war. But I think having the Tsar going to the front kept him from knowing the horrible conditions back home.
Heh, that was long. :’) Very interesting though. The tsarist regime had built its Trans-Siberian railway, which opened commerce to the Pacific, and completed it shortly before WWI. Getting grain via the Pacific probably couldn’t work I suppose, given the head-east infrastructure for US grain distribution.
Clearly everyone involved should have thought it through a bit better before embarking on the war itself. Avoiding WWI is perhaps the greatest “what-if” scenario of the 20th century. For example, I wonder if the overthrow of the tsar would even have been feasible had it not been for the necessity of buying and building so many small arms for the war itself.
Another of the goals of Bismarck’s treaty system had been to collaborate with Russia on the dismantling of the Ottoman Empire. Despite that covert history, Germany was also openly collaborating with Turkey on the construction of the proposed Berlin to Baghdad (to Basra) rail line, basically a commercial enterprise to broaden commerce between Germany and the Far East (and bypassing the Suez Canal, Gibraltar, English Channel, etc, and in the process, British shipping) while strengthening and modernizing the caliphate’s control over its territories.
It was worse because the Tsarina ran everything with Rasputin, who didn't care about anything except preserving himself and his position. Politicians who could have saved Russia were either dismissed or fired because Rasputin didn't like them.
Rasputin also didn't want a constitutional monarchy because he would have been dismissed by the government. It was only the autocracy protecting his position within the Imperial Family.