After the Russo-Japanese war of 1905, the Russian army was severely weakened and, as a result, the Russian government was forced to endure the restraints of a cautious foreign policy. As it was necessary for the Russian army to rebuild itself before Russia could again be considered as great a power as it had been, most of Russia's efforts had to concentrated within the country. For assistance in rebuilding its power, Russia received loans from France, which strengthened their alliance.

After having been defeated in the Russo-Japanese war, Russia no longer had much influence in East Asia and therefore turned its efforts to the Balkan states where an unstable situation was developing with the weakening of the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire. The Russian foreign minister, Aleksandr Petrovich Izvolsky, failed to consummate a deal with Austria over the control of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This resulted in Austria taking control of those

The government, having struggled for years with its finances, and being no longer supported by France, began to have serious financial trouble. That, combined with the food shortage, caused a huge rise in inflation which workers' wages could not keep up to. The workers began striking during the summer of 1915, these strikes escalated and eventually targeted on the Putilov Armament and St. Petersburg in January of 1917. In retaliation to these strikes, the government arrested all members of a group affiliated with these strikes, the Central War Industries Committee.

Because Russia had, for a long time, had a policy of protecting its Slavic 'brothers', the Assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand in June of 1914 and the ensuing demand by Austria of Serbia put Russia in a difficult situation. It could not very well back down to Austrian demands again (as it had in the Bosnia-Herzegovina affair), and yet to not give in would mean to set the two sets of alliances at odds (the Triple Entente against the Triple Alliance) and to put Europe at war. But, in accordance with the beliefs of the time, Russia decided in favour of the war in hopes that their power would be extended and solidified in the Balkans.

At first it seemed as if the war would only reinforce support for the Russian monarchy: the Duma (a governmental assembly which had members opposed to the monarchy) w

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Approximate Word count = 928
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)