The Tsarina came to rely on Rasputin, which gave him immense influence over the Royal family. This was a huge worry to many in Russia and rumours began to circulate about Rasputin even having an affair with the Tsarina (which is extremely unlikely). Things came to a head when the Tsar left the Royal palace to command Russian troops during the First World War - many saw Rasputin as giving orders in the Tsar’s absence and Russia descending into chaos.

The war also provided existing revolutionary groups with an opportunity. With the army and police concentrating on the war effort, and the people feeling the strains caused by war, they were able to find more and more disgruntled peasants and workers who would agree with and join their cause.

There is no truth to the stories about Rasputin and the Empress Alexandra having been lovers, but the speculation was propaganda spread by enemies of the Romanovs on both sides of the political aisle. Those on the left, who wanted revolution and the overthrow of the Romanovs, spread such tales to indict the monarchy as hopelessly corrupt and debased, those on the right, who resented the royal couple’s embrace of a peasant they viewed as a dangerous charlatan, spread such tales hoping to convince Nicholas and Alexandra to send Rasputin away for good. TThe fact that the Tsarina was German became something of an issue for many Russians - many believed persistent rumours that she would spy for Germany or even try to sabotage the Russian war effort.

Russia was a nation of vast land reserves – but because most farming was done by hand (implies industrial development was hindered by certain reasons), with little machinery or infrastructure, productivity was very low and many peasants lived hand to mouth.

As more and more men went to war, the work of factories and farms became a matter of some concern. Russian industry and agriculture struggled to cope with the war economy. Food shortages in the cities were heightened by the war – the limited railway system was focused on transportation of men and arms to the front, rather than food to the cities. Riots broke out as a result of starvation, workers in the cities complained about the situation they found themselves in and, as the number of dead continued to rise, the level of discontent grew.

As the Russian government began rationing flour and bread, rumors of food shortages circulated and bread riots erupted across the city of Petrograd

The success of Russian harvests often hinged on favourable weather conditions. Russian farmers experienced droughts every five to seven years, each producing crop failures, drops in yield and food shortages. These droughts were a significant causal factor of the Great Famine. Russia’s total crop yield in 1921 was about half that of 1913, the last year of peace. Worse still, the winter of 1916-17 was exceptionally cold, even by Russian standards (which, if anyone has been to Russia, is seriously cold). This caused yet more famine as crops failed.

The famine also gave rise to horrific tales of murder and cannibalism, as well as a black-market trade in human flesh.The true extent of cannibalism during the Great Famine is unknown. Historians have verified some accounts but many stories remain apocryphal and were possibly exaggerated by anti-Bolsheviks or the hostile foreign press.

In the midst of inflation and growing starvation unrest was guaranteed to grow. In some areas people began to strike in protest - a bold move for people with memories of the bloody results of strikes ten years before. Resentment grew and people began listening to extremist groups like the Bolsheviks. The indirect reason was that the government, in order to finance the war, printed millions of ruble notes, and by 1917, inflation had made prices increase up to four times what they had been in 1914.

Things came to a head in the Naval base of Kronstadt, where conditions for sailors were truly awful. The soldiers, buoyed by the ideas of the Bolsheviks, rose up and shot their officers. Revolution appeared to be approaching.