How Far Do You Agree That the First World War Was the Most Important Reason for the Abdication of the Tsar in February 1917?

How far do you agree that the First World War was the most important reason for the abdication of the Tsar in February 1917?
There were many reasons for the Tsar’s abdication and murder, the war being one of them however there were many other reasons such as the lack of political reform and the state of the country before the war itself.
However I agree that the First World War was a very big reason for the relinquishment of Tsardom in 1917. Russia had the largest army and gained some early successes against Austria-Hungary, but that was not to last. They suffered major defeats during the war such as the battles of Tannenburg and the Masurian lakes. This is because Russia was still a ‘Backward agrarian economy’ no match for the modernised superpowers in the war like Germany which was the reason for many of Russia’s defeats. Not only that, the Russian army was also very large and unorganised; lead by aristocrats who neither had the knowledge or skill to lead the massive army, many of the top officers had been appointed because of their loyalty to the Tsar. Furthermore the performance of the War Ministry was dire, compounded by the breakdown of the distribution system: there was a lack of supplies and equipment, especially rifles, ammunition and boots. Additionally, the Tsar was the leader of the army so all the military defeats were the Tsar’s fault in the view of the public. As a result the tsar became very unpopular for the defeats in the war and lost the support of the army because of the incompetence of their officers and the lack of regard for their welfare.
The First World War also affected the many people at home who were already suffering before the war itself. The strain of equipping and feeding millions of soldiers proved too much for the Russian economy and revealed its structural weaknesses. The military needs had the priority and so it was very difficult for Russia to keep food production up because of all the people leaving for the war and so agriculture collapsed because it was very labour intensive and peasant’s stopped selling as there was little incentive to do so. Inflation compounded these problems, Russia abandoned the gold standard and started printing money to pay wages and so government spending increased which lead to the price of food and fuel to quadruple. Hundreds of factories closed and thousands became unemployed. To conclude, the situation in Russia went from bad to extremely bad with unemployment, inflation and lack of supplies which lead to many extremist groups gaining support.
However the war wasn’t the only main reason for why the Tsar was overthrown. It was also the Tsar’s failure to make any political reforms after the revolution of 1905 which nearly lead to the deposition the Tsar. During the war the tsar had the chance to make some concessions to political that might have saved him. Russia could have slipped into a constitutional monarchy and the pressure would have been taken off him personally. However that did not occur and the Tsar continued to contradict the Duma’s purpose by upholding the Fundamental laws. Nicholas had shown that he was never really willing to work with or listen to the Duma. He looked for excuses to close down session; he was only concerned with preserving the autocracy largely because he believed it was a better way of running Russia. He did not understand that by passing some of his responsibilities to an elected assembly, he could avoid the criticism and hostility directed at him from various sections of Russian society which was exactly what happened between 1906 and 1917. A mention could also go to Tsar himself and his inability to rule which was also a reason for the Tsar’s relinquishment.
One of the main causes for the abdication of the tsar was the state of Russia even before the war which had put the Russian people in a lot of misery and suffering. The Russian peasants and urban workers, who were already suffering from terrible conditions because of the Legacy of Serfdom, had been forced to pay redemption taxes and live on terribly low wages because of Witte’s policies. The result of the poor living conditions and taxes forced people to live in rooms that more than 10 people. This gave the Russian workers a mass consciousness and it was much easier to organise themselves into different radical groups and such. Furthermore the economic slump after 1900 had led to high unemployment and social tensions in town which led to more uprisings and opposition to be formed Bolsheviks and Octoberists which contributed to the abdication of the tsar.
In conclusion, I believe that the First World War was a very important for the abdication of the tsar, if not the most important reason as it ruined the economy, sociality and welfare of the people. All the countries’ economies were left in tatters after the war but they were able to recover better because of their industrialisation unlike Russia whose economy broke down and collapsed. However the lack change and political reform and the social and economic problems even before the war were important reasons too.