THE ROMANOVS
The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for 304 years. The first Romanov was Michael Romanov, who was appointed to the throne in 1613. The last was Nicholas II, who abdicated in 1917, due to the ongoing Revolution. Under the Romanov's, power in Russia was centralized, and the Tsar drew power away from the nobles. These nobles, in turn, drew power away from the peasants.
SERFDOM AND POVERTY
The peasants of Russia were being repressed and forced into serfdom. By the mid 1800s, Russia had 23 million private serfs, and 23 million state owned serfs. Although they were granted emancipation in 1861, their conditions barely improved, as they were forced into poverty. The Great War further increased the poverty, as the resources needed to fight the war created massive amounts of inflation.
TSARIST RUSSIA IN THE GREAT WAR
Adding to the horrendous poverty was the poor performance of the Russian army in the Great War. They suffered major defeats at Tannenburg and the Masurian lakes. At the Masurian Lakes, for example, the Russians suffered 100,000 casualties. The Russian army was plagued by logistical issues and internal rivalries. At Tannenburg, the generals leading the Russian armies refused to communicate with each other.By the end of the war, Russia suffered an estimated 7 to 7.5 million casualties. The spending of resources needed to fight this war created massive amounts of inflation, and damaged the economy.
THE FALL OF A DYNASTY
Anger over these issues, food shortages, and the Tsars reactionary policies (e.g. dissolving the parliament when it didn't agree with him) culminated in a strike on February 27(according to the Russian calendar, which is 13 days behind ours). The garrison in Petrograd joined the strike. The tsars generals tried to convince him to abdicate the throne. Nicholas did so, and left it for his brother to take. Being no fool, his brother refused the throne. The Duma (the parliament) set up the Provisional government to rule Russia. The Tsar and his family were imprisoned and eventually taken to Yekaterinburg. There, they were killed to prevent a rescue by approaching pro-tsarist forces.