The Russian Empire in the early 20th century was an autocratic state ruled by Tsar Nicholas II, who resisted political reform.

Russian society was deeply divided, with a small, wealthy nobility and a vast, impoverished peasant population.

Russia's rapid but incomplete industrialization created a new, discontented urban working class with poor living and working conditions.

Revolutionary ideologies, particularly Marxism, gained followers among the intelligentsia and workers.

The disastrous defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 exposed the weakness of the tsarist regime and led to the Revolution of 1905.

The 1905 revolution, though suppressed, forced the Tsar to grant a limited constitution and create a parliament (the Duma), which he later stripped of power.

The immense strain of World War I was the final and most important cause.

The war led to millions of casualties, severe food shortages on the home front, and a complete loss of confidence in the Tsar's leadership.

The Tsar's wife, Tsarina Alexandra, and her reliance on the mystic Rasputin further discredited the monarchy.

By 1917, the tsarist regime had lost the support of nearly every segment of Russian society.