What were the effects of World War One on Russian life?

Question by circus.chica: What were the effects of World War One on Russian daily life?
I have to do a Historical Fiction on WWI for school, written in first person in the form of diary entries. I am doing mine from the point of view of a Russian girl whose father is a soldier, and I need to know what effects the great war would have on her life. (aside from the obvious “Her father is away from the family”) Thanks!

Answers and Views:

Answer by janniel
Unless her family was in the aristcratic or merchant class and quite wealthy, she would have experienced greater hardship and poverty as the war progressed . If her father had been the only wage earner in the family then the other family members would have had to try to find ways of bringing in money to survive, which would have been hard in the cities .The girls and women might take in sewing, laundry and the boys might do factory work or labouring, even if they were very young. Essentials such as food and fuel for heating became harder to obtain and more expensive to buy.
Background. The Russian economic, social and political system collapsed under the strain of the war and the country descended into chaos The railways were overstrained supporting the war effort, in the towns food ran short except for the rich, many politicians wanted a change of regime but Russia was an autocratic state and none took action.. In March 1917 there were food riots in Petrograd and the troops in the City refused to restore law and order, some joined the rioters. A Soviet or Council of Worker’ and Soldiers’ Deputies was set up and it initially supported a provisional government which, however had little public support. This was the beginning of the Russian Revolution.
It was really made in the streets of Petrograd with no leaders and no program.
Your Russian girl, if she lived in Petrograd would have witnessed these events.

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