The Russian people did not respond to the war with real enthusiasm. The

government could not overcome its traditional distrust of any

public initiative, even in the organization of medical supplies or

munitions for the forces at the front. In the Fourth Duma a majority of the

centre and moderate right formed a Progressive bloc and proposed the

creation of a national coalition government “possessing the confidence of

the country” and a program of reforms which could be carried out even in

wartime. The emperor rejected the proposal and prorogued the Duma on

September 3 (September 16, New Style), 1915. Eleven days earlier

Nicholas had decided to assume personal command of the armies in the

field. The result was that in Petrograd (as the capital had been renamed at

the beginning of the war, in place of the German-sounding St. Petersburg)

the empress Alexandra was in fact in control. She herself was under the

influence of the self-styled “holy man” Grigori Rasputin, whose hold over

her was because of his ability to arrest the bleeding of

the hemophiliac tsarevich, Alexis. Thus to the massive casualties at the

front, the retreat of the armies, and the growing economic hardships was

added the knowledge, widespread in the capital and among the upper

classes, that the government was in the hands of incompetents. Rumours

of treason in high places were widely believed, though the historical

evidence does not suggest that they were true. On the night of December

16–17 (December 29–30, New Style), 1916, Rasputin was murdered by a

group of conservative nobles, but by then the system was beyond

salvation. There was no hand at the helm, and the ship was drifting onto

the rocks.

Arch6 - resumen

Historia de la Psicología