WWI as accelerant

The First World War destroyed the Tsarist regime. Russia suffered enormous casualties (perhaps 1.7 million killed), economic disruption, food shortages, and political incompetence at the top. Nicholas II took personal command of the army in 1915, associating himself with every defeat. The Empress Alexandra and the strange peasant mystic Rasputin discredited the monarchy. By early 1917 the regime was hollow.