It is argued that the 1917 February Revolution occurred largely because of the result of the First World War as well as the dissatisfaction with the manner in which the country was being run by the Tsarina, Alexandra Fyodorovna of Hesse, and Tsar Nicholas's ministers, who were acting on his authority whilst he was away at the Army Headquarters as Commander-in-Chief. A telegram from Mikhail Rodzianko to the Tsar on 26 February 1917, in which he begs for a strong, capable minister, serves to illustrate the lack of strong leadership under this arrangement.
The personal assumption of command by the Tsar in itself was a cause of much tension, for involvement in World War I was seen to be the root of the majority of the problems, (primarily economic) which Russia was experiencing internally, and the Tsar's personal association with the war served only to worsen further his already-wavering position.
Controversy also surrounded the role of Grigori Rasputin in the Russian royal family, with speculation arising regarding his relationship with the Tsarina in particular -- resulting in that most-intriguing assassination of Rasputin by members of the extended royal family. Furthermore, Alexandra's German heritage made her an unpopular figurehead for the Romanovs in Petrograd for the time that Nicholas (at the calling of Rasputin) was away at the front.
All political parties (apart from the Social Democratic Labour Party, divided between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks) had supported, in August 1914, Russia's participation in World War I, alongside the United Kingdom and France, the three being allied in what was known as the Triple Entente. After a few initial victories, the Tsar's armies were confronted with some very serious defeats -- particularly in East Prussia. The factories were not productive enough, the railway system quite insufficient, and the overall logistics poor, all of which explained Russia's considerable losses. More than 1,700,000 Russian soldiers were killed, and 5,900,000 injured. Mutinies sprang up often, with general morale at its lowest, and the officers and commanders were at times most incompetent. Some units, indeed, went to the front line with ammunition that was incompatible with their weapons. Over 140,000 desertions occurred in just one year.
On the home front, the famine was threatening and commodities were becoming scarce. The Russian economy, which had just seen one of the highest growth rates in Europe, was henceforth blocked from the continent's market. The Duma, composed of liberal deputies, warned Tsar Nicholas II of the impending danger and counselled him to form a new constitutional government, like that which he had dissolved after some short-term attempts in the aftermath of the 1905 Revolution. The Tsar ignored the Duma's advice.
p). Wikipedia does have good information: