On October 21 1914, the Czar announced that that the halt of vodka production and sales in Russia would be permanent, lasting even beyond the end of the war. At the same time, a ban on the sale other hard liquors, and even beer and wine, went into place, except along with meals in private restaurants, though local municipalities would have the authority to ban such sales within their jurisdictions. -- today-in-wwi
In St. Petersburg, [On Dec 22 1914] it is reported that 4 consecutive days have passed without an arrest for drunkenness, which is a record. -- 100 Years Ago Today
No, primarily because the attempt was short-lived and there was a war on. Instead, it helped start the Russian Revolution of 1917.
See The Alcoholic Empire: Vodka and Politics in Late Imperial Russia or Vodka Politics: Alcohol, Autocracy, and the Secret History of the Russian State. Both are by Oxford University Press; the latter book came out just this year and focuses on the entire history of vodka in Russia.
Mark Schrad, the author of that second book, is a pretty good scholar on the topic, and he makes the captivating case that the prohibition of alcohol weakened Imperial Russia at the same time that it encouraged dissent. (Incidentally, Schrad digs up one of the best stories of the 19th century -- the infamous 19th century trip by the future Tsar Nicholas II to America, where he spends a debauched handful of weeks drunkenly hunting across the Great Plains with Buffalo Bill and George Armstrong Custer.)
In any event, alcohol was blamed as a contributing factor after the Revolution of 1905. In 1909-10, the First All-Russian Congress on the Struggle Against Drunkenness convened in St. Petersburg and attracted thousands of delegates who were concerned with the effect alcohol was having on Russia. At the time, Imperial Russia's government had a monopoly on liquor production and sale, and the Congress concluded that monopoly had to go.
After war broke out, Nicholas II appointed his cousin commander of Russia's military, and that cousin, Nikolasha, asked for emergency Prohibition in the war zone. That request was granted, largely because Nicholas II viewed it as a way to keep order in the area.
After initial success, Nicholas made it permanent. Temperance advocates loved the notion and came up with all kinds of economic forecasts that showed Russia would make all kinds of gains -- even with millions of men heading off to war -- thanks to the fact that the nation's workers were no longer drunk.
Of course, this didn't happen. With no alcohol sales, Nicholas II blew a huge hole in his country's budget. And people still managed to get alcohol. In conscription riots, almost inevitably the liquor warehouses (which were still in business because restaurants and high-class hotels could still sell alcohol) were the first targets.