1.6) 1905-1917

Question 1

What did an engineering worker want from the 1905 revolution?

Answer 1

• 8 hour work days
• Better working conditions
• Better wages

Question 2

What allowed the Tsar to survive the revolution?

Answer 2

• Loyalty of the army
• The October manifesto

Question 3

What are the Fundamental Laws?

Answer 3

• Passed in April 1906
• The laws asserted the Tsars dominance over the Duma; the Tsar had any right to close the Duma and overrule it at any point
• Russification
• Tsar controlled zemstvas
• More influence to townspeople

Question 4

When did the 1917 Revolution begin and what happened?

Answer 4

• **7th March **in Petrograd 40,000 workers an engineering fatory striked for higher wages. The next day was international women’s day and thousands of women joined the strikes
• 2 days later thousands more had joined and protested everything they were upset with e.g food

Question 5

How did the Tsar repsond to the revolution?

Answer 5

• Tsar ordered strikes to be ended by force, Rodzianko, leader of the Duma sent a telegram saying the situation was at a cricis point
• The Tsar ignored him

Question 6

How did the Army respond?

Answer 6

• 12th March soldiers in Petrograd refused to fire at the crowds
• Some regiments shot their officers and joined the strikes
• The soldiers and the strikers marched to the Duma to demand it take control

Question 7

How did the Tsar respond to the Army’s response?

Answer 7

• Nicholas tried to return but it was too late
• Railway workers refused his train entry into Russia
• On the train the Tsar abdicated 15th March 1917
• Nicholas tried to pass the throne to his brother Alexis but people had had enough of the monarchy

Question 8

What was the peasants land bank?

Answer 8

• Created by Stolypin
• A system where peasants could buy land from less productive peasants and add it to their land
• It was supposed to create a class of prosperous land-owning peasants, loyal to the govt
• it did and these were called kulaks

Question 9

Why did the peasants land bank fail?

Answer 9

• The outbreak of war interrupted Stolypin’s reforms
• This lead to poorer peasants having to sell their land and roam the country looking for work
• 4 million peasants were encouraged to buy land along the Trans-Siberian railway. But returned home angry as all the good land had been taken by the rich

Question 10

Why did Stolypin’s failures lead to revolution?

Answer 10

• The peasants were angered, and Stolypin lost their support
• Therefore the majority of Russia was ready for revolution

Question 11

What economic change was there in the cities?

Answer 11

• Russia became the 4th highest global producer of coal, pig iron, and steel
• 40% of workers worked in a factory with thousands of workers. Factories became more efficient but strikes more likely
• Conditions and wages did not improve

Question 12

What was the Lena goldfield massacre?

Answer 12

• In 1912 a strike in the lena goldfields in Siberia was protesting poor conditions, low wages, and long hours. It lasted 14 hours
• Troops were sent, 170 peasants died and 375 wounded
• this opened the floodgates for more worker protests

Question 13

What were the Dumas?

Answer 13

Russian parliament, controlled by the Tsar

Question 14

What were the successes of the Dumas?

Answer 14

• 1st and 2nd dumas were very radical and demanded change (were shut down by the Tsar)
• 3rd Duma more conservative and critical of the govt. But did improve army and insurance for workers
• 4th Duma showed Tsar’s acceptance of Dumas, but then war broke out

Question 15

What were the failures of the Dumas?

Answer 15

• Fundamental laws proved the Dumas were empty promises and only a figure head
• The Tsar could dissolve Duma at any time
• Dumas could not pass laws oo appoint ministers and could not control finance
• Elections favoured nobles

Question 16

How did the Tsar aproach order and control?

Answer 16

• Terrorist action in countryside
• Stolypin appointed as minister
• There were the Okhrana (secret police) everywhere
• Everyone had to carry passports and travellers had to check in with the police
• Censorship tightened, newspapers frequently fined and had white boxes over articles

Question 17

What was Stolypin like?

Answer 17

• Tough
• He set up military courts that could sentence and hang a person on the spot
• He hung thousads of people, which became known as Stolypin’s necktie

Question 18

What was the October manifesto?

Answer 18

• Signed on the 17th October 1905
• Introduced fundamental laws
• Those who couldnt vote could participate in the Duma
• Laws in the Duma had to be approved
• Elected Duma representatives had to supervise the govt affairs

Question 19

How did the people recieve the October Manifesto?

Answer 19

• It appeased liberals
• upset the right wing (began to attack Jews and intellectuals)
• More strikes and threats of revolution

Question 20

Who was Rasputin?

Answer 20

• Rumours he had wild drunken parties and orgies, and seduced women with his hypnotic powers.
• Rasputin Seduced Several Noblewomen of the Russian Empire. he was rarely sober, and when he did
• (In June of 1914, a beggar womanstabbed him, he made a full recovery, even though he was close to death.
• After ingesting poison Rasputin only died to a gunshot to the head)

Question 21

What was the relationship between the Tsar and Rasputin?

Answer 21

• In 1907, Rasputin saved the Tsar’s only son from dying.
• Then it was runoured that the Tsarina an extremely holy women, had an affair with Rasputin.
• It was thought Rasputin had the Tsar wrapped around his finger.

Question 22

What effect did Rasputin’s relationship with the Tsars have?

Answer 22

• The influence of Rasputin worried the govt as they believed he was controlling the tsarina.
• The tsarians relationship with Rasputin lost the people’s trust, as she was thought to be a cheating German
• Rasputin was seen to be making the monarchy unstable and a symbol of corruption

Question 23

What were the effects of WW1 on Russia?

Answer 23

• Very little moral in the war. There was initial success against the Austrians, but Russians beaten badly by the Germans at Tannenberg and the Masurian lakes.
• Over 1 million soldiers were killed, wounded or taken as a POW by 1914. By March 1917, this number rose to 8 million
• All the damage caused was blamed on the officers who were ineffective, which only worsened as the war continued.

Question 24

What were the effects of the war on Russian homes?

Answer 24

• There was food shortages. As millions of male peasants were drafted, so there were less people working on farms
• Many factories began to close, resulting in a lack of coal and fuel being produced, meaning people going cold and hungry.
• Prices of goods rose while worker’s wages did not. Workers were asked to work more hours making matters even worse.
• Factories closed leading to high unemployment and greater poverty

Question 25

How does the Tsar respond to the War?

Answer 25

• Nicholas II went to the front line, in September 1915.
• Putting the Tsarina in charge, she ran the everyday duties of the Tsar.
• Nobody liked her and nobody trusted her
• Her close relationship with Rasputin also contributed to the collapse of her reputation, as it seemed he ruled the government

Question 26

How did the Tsarina rule?

Answer 26

• The population disliked her as she was opposed to the Dumas
• She dismissed able ministers and replaced them with ‘our men’, meaning men who would do what they told, or friends of Rasputin.
• There were many changes of ministers which meant that nobody was organising food, fuel and other supplies
• The railway system fell into a state of chaos, and trainloads of food were left to rot