7. Nic II and challenge to autocracy Flashcards
Nicholas II ideologies
‘to maintain the principle of autocracy just as firmly and unflinchingly as it was preserved by my unforgettable dead father’
● Commitment to Orthodoxy ensured that the Church maintained influenced
● Continued russification & support for the ‘Black Hundreds’ organisations (right wing & anti-Semitic policies’.
Gov under Nic II
May 1896 conrination events
- gathered on Khodynka field.
- Promise of free food to celebrate.
- Crush to see tsar and wife.
- 1400 trampled to death - conrination continued.
- Nic later visited injured in hospital + money to those who lost loved ones.
Demands for change
Post 1894 - great famine effects
- Failure to cope w/crisis - zemstva & voluntary organisations had to provide relief work bred scorn and despair
- Greater public mistrust of govt competence & firmer belief in power of ordinary people in society to play a role in national affairs
- Reformist groups developed stronger support by base by 1900
Demands for change
Role of Okrana
- new outbursts of trouble in uni’s
- they expelled, exiled or drafted rebels/submitted to military force
Demands for change
Result and year that mounted Cossacks stormed students
- St. P
- Killed 13, arrested 1500
Demands for change
Disturbance in towns & countryside
1902-1907
instances of arson in the rural committees - ‘the years of the red cockerel’
* Unrest worst in central Russian provinces where landlord/peasant relationship remained.
* Peasants set fire to their landlord’ barns destroying grain/ physically attacked.
Demands for change
Role of Stolypin
- dealt w/disturbances by flogging, arresting, exiling, or shooting (in the thousands’.
- Gallows became in frequent use STOLYPIN’S NECKTIE = nickname for the hangman’s noose.
When was introduction of police-sponsered trade unions, and what did it do?
- 1900
- provided official channels for complaints to be heard, in attempt to prevent workers joining radical socialists.
demands for change
Industrial strikes
- escalated
- 17k in 1894 - 90k in 1904
- violent attacks between police and strikersbecame commonplace.
demands for change
Role of Father Gapon
- created Assembly of St Petersburg Factory Workers.
- Was approved by minister of IA (Plehve) & had the support of the Orthodox Church.
- Soon had 12 branches & 8000 members.
Russo-Japanese War
Original cause of war
- Russian drive to the East + building of Trans-Siberian railway.
- 1896: Chinese allowed an additional line to be constructed south .
- 1898: a spur line added to Port Arthur granted to Russia on 25-year lease.
- Japanese had briefly held peninsula in 1895, objected + began shelling the naval base in 1904.
Russo Japanse war
Battle of Port Arthur
1904
* After a long siege Port Arthur eventually fell to Japanese.
* Russian flagship struck Japanese mine with heavy loss of life and one of its best admirals.
* The battle fleet was spilt between Port Arthur and icebound Vladivostok.
Russo Japanse war
Battle of Makdun – Feb 1905
- Major engagement near this Manchurian city led to 85,000 Russian and 41,000 Japanese losses.
- Russian reserves of manpower depended heavily on success of Baltic fleet
Russo Japanse war
The Baltic fleet
- 2nd oct 1904
- gov ordered Baltic fleet to sail via Africa to Manchuria.
- Reached Tsushima Strait 7 months later in poor condition.
- old ships = less manoeuverable + Japanese had more modern rangefinders and gunners.
- Battle lasted a day.
- Entire fleet lost at the expense of 3 Jap torpedo boats.
Russo Japanse war
Battle of Tsu – shima May 1905
- Russian Baltic fleet arrives in the War Zone.
- Despite Russian fleet appearing more powerful reverse was true.
- Japanese navy was quicker and Russian ships were overweight and so less effective.
- An ambush by the Japanese wiped out Russian fleet with loss of 12,600 men.
- Effectively the war was over and Russia had to sue for peace
Russo-Japanese war
Role of Phleve
encouraged the Tsar to respond to Japanese assault on the base
● JANUARY 1904: proceeded with a ‘short swift victorious war’ - would detract from unrest at home
Russo-Japanese war
Russian weakness
- Russians had no idea of enemy/inadequacies of their own forces
- War 6000 miles from capital was not easy & series of defeats turned initial surge of anti-Japanese patriotism into opposition for Govt
Aftermath of Phleves assasination
JULY 1904 crowds turned out on the streets to celebrate in Warsaw
* Renewed cries for representative National Assembly & NOVEMBER 1904 Mirsky invited zemstvo reps to come to St Petersburg for discussions.
* N II - ‘ I will never agree to the representative form of government because I consider it harmful to the people whom God entrusted to me’ - concede to expansion of the zemstva.
1905 REVOLUTION - bloody sunday
Date of bloody sunday
9th January 1905
1905 revolution - bloody sunday
Lead up to Bloody sunday - 20th dec
= Russia surrendered to Japan - humiliation (1904 2 October - whole Baltic fleet lost to 3 Japanese torpedo boats).
1905 rev
lead up to bloody sunda - 3rd Jan
- strike at Putilov Iron Works in st. p
- 150k workers
1905 rev
Bloody Sunday events
- decided to conduct a peace march to Winter Palace.
- Gapon wished to present a petition to N II demonstrating workers’ loyalty but also requesting reform.
- N II was at summer palace & 12,000 troops were issued to break up the demonstration.
- sparked an outbreak of rebellion which spread throughout Empire
1905 rev
4th february
- Tsar decide to meet workers’ representatives after Grand Duke Sergei (uncle) was shot.
- Inflamed sentiment by upsetting marchers that they were badly advised & should return to work
- Dismissed Mirsky & brought in Buygin as Minister of IA & major-General Trepov Military Governor of St Petersburg to follow a hard-line policy
1905 rev
Mutiny on the ship - Battleship Potëmkin
- Began due to mould meat ration & lead to a full-scale mutiny in which 7 officers were killed.
- Soldiers hoisted revolutionary flag & sailed to Odessa where they placed a dead soldier’s’ body at the steps between the city & the harbour.
- When townsfolk arrived to pay respects troops fired on them
- More than 2000 killed & 3000 wounded
1905 rev
October manifesto + reaction
Signed 17th oct
* Grant civic freedoms (speech, personal rights)
* Est. a state duma for all classes
* Give duma powers of legislation
Workers celebrated in crowds - radicals defied this ‘we have been granted a constitution, but autocracy remains’ -
N II did not want constitutional Monarch & few of ministers had a real commitment to manifest promises
1905 rev
Counter revolution
- Trepov ordered troops to fire in forcing striking workers back to their factories.
- Jews suffered in terrible pogroms - gangs sent to round up and flop peasants to restore order
- 3 DEC - leaders of PS surrounded & arrested & exiled to siberia
- Weakened movement and restored control to authorities.
- Another month of warfare in moscow.
The era of the Dumas
1st Duma
May-July 1906
* boycotted by Bolsheviks, SR’s + extreme right.
* Mostly rad lib, 1/3 peasants.
* Requested radical reforms = refused.
* dissolved july.
* sent 200 delegates to Vyborg to orginise protest, failed + leaders imprisioned.
Era of the dumas
2nd Duma
Feb-july 1907
* more left-wing as Bolsheviks + SD’s participated.
* Opposed gov
* dissolved after refusing to support Stolypins agarian reforms. - some delicated arrested + exiled.
Era of the dumas
3rd duma
nov 1907 - june 1912
* more submissive - agreed to approx 2200/2500 gov proposals.
* disputes over naval staff + stolypins reforms to extend primary education.
* 1911 suspended 2x.
era of dumas
4th duma
nov 1912-1917
* relatively docile body
* PM - count Vladmir claimed = “thank God we still have no parliment.” - ingored Dumas.
* Too divided to fight back
Era of dumas
LOWER CHAMBER - STATE DUMA
Members elected through indirect voting (peasants & nobles) but was weighted in favour of the nobility (Tsar’s natural allies)
Era of dumas
UPPER CHAMBER - STATE COUNCIL
Half zemstva elected, half Tsar appointments - nobles from maj. Social, religious, educational and financial institutions
- Both houses had equal legislative power & all legislation needed Tsar approval & any three bodies could veto legislation
Russian PM role
Appointed exclusively by Tsar, loyal to tsar not duma
Fundermental laws, date and content
23 april 1906
Tsar claimed the right to
- Veto legislation
- Rule by decree in an emergency/ when duma was not in session
- appoint/dismiss govt ministers
- Dissolve duma when wished
- Command russia’s land and sea forces
- Declare war, conclude peace/ control all foreign relations
- Overturn verdicts & sentences in a court of law
- Control the orthodox church
Political groups
- SD’s - 1903 divided into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
- SR’s
- Kadets (constitutional demoncrats)
- Octoberists (union of 17th oct)
- Rightests.
Political groups
Bolsheviks
- Hard-line faction of Social Democratic party, favored swift change, opposed collaboration with other parties.
- Split from Mensheviks in 1903, led by Lenin, kept low profile until 1917.
- Lenin’s charisma and ruthless leadership led to gaining military power.
- Re-split Mensheviks, gained members like Kollontai and Trotsky.
- Seized government control, core of Communist governance under Lenin’s essentially dictatorial rule.
Political grouping
Kadets
- Moderate liberal party in Russia.
- Dominated first and second Dumas but faced restrictions as government removed left-wingers.
- Despite losses, pushed reforms with Octobrist support, often vetoed by Nicholas.
- Leader Lvov replaced by Kerensky, diminishing party’s power.
political groups
Mensheviks
- Less hardline - advocated gradual transition to socialism.
- Embraced democracy.
- Led by Julius Martov.
- Split in 1917, some members rejoined Bolsheviks; divided in red-white factions during civil war.
- Party made illegal in 1921 after Kronstadt uprising.
Political groups
SR’s
- Advocated radical reforms: land redistribution, ousting the Tsar; favored by peasants.
- Employed violence, targeted opponents, causing casualties.
- SRs split in civil war: right backed Whites, left supported Reds; some remained neutral.
- Notable members: Alexander Kerensky, Victor Chernov.
- Influence prominent in the First Duma.
Political devs to 1914
- Stolypin restored order in the countryside
- Est. court martials to deal w/ political crimes (cases had to finish in 2 days & accused was not allowed defence - deaths sentence carried out in a day) - 3000 convicted and arrest 1906-9
- Agrarian situation improving
- Dumas weakened to point of meaninglessness.
Russo-Japanese war
Peace of Portsmouth
1905, signed treaty
* Recognised Japanese control of Korea
* Russia forced to hand over Manchurian railway leases and lease of Port Arthur to Japan
* Russia surrendered island of Sakhalin to Japan
Russo - Japanese war
Results
- Dire consequences for prestige, as in Crimean war Russia had overestimated their capabilities.
- It would inevitably have serious domestic repercussions.
- It highlighted Russia’s poor strategy and inadequate military planning
