7-Political authority and government under Nicholas II, 1894-1904 Flashcards
What did Nicholas declare he was resolved to do after his coronation?
“Maintain the principle of autocracy”
Why was Nicholas unpopular with the ethnic minorities? (3)
- Continued Russification
- His support for the Black Hundreds
- His right-wing and anti-Semitic ideals
Why had Russian society become more politicised ?
The failure of the tsarist government to deal with the crisis after Great Famine 1891-92
What was the name coined for the instances of arson in the rural communities?
The years of the red cockerel
How did Stolpyin deal with the peasant disturbances? (4)
- flogged
- arrested
- exiled
- shot in their thousands
What was the number of industrial strikes in 1904?
90,000
What were the consequences of the government’s incompetence to deal with the great famine? (3)
- greater public mistrust of the government’s competence
- firmer belief in the power of ordinary members of society playing a key role in the nation’s affairs
- reformist groups developed a broader support base by 1900
Who was the Moscow chief of the Okhrana?
Sergei Vasilevich Zubatov
What did Zubatov do to control the proliferation of illegal unions?
Began organising his own police sponsored trade unions
How did the Okhrana deal with outbursts of trouble in universities? (3)
- expel them
- exile them
- draft them into the military
How did the Okhrana deal with outbursts of trouble in universities? (3)
- expel them
- exile them
- draft them into the military
What methods did Zubatov use?
Providing ‘official’ channels through which complaints could be heard, in an attempt to prevent workers joining the radical socialists.
When did Bloody Sunday take place?
9 January 1905
When and where did the 1905 strike begin? (2) How many workers were involved?
- 3 Jan
- Putilov Iron Works
- 1500
Who encouraged the Tsar to respond to the Japanese assault in 1904?
Plehve
Who led the peaceful march on Jan 9th?
Father Gapon
What did Father Gapon wish to present to Nicholas, and to show what? (1)(2)
- A petition
- The workers’ loyalty and a request for reform
How many troops were used to break up the demonstration on Bloody Sunday?
12000
What did Mirsky agree to in 1904?
To invite zemstvo representatives to come to St Petersburg for discussions
What did Bloody Sunday cause?
An outbreak of rebellions, which spread across the Empire
What was Nicholas’ statement about Mirsky’s changes?
‘I will never agree to the representative form of government because I consider it harmful to the people whom God has entrusted to me’
When did Nicholas agree to meet the workers’ representation and after what? (2)
- 4 February 1905
- After the assassination of Grand Duke Sergei
How did Nicholas inflame sentiments? (2)
- Suggesting that the workers were badly advised
- Said the workers should return work
What was set up to set up a general strike and when did it begin?
A St Petersburg Soviet dominated by social revolutionaries at the beginning of October 1905
What Moderate Minister did Nicholas replace and with whom? (3)
- Mirsky
- Alexander Bulygin (Minister of Internal Affairs)
- Major-General Dmitri Feodorvich Trepov (Military governor)
What did the October Manifesto promise? (3)
- grant civic freedom
- to establish a state duma so allowing a voice to all classes of the population
- to give the state duma the power to approve laws
What did Trepov order troops to do despite the October Manifesto?
“fire no blanks and spare no bullets” in forcing strikers back to work
What did Jews and peasants suffer in 1905? (2)
- Pogroms
- rounded up and flogged
What was the arrangement of the lower chamber (the state duma)?
- members elected under a system of indirect voting by estates in favour of the nobility and peasants
- Deputies were to be elected for a five year term
What was the arrangement of the upper chamber (the state council)?
-half elected by zemstva half appointed by the Tsar
What was the arrangement of the government (council of ministers under the Prime minister)?
Was to be appointed exclusively by the Tsar. The government was responsible to the crown.
When did Nicholas issue his Fundamental laws?
23 April 1906
What did Article 4 of the Fundamental laws say?
“It is ordained by God himself that the Tsar’s authority should be submitted to, not only out of fear but out of a genuine sense of duty”
What did the Tsar claim the right to through the Fundamental laws? (9)
- veto legislation
- rule by decree in an emergency or when the Duma is not in session
- appoint and dismiss government ministers
- dissolve the Duma when he wished
- command Russia’s land and sea forces
- declare war, negotiate peace and treaties with foreign countries
- control military and household expenditure
- overturn verdicts and sentences given in a court of law
- control the Orthodox Church
On 3 December 1905 what weakened the revolutionary movement?
- The headquarters of the St Petersburg Soviet was surrounded and its leaders arrested
- Leaders were tried and exiled to Siberia
When was the SDWP founded?
1898
When did the SDWP split?
1903
What two groups did the SDWP split into?
Bolsheviks- led by Lenin
Mensheviks- led by Martov
What did the Bolsheviks believe in? (4)
- discipline
- centralisation
- organisation
- role of the proletariat under the party guidance
What did the Mensheviks believe in? (2)
- co operation with bourgeoisie/liberals rather than the peasantry
- use of legal channels of opposition
When was the first Duma?
May-July 1906
What was the nickname for the first Duma?
the Duma of National Hopes
Who boycotted the first Duma?(3)
- Bolsheviks
- SRs
- Union of the Russian People
How many of the new deputies came from the peasantry in the first Duma?
1/3
What was the first Duma strongly critical of and what did this lead to?
The Tsar and his ministers leading to the resignation of Witte
Who replaced Witte as Prime Minister?
Ivan Goremykin
What did the ‘address to the throne’ that the first Duma passed request? (8)
- political amnesty
- the abolition of the state council
- the transfer of ministerial responsibility to the Duma
- the compulsory seizure of land without compensation
- universal and direct male suffrage
- the abandonment of emergency laws
- the abolition of the death penalty
- reform of the civil service
What was Nicholas’ response to the ‘address to the throne’ and how did the Duma respond to that?
- the demands were ‘totally inadmissible’
- the Duma passed a vote of no confidence in the government and demanded the resignation of the Tsar’s ministers
For how many weeks was the first Duma dissolved?
10 weeks
Who replaced Ivan as prime minister?
Stolypin
When was the second Duma?
February-June 1907
What was the nickname for the second Duma?
The Duma of National Anger
Why was Stolypin’s government’s attempt to influence the elections unsuccessful?
The number of the more extreme left-wing increased enormously because the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and SRs decided to participate
What was the second Duma more of than the previous?
More oppositional
What did Stolypin struggle to find support for in the second Duma?
His agrarian reform programme
What did Stolypin do because he struggled to find support?
resorted to passing legislation under the Tsar’s emergency powers while the Duma was not in session.
How did the second Duma react to Stolypin? How did Stolypin react to this?
- They refused to ratify the legislation he passed when they were not in session
- Stolypin spread a story about a plot to kill the Tsar and dissolved the Duma
What did Stolypin do after dissolving the second Duma? What effect did this have?
- He introduced an (illegal) emergency law to alter the franchise
- The weight of peasants, workers, and minorities drastically reduced whilst the representation of the gentry increased
When was the third Duma?
November 1907- June 1912
What was the nickname for the third Duma
The Duma of Lords and Lackeys
What did the third Duma become?
More submissive
What did the third Duma become?
More submissive
How many government proposals were agreed in the third Duma?
2200/2500
What was the sign of how unpopular the tsarist regime had become in the third Duma?
This Duma proved confrontational
What did the Third Duma dispute over? (3)
- naval staff
- Stolypin’s proposals to extend primary education
- Stolypin’s local government reform
How many times did the third Duma get suspended and when?
- twice
- 1911
How did the government pass legislation under the third Duma?
forced it through the emergency provisions
What was made clear about the Dumas in 1912?
The Duma system was not working
When was the fourth Duma?
November 1912-1917
Who was the new Prime Minister under the fourth Duma and for how long did he remain at his post?
- Count Vladimir Nikolaevich Kokovsov
- 1914
What was the fourth Duma like?
relatively docile
How and When did Stolypin die?
- Assassinated
- 1911
What did the Prime Minister of the fourth Duma proclaim?
“Thank God we still have no parliament”
How did Kokovtsov treat the Duma and what was the effect of this?
He simply ignored it. This caused the influence of the Duma to decline.
Why could the fourth Duma not fight against Kokovtsov?
They were too divided
What did the workers do in the fourth Duma?
They seized the initiative with a revival of direct action and strike activity in the years before the war.
