Booklet 1 - What was Russia like under Nicholas

Question 1

What was Nicholas II like?

1894 - 1905

Answer 1

• He has been judged to be a weak and indecisive man despite an autocratic state needing a decisive and effective leader
• Alexander III believed he lacked qualities to rule effectively
• Believed he had been given the divine right to rule
• The people of Russia hoped that Nicholas would be fairer than Alexander, he wasn’t

Question 2

How was Russia ruled under autocracy?

Answer 2

• Political security in firm hands of a secret police network - the Okhrana, which was brutally effective
• Political parties banned, critics of the Tsar were in prison or exhiled
• The press was censored
• The Tsar could overrule any legislation by word and he could pick anyone to be his minister
• Zemstvos (elected local councils) demanded a voice in national government but the Tsar didn’t listen to them

Question 3

What were the positives when Nicholas succeeded his father?

Answer 3

• The Russian Empire was at peace
• Domestic situation was stable
• The production of the Trans Siberian Railway was beggining
• Foreign investment was coming in
• Railway, iron, steel, cotton, silk, chemicals and banking industries were growing
• Massive progress in mines and oilfields as well as new machinery
  However, the Tsarist regime was heading to a major crisis

Question 4

Explain the economic structure of Tsarist Russia.

Answer 4

• Due to Russia’s vast size spanning thousands of km, communication across Russia was poor: bad infrastructure, dirt roads, little transport - had same amount of railway as Britain despite being 100x bigger
• Agricultural methods were outdated: peasant farmers used the stripsystem and had little no tools as well as lack of land
• Urban workers were young males who many were ex peasants and had literacy rates of twice the national average - highly perceptive of revolutionary ideas
• Large numbers of women in textile factories - St Petersburg and Moscow
• Work wages were extremely low, conditions in work was poor, high death rates from work related accidents and health problems
• Russia had late industrialisation: 1914 - world’s 4th largest producer of coal, iron and steel

Question 5

Explain the social structure of Tsarist Russia.

Answer 5

• Major ethnic diversity which resented Russian control: Russification imposed
• Russification: minorities had to speak Russian and accept Russian culture, teachings of their own was prohibited. Russian officials controlled non Russian parts of the empire
• The Russian nobility owned 25% of all land despite being 0.5% of the population
• (Peasants also, see on peasants card)

Question 6

Shortage of land caued most issues

What was the situation like for peasants during Tsarist Russia?

Answer 6

• 80% of the population but the worst off
• 1/3 could read and write, life expectancy was below 40 due to debt, dirt and disease
• 1890 - 64% of peasants who were called up to the army were declared unfit due to bad health
• 1891 - severe drought caused famine which led to disease and a death toll of 400,000
• Peasants had debt due to redemption payments, they had to pay their masters for their freedom and to pay for land they were given
• Little land led to over crowding and competition for land
• The mir (village commune) distibuted land by organising strips and taxes
• Land captains were locally appointed officials who disciplined peasants

Question 7

Who was Sergei Witte?

Answer 7

• He was the Tsar’s finance minister until 1903
• He was responsible for the period of economic expansion through government policy
• He believed the state should direct economic growth

Question 8

Resigned in 1903 - opposition faced by conservative system members

What did Sergei Witte do?

Answer 8

• He borrowed money from Britain and France
• Increased peasant taxes
• Exported oil and coal and limited imports through tarrifs
• The rouble was put on the Gold standard
• Trans siberian railway was built
• Achieved rapid industrail growth
• Couldn’t modernise agriculture due to opposition of landlords
• Industry largely made engineering goods (limited consumer goods)

Question 9

The negatives of Sergei Witte.

Answer 9

• The promotion of industrial growth came with major social problems - the people suffered from it
• Average working day was between 12 and 14 hours
• Housing was severly overcrowded and unsanitary
• The ban of trade unions and the strengthening of the police state meant that working class dissatisfaction was massively ignored

Question 10

Information of National minorities

Answer 10

• Russification
• Russification encouraged the formation of nationalist groups who campaigned for their independence from the Russian Empire
• The Jewish were targetted by Tsarist authorities
• Jews could not study at university and couldn’t live in rural areas
• Pogroms occured: attack and removal of Jewish peoplewhich was done and approved by the central government
• Thousands of Jews fled to USA and Western Europe