Chapter 7

Question 1

How did Nicholas II ensure that he was no more popular with ethnic minorities than his father had been?

Answer 1

He continued Russification and supported the ‘Black Hundreds’ organisations

Question 2

How many people were killed in Nicholas II’s coronation celebrations

Answer 2

1400

Question 3

Why was there more support than ever for a National Government?

Answer 3

The failure to handle the Great Famine 1891-92, over-bureaucratic incompetent Tsarist governments, and the role of the zemstva

Question 4

How did the Cossacks handle the rise of student protests?

Answer 4

13 were killed and 1,500 were imprisoned

Question 5

What nickname did the years 1902-07 earn due to the amount of arson throughout it?

Answer 5

The years of the red cockerel

Question 6

How did peasants try to rebel against the landowning elite and their masters?

Answer 6

They set fire to their landlords’ barns, destroyed grain, vented their anger to the landlords, and sometimes used violence

Question 7

How did Pyotr Stolypin handle the unrest?

Answer 7

He hanged so many peasants in response that he earned the nickname ‘Stolypin’s necktie’

Question 8

What was the change in industrial strikes from 1894 to 1904?

Answer 8

From 17,000 in 1894 to 90,000 in 1904

Question 9

How did Zubatov attempt to control illegal unions and did he succeed?

Answer 9

He organised his own police-sponsored trade unions but was unsuccessful as many unions became involved in General Strikes

Question 10

Which trade union was established by Father Gregorii Gapon and how many members did it have?

Answer 10

The Assembly of St Petersburg Factory Workers, with twelve branches and 8,000 members

Question 11

What did Plehve encourage in the Russo-Japanese War?

Answer 11

A short, swift response to a Japanese assault on the Russian far eastern naval base

Question 12

Why was Russia’s involvement in the Russo-Japanese War so flawed?

Answer 12

They had little idea of their enemy nor the inadequacies of their own forces, leading to widespread public opposition

Question 13

How many workers joined protests on the 3rd January 1905 and from where?

Answer 13

150,000 workers, which stemmed from the Putilov Iron Works

Question 14

What was Nicholas II’s response to the petitions and protests on 9th January 1905?

Answer 14

He ignored the petition and ordered 12,000 troops to break up the demonstration, leading to the death of 150 people and an outbreak of rebellions

Question 15

Who replaced Mirsky as Nicholas II’s Minister of Internal Affairs?

Answer 15

Alexander Bulygin

Question 16

What did Sergei Witte warn Nicholas II of in October 1905?

Answer 16

He warned that the country was on the verge of a revolution that would ‘sweep away a thousand years of history’

Question 17

What did Nicholas II promise in the October Manifesto?

Answer 17

He promised to grant civic freedoms and establish a state duma allowing a voice to all classes of the population

Question 18

What events weakened the revolutionary movement in the capital, besides the October Manifesto?

Answer 18

The street warfare between the police and revolutionaries, in which the leaders of the St Petersburg Soviet were exiled

Question 19

What did Nicholas II state in the Fundamental Laws, issued in April 1906?

Answer 19

He claimed the right to veto legislation, to rule by decree in an emergency, to appoint and dismiss government ministers and to dissolve the Duma as he wished

Question 20

What were the main political groups that played a prominent role throughout the Dumas?

Answer 20

Social Democratic Workers’ Party (later Bolsheviks and Mensheviks), Socialist Revolutionaries, Trudoviks, Kadets, Octobrists, Progressives, Rightists, Nationalists and Religious groupings

Question 21

Who received the most votes in the 1st Duma 1906, and how many seats did they have?

Answer 21

Kadets, and they had 182 seats

Question 22

What was the name given to the First Duma?

Answer 22

The Duma of National Hopes which lasted from May-July 1906

Question 23

What did the First Duma demand in its ‘address to the throne’?

Answer 23

Political amnesty, abolition of the State Council, transfer of ministerial responsibility to the Duma, universal and direct male suffrage, abolition of the death penalty and a reform of the civil service

Question 24

Ultimately, why was the First Duma dissolved by Nicholas II in July 1906?

Answer 24

They passed a vote of ‘no confidence’ in the government and demanded a resignation of the Tsar’s ministers - led to the rise of Stolypin

Question 25

What was the name given to the Second Duma?

Answer 25

Duma of National Anger from February-June 1907

Question 26

Why did Stolypin’s attempts to influence the elections to the next Duma fail?

Answer 26

More extreme left wing groups such as the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and the SRs decided to participate, swaying the vote

Question 27

How did Stolypin deal with his agrarian policies being rejected by the Duma?

Answer 27

He spread a rumour about a false plot to assassinate the Tsar and passed an illegal emergency act to alter the weighting of the franchise (reduced rights of peasants)

Question 28

What was the name given to the Third Duma?

Answer 28

Duma of Lords and Lackeys from November 1907-June 1912

Question 29

How many proposals did the Third Duma support?

Answer 29

2200 out of approximately 2500 proposals, showing it as a more submissive body

Question 30

Why did even the Third Duma fail to achieve support?

Answer 30

It had to be suspended twice in 1911 in order for the government to implement its own emergency legislation

Question 31

What was the name given to the Fourth Duma?

Answer 31

There wasn’t one and it ran from November 1912-1917

Question 32

How did Stolypin ultimately help to restore order in the countryside?

Answer 32

In August 1906, he established court martials to deal with political crimes, with over 3000 people being executed from 1906 to 1909

Question 33

How did the Rasputin scandal damage the reputation of Nicholas II?

Answer 33

Rasputin’s supposed mystical powers proved a great help during political turmoil, yet in a far calmer Russia, his dissolute private life turned many Tsarists against him

Question 34

What political group did Nicholas II show sympathy for?

Answer 34

Union for the Russian People, possibly showing his belief in his paternalistic role as Tsar