Chapter 7 - Nicholas II and the challenge to autocracy Flashcards
Nicholas II and the challenge to autocracy
Nicholas II’s character
- weak, short
- no real authority
- politics bored him
- believed him being Tsar was God-given
Nicholas II’s aim
“maintain the principle of autocracy just as firmly and unflinchingly as it was preserved by my unforgettable dead father”
Committed to preserving Orthodoxy
Continued Russification
Why did Nicholas II’s reign not begin well?
May 1896
- crowds gathered on Khodynka Fields to celebrate Nicholas II’s coronation
- around 1,400 people were trampled to death, and others were badly injured
- coronation ceremonies and dancing went ahead as though nothing had happenend
- Nicholas later visited the hospital where the injured had been taken
- he also gave money to the families of those who died
Why was there unrest in Russia in the years after 1894?
- The failure of the government after the Great Famine, which had bred scorn
- Public mistrust of the government’s competence
- Firmer belief in the power of ordinary members of society to play a role in the nation’s affairs
- Reformist groups had consequently developed a broader support base by 1900 than every before
- Rebellious young people
- e.g. 1901 a squadron of Cossacks charged into a crowd of students in St Petersburg, killing 13. 1,500 students were imprisoend
- Increased use of the Okhrana
What were the ‘years of the red cockerel’?
1902-07
Disturbances in the towns and countryside.
Many instances of arson in the rural communities.
Unrest at its worst in the central Russian provinces
How did Stolypin deal with this unrest?
Stolypin’s necktie…
Aggressive approach, which further aggrevated the situation.
Peasants were:
- flogged
- arrested
- exiled
- shot
- gallows so commonly used, it bacme known as ‘Stolypin’s necktie’
Statistics of industrial strikes escalating in the towns in the mid-1890s and early 1900s
- 17,000 strikes in 1894
- 90,000 in 1904
- e.g. in 1901, the Obukhov factory in St Petersburg saw violent clashes between armed polcie and whip-carrying Cossacks
How did the governement attempt to reduce the number of strikes?
- Moscow chief of the Okhrana, Zubatov, organised police-sponsored trade unions with the approval of the Governor-General of Moscow, the Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich
- the idea was to create official channels for complaints to be heard
- but, it only lasted until 1903, after Zubatov was dismissed as one of his trade unions was involved in a general strike in Odessa
- Another union was created in 1904 by Father Georgi Gapon: it was modelled on Zubatov’s
- Assembly of St Petersburg Factory Workers
- approved by Nicholas’ Minister for Internal Affairs, Plehve
- had the support of the Church
- soon had 12 branches and 8,000 members
When was the Russo-Japanese War?
Feb 1904 - Sept 1905
What was the cause of the Russo-Japanese War?
- Russian drive to the east
- building of the Trans-Siberian railway on land which Japan though as their own
Why did Plehve encourage the Russo-Japanese War?
- Plehve accredited with encouraging the Tsar to respond to a Japanese assault on Port Arthur
- Thought this war would be an short and swift victory
- Thought it would detract from the unrest at home
- Thought Japan was a second-rate power, which is why they thought the war would be won easily
What happened during the Russo-Japanese War?
- A series of defeats turned the intial surge of anti-Japanese patriotism into one of opposition to the government
- ended with humiliation and discontent
What was people’s reaction to the assassination of Plehve? When was he assassinated?
July 1904.
Crowds in Warsaw celebrated on the street
When was Bloody Sunday?
9th January 1905
What happened during Bloody Sunday?
- strike at the Putilov Iron Works in St Petersburg on the 3rd of January 1904
- soon involved ~150,000 workers
- sung hymns and carried icons and patriotic banners and crosses
- mix of economic and political grievances
- Father Gapon decided to conduct a peaceful march to the Tsar’s Winter Palace in the centre of St Petersburg on the 9th of January
- Gapon wished to present a petition to Nicholas II, demonstrating the workers’ loyalty but also requesting reform
- 12,000 troops were used to break up the demonstration
- shot at by cavalry, leaving around 200 dead and hundreds wounded
- many fell to their knees and crossed themselves, but the troops still fired
What was the result of Bloody Sunday?
Sparked an outbreak of rebellion throughout the Empire
What political choices did the Tsar make after Bloody Sunday?
- replaced the moderate Mirsky with two new officials who were prepared to follow a hard-line policy
Events in Russia from 1904/05
February:
- 4th - Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich is killed by a Socialist Revolutionary bomb
- 18th - Nicholas reaffirms his faith in autocratic rule but also promises an elected consultative assembly
April:
- All-Russian Union of Railway Workers is established and everywhere workers begin forming illegal trade unions
May:
- 8/9th - Union of Unions is set up. Demanded full civil and political rights, universal sufferage and nationwide elections to an assembly with full legislative powers
June:
- 14th - Mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin
September:
- 29th - Printers’ stike sets off wave of strikes in Moscow
What happened on the Battleship Potemkim?
- mutiny
- seven officers were killed
- townsfolk arrived to pay respects and show solidarity with the soldiers
- troops fired on them
- 2,000 dead
- 3,000 wounded
What happened on 2nd October 1904?
Sinking of the Baltic fleet
- Baltic fleet ordered to go to Manchuria via Africa and the Indian Ocean from Finland
- Arrived in poor shape
- Russian old ships were less manoeuvrable than the Japanese
- The Japanese had mroe modern rangefinders and superior gunners and shells
- These wrecked the Russian superstructures and ignited the large quantities of coal on the Russian decks
- The battle lasted an entire day
- The entire Russian Baltic fleet was lost at the expense of 3 Japanese torpedo boats
