events Flashcards
Famine
- limitation of the Tsarist regime
- outbreak of disease
- around 5 million dead
- tension forms between government and people
Coronation of Tsar Nicholas
- events that followed suggest “cursed reign”
- over 1300 killed in crowd rush
- Nicholas leaves poor impression on people –> attends a celebratory event later that night
Working Conditions
- dangerous conditions
- limited protections
- 12 hour shifts were common
- no workplace protections
- managers discipline harshly
Living Conditions
- workers forced to share single beds
- cramped & unsanitary conditions led to disease & distress
Russo-Japanese War
- Russia wanted to expand territory east
- Japan launch surprise attack on Port Arthur
- 40k to 70k Russian dead
- defeat is humiliating for Russia
- lost due to lack of modern welfare + incomplete Trans-Siberian railway
- (failure > lack of modernisation compared to Japan)
> IMPACTS
- RJW increased discontent in Russia
- increased criticism of government/leadership
Bloody Sunday
- TURNING POINT
- 150,000 march peacefully to Winter Palace protesting
- panic in police ranks > shooting began before protestors reached the Palace
- 200 dead, 800 injured
- middle class, peasants, working class all emerged in opposition of the Tsarist regime
- protested due to poor working conditions, increasing cost of living, decreasing wages, poor harvests
> IMPACTS
- Tsar held responsible (Nicholas the Bloody)
- strikes continue, inspired political reform
1905 Revolution
- Tsarist facing criticism from RJW & BS
- end of jan 1905 > 400,000 workers striking in St Petersburg
- peasants rebel
- government fails to control situation
- once loyal military –> now lacking confidence
- military mutinies
- intelligentsia makes calls for reform
- revolutionaries increased influence
- SR’s, Bolsheviks & Mensheviks led strikes against Tsarist regime
- 14th Oct 1905 > 1.5 million professionals strike
The October Manifesto
- issued 17th October 1905 (Sergei Witte & Alexi Obolensky)
- Sergei Witte suggested reforms would bring peace
- proposed coorperation between Duma & Tsar
> KEY REFORMS IN MANIFESTO
1. granting civil liberties
2. foundation of State Duma
3. universal suffrage
4. prohibits passing of law without Duma’s authority
- mixed reactions to reforms
- industrial workers prioritised social and economic reforms over political change
- peasants remained disengaged from the push for political reform
The Fundamental Laws
- Tsar appoints own ministers, accountable to him not Duma
- Sole commander of army & navy –> gave him military power
- Right to dissolve Duma at anytime
- Tsar has complete control over foreign affairs
- All laws require approval from Tsar
- laws confirmed the October Manifesto but also asserted the Tsar’s powers over the Duma
Dumas
1st Duma:
- highlighted social disparities
- peasants & Kadets made demands
- Tsar rejected demands & dissolved Duma
violence followed
- Stolypin made Prime Minister
- 2 months long
2nd Duma:
- SR’s & SD’s joined election –> Duma became more ideologically divided
- unproductive Duma
- openly criticised Tsar
- rejected Stolypin’s land reforms
- 5 months long
3rd Duma:
- Stolypin land reforms restricted voting (excluded workers, peasants, 5/6 males, minorities) –> created conservative Duma
- 5 years long
4th Duma
- Stolypin assassinated 1911
- conservative 4th Duma responded to growing radicalisation with repression
- 3 million workers stae 9000 protests in this period
- 2 years
Stolypin (Reaction & Reform)
- he had experience in rural areas
- he declared martial law in 1906
- use of executions
- use of Okhrana increases
- he looked to address land shortages, rural overpopulation, and poverty
> IMPACTS
- his policies were long term visions
- created tension amongst peasants
- his land reforms redistributed land rather than improving it
- his program for reform was incomplete
- strong legacy in Russia after assassination
WW1
- armed conflict was inevitable in Europe
- Tsar reluctant to engage in full-scale war
- mobilisation was an issue in Russia
- St Petersburg renamed –> Petrograd
- strikes declined as war support grew
- ammo shortage 6 months into war
- 6.5 million soldiers > 4.5 million guns
- unarmed troops forced to collect guns from fallen soldiers
- 400,000 killed in first 5 months
- large territories lost to Germany
- (CONSEQUENCE): soldiers began to desert and are drawn to revolutionary ideologies
- worsened working conditions due to focus on industrial production
- inflation
- (CONSEQUENCE): led to worsening of working class living standards and increased dissatisfaction with government
- railways could not handle military & civilian demands
- food shortages due to distribution issues
- agriculture declined > peasants sent to war
- (CONSEQUENCE): government blamed for food shortages and revolutionary groups benefit from this
- rich get richer
February Revolution
- revolution is an expectation
- working class frustrated
TIMELINE:
> 23rd Feb 1917
- 100,000 workers march
- anti-tsar, anti-war, little violence
- no response from Tsar, Duma, soldiers
> 25th Feb 1917
- all factories closed in Petrograd
- Tsar ordered protests be stopped
> 26th Feb 1917
- crowds fired on by troops
- Tsar responded by dismissing Duma
> 27th Feb 1917 (mutiny)
- Petrograd mutinied
- gave protestors military capability
> 28th Feb 1917
- council of ministers stepped down
- Provisional Government formed
Tsar Abdicates
- wanted to return to Petrograd to calm unrest
- mutinous troops would not allow him access
- March 2nd 1917 > Nicholas II abdicates
- he passes throne to his brother
- his brother is advised that he would not be protected by the Duma
- his brother abdicates (END OF ROMAN DYNASTY)
- Peasants accepting of revololution but felt it was confronting
Dual Authority
- shared power between Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviets after collapse of Tsarist government
Lenin’s April Thesis
- called for proletarian revolution
- rejected support for Provisional Government
- withdrawal from WW1 & immediate peace
- demanded land redistribution to peasants
- rejected parliamentary democracy
- pushed for social state led by Bolsheviks
