From War to War 1904-14

Question 1

Why did Russia go to war with Japan?

Answer 1

• To pursue an expansionist policy in the Far East
• To obtain an ice-free port
• To distract attention from the domestic problems

Question 2

What happened to the Russian baltic fleet?

Answer 2

Travelled for 8 months to Japan only to be destroyed straight away

Question 3

What was one of the main reasons Russia lost to Japan?

Answer 3

Because the military commanders had not prepared effectively

Question 4

What 3 main opposition classes did the tsarist government face in 1905?

Answer 4

The workers, peasantry and the reformist middle class

• revolt ended up being accidental rather than planned
• a result of economic factors rather than political ones

Question 5

During Bloody Sunday what was the marchers intentions?

Answer 5

To present a loyal petition to the tsar begging him to use his royal authority to relieve their desperate conditions

Question 6

What did Bloody Sunday damage?

Answer 6

The traditional image of the tsar as the ‘Little Father’

Question 7

What was the immediate reaction to Bloody Sunday?

Answer 7

Widespread outbreak of disorder, strikes, terrorism

Question 8

What did the unrest and governments difficulty in containing it cause the nationalities to do?

Answer 8

Assert themselves:

• Georgia declared itself an independent state
• Poles demanded autonomy
• Jews pressed for equal rights

Question 9

What was the Union of Unions?

Answer 9

Led by the Kadets with the aim of organising a broad-based alliance that would include the peasants and factory workers
- called for a constituent assembly

Question 10

What was the Potemkin mutiny?

Answer 10

Crew of this battleship were fed up with the conditions so ended up attacking the officers and taking over the ship

Question 11

What were the Soviets?

Answer 11

Began as organisations to represent the worker’s demands for better conditions
- their potential for political agitation was immediately recognised by revolutionaries

Question 12

What did the October Manifesto promise?

Answer 12

• creation of the duma = appease liberals
• civil rights
• legalising TUs

Question 13

How were the peasants appeased after 1905?

Answer 13

November manifesto reduced and eventually abolished redemption payments

Question 14

How were the workers dealt with after 1905?

Answer 14

Government felt they could crush the soviets

- headquarters stormed and leaders arrested

Question 15

What is a notable feature of the 1905 revolution?

Answer 15

How much of a minor part was played by the revolutionaries

Question 16

What indicated that groups such as the peasants and liberals were not ready for a revolution?

Answer 16

Their readiness to accept the government’s political and economic bribes

Question 17

What did 1905 show would prevent a revolution?

Answer 17

As long as the government kept its nerve and had the armed forces on its side

Question 18

How had the governments own responsibility led to 1905?

Answer 18

• repression
• taxation
• incompetent leadership

Question 19

What was Stolypin’s guiding principle?

Answer 19

‘suppression first and then, and only then, reform

- but considered reform should be introduced as a way of reducing social bitterness

Question 20

How were the peasants ‘de-revolutinaised’

Answer 20

Their fear was that the government was about to seize their land due to not keeping up with payments = gov announced repayments would be cancelled

Question 21

What was Stolypin’s ‘wager on the strong?’

Answer 21

To create a later of prosperous, productive peasants = kulaks

Question 22

What did tsarist tax returns show about Stolypin’s reforms?

Answer 22

Show a significant minority of peasants were paying increasingly higher taxes in the 1890s = a sign their farming was producing high profits

Question 23

Why were peasants slow to respond to Stolypin’s reforms?

Answer 23

Due to their deep conservatism

Question 24

What limited the power of the Duma?

Answer 24

• Gov. negotiated a loan from France = duma couldn’t exercise financial hold over the gov
• Fundamental laws

Question 25

How was the Duma bi-cameral?

Answer 25

One chamber would be an elected lower house, and the other would be a state council appointed by the tsar
= took away the Dumas power

Question 26

What was the Vyborg appeal?

Answer 26

Tsar dissolved the first duma:

• 200 Kadets and Labouritst reassembled in Vyborg and drew up an appeal, urging people of Russia to defy the gov. in 2 ways:
• refuse to pay taxes
• disobey conscription orders

Question 27

Why was Martial law proclaimed?

Answer 27

To suppress the disturbances caused by the Vyborg appeal

Question 28

Why did the Kadets loose half their seats in the 2nd Duma and who replaced them?

Answer 28

Due to the Vyborg appeal - replaced by SRs and SDs

= new assembly strongly anti-gov

Question 29

Why did the tsar not end the Duma after the first 2 failings?

Answer 29

• Wanted to show Russia as a democratic nation

- New laws were introduced which restricted lower classes right to vote = 3rd and 4th Duma very right wing

Question 30

What was the committee system and how did the 3rd Duma use it?

Answer 30

A process in which the duma deputies formed various committees to discuss and advise on particular issues
- 3rd duma made proposals for modernising the armed services

Question 31

What were 2 of the bills the duma approved?

Answer 31

• Setting up schools for the poor

- National insurance for workers

Question 32

How was the 4th Duma similar and different to the 3rd?

Answer 32

Social reform work continued but also prepared to criticise the government

Question 33

How many ‘political’ strikes were there in 1911 and 1914?

Answer 33

1911 = 24
1914 = 2401
- due to the government increasing repression

Question 34

What happened in the Lena Goldfields incident 1912?

Answer 34

Demands for better pay and conditions were resisted by employers who appeal to the police to arrest strike leaders
= ended up being fired upon - showed the TU issue in Russia

Question 35

How did the Octoberists feel about the tsar by 1913?

Answer 35

Leader Guchkov began waring that the blindness of the Tsars government was driving Russian people closer to revolution

Question 36

What was Witte and Stolypin’s shared aim?

Answer 36

The preservation of the tsarist system
= if the gov had been willing to support them this might have prevented the build up of the social and political tensions

Question 37

What were the major factors in tsarisms downfall?

Answer 37

• Resistance to reform
• Being both oppressive and inefficient
• Reluctance to trust ministers who were loyal and competent