Long-term political problems Flashcards
What were the four main pillars that held up tsarist power?
The government, the bureaucracy, the police, and the Church.
What were the three key bodies of the official government system?
- The Imperial Council
- The Cabinet of Ministers
- The Senate
What was the role of the Imperial Council?
They were the Tsar’s personal advisers and answerable only to him.
What was the responsibility of the Cabinet of Ministers?
Each minister was given responsibility over a specific department.
What was the function of the Senate?
They transformed the Tsar’s ideas into state laws.
Did the three bodies share the Tsar’s powers?
No, they implemented his will.
What issue arose from the bureaucratic system by 1900?
It regressed into inefficiency and created a noble upper class.
What was the term used to describe the arbitrary nature of autocracy?
Proizvol.
What was the role of the Okhrana?
They were the Tsar’s secret police who protected state interests.
What was the average ratio of police officers to peasants?
One police officer for every 3850 peasants.
Who were the Cossacks?
A fiercely independent people from the region on the Don River near the Black Sea.
What role did the Orthodox Church play in legitimising the Tsar’s powers?
It claimed that the authority of tsarism originated directly from God.
How did the Orthodox Church reinforce the Tsar’s power?
By preaching obedience to the Tsar, with spirituality coming second.
What was the Russian national anthem’s relation to the Tsar?
It affirmed the link between God and the Tsar.
Since when had the Orthodox Church been under state control?
Since 1721.
What was the Church’s role from the 1880s onward?
To reinforce conservative values and stifle receptiveness to revolutionary ideas.
Fill in the blank: The _______ was the name given to the Tsar’s secret police service.
Okhrana
True or False: The Orthodox Church was an independent voice in Russia.
False
What are movements in the context of tsarist Russia?
Popular outbreaks of mass action by ordinary people.
What was a major problem with the civil service in relation to the Tsar’s laws?
They arbitrarily interpreted how the Tsar’s laws were to be applied.
