Nicholas II

Question 1

Why was he not fit to be Tsar?

Answer 1

His values, abilities and beliefs; his choice of Empress; autocracy itself is out of date

Question 2

What did Nicholas say regarding the zemstva’s demand for national assembly?

Answer 2

Rejects it as ‘senseless dreams’

Question 3

Describe the strikes that happened in 1896 and 1897.

Answer 3

30,000 textile workers in St Petersburg (mostly women); the first sign that the proletariat can organise itself; government concedes working day to 11.5 hours as a result

Question 4

Briefly describe the events of the R/J war.

Answer 4

1897 - the Russians leased Port Arthur from the Chinese
8 Feb 1904 - the Japanese attack Port Arthur
Aug 1904 - the Russian fleet loses the Battle of the Yellow Sea
Aug 1904 - the Russian army is defeated at Liaoyang

Question 5

Briefly describe the events of the R/J war (extended).

Answer 5

Oct 1904 - Nicholas orders the Russian fleet to travel round the world to restore naval supremacy
Jan 1905 - Port Arthur is surrendered to the Japanese
Mar 1905 - the Russian army is defeated at Mukden
May 1905 - the Russian fleet sent from St P is obliterated at the Battle of Tsushima

Question 6

Approximate deaths of the Japanese and Russians in the R/J war..?

Answer 6

Japanese - 47,000
Russians - 34,000-52,000

Question 7

Causes of the R/J war..?

Answer 7

Japan’s own ambitions; economic penetration of the Far East due to Trans-Siberian Railway construction (1890s); Russia’s foreign policies led by A. Bezobrazov - had interests in Korea and was corrupt; Nicholas’ delusion about being an ‘expert’ due to his tour in the past

Question 8

Causes of Russian defeat in the R/J war..?

Answer 8

Poorly equipped military; terrible logistical problems, including the travel of 6,000 miles; sheer incompetence of the High Command (Alekseev, in charge, scared of horses so cavalry was inspected on foot); poor decision-making (fired at British boat) and overconfidence - thought they only needed 2 soldiers for every 3 Japanese

Question 9

Impact of defeat in R/J war on Russia..?

Answer 9

Liberal opposition revived (autocracy unable to defend national interest); ‘cult of the bomb and gun’ - people started to praise terrorism (“champions of freedom”); support of important people is lost (eg Guchkov); press criticism; campaign for national zemstvo (360 doctors and nurses formed a brigade); new Minister of Interior - Mirsky - liberal

Question 10

When did the Bloody Sunday take place?

Answer 10

9 Jan 1905

Question 11

Give some features of Bloody Sunday.

Answer 11

Led by Georgi Gapon, who was a priest; the march stopped near the Winter Palace for the protestors to deliver petition to the Tsar; petition blamed mostly employers rather than the Tsar himself; around 60,000 protestors, over 100 deaths; was one of the main causes of the 1905 revolution

Question 12

Bloody Sunday impact for liberals..?

Answer 12

Demanded national assembly; formed a Union of Liberation; used the R/J defeat as a patriotic argument for political reform; liberal Prince Mirsky appointed as Minister of Internal Affairs after Plevhe’s murder; used banquets as cover for political meetings and discussions

Question 13

Bloody Sunday impact for students..?

Answer 13

Went on strike due to outrage; lots of speeches, meetings on campus due to political agitation; govt forced to close down unis

Question 14

Bloody Sunday impact for TUs and workers..?

Answer 14

400,000 workers across the country downing their tools (stopping work) in Jan; largest workers’ strike in Russian history, but not well organised (demands formulated along the way); social party closely monitored by police; Union of Unions organised - the get-together of many TUs, which hence became more organised

Question 15

Bloody Sunday impact for national minorities..?

Answer 15

Strikes in outskirts of Russia, in Poland, the Caucasus etc (although more strikes in Poland than the whole rest of the empire); celebrated defeat in R/J war; barricades in Warsaw - proper street fighting

Question 16

Bloody Sunday impact for peasants..?

Answer 16

Began rent strikes; trespassed, cut down streets; attacked gentry from summer 1905, seizing property (+ 15% of manors burnt down)

Question 17

Bloody Sunday impact for the navy..?

Answer 17

Potemkin Mutiny, 14 June 1905; mutinied over poor conditions, including being given rotten meat; seized control of the ship and sailed to Odessa; troops opened fire, killing 2,000 citizens but the Potemkin escaped, ultimately surrendering in a Romanian port

Question 18

Long-term causes of the 1905 revolution.

Answer 18

Repression and lack of freedoms led to a rise in opposition groups;
secret police, use of army against strikers, Land Captains, erosion of Zemstva powers, Russification;
no civil rights (freedom of speech, press, religion etc), erosion of judicial reforms, no constitution, no national parliament;
Populists, SRs (formed in 1901), SDs (formed in 1898 and splitting into Bols and Mens in 1903), liberals

Question 19

Short-term causes of the 1905 revolution: political assassinations.

Answer 19

1901-1905 - 2,000 political assassinations
2 Ministers of Internal Affairs - Sipyagin in 1902, Plevhe in 1904
—> climate of political instability and chaos, SR membership increased

Question 20

Short-term causes of the 1905 revolution: industrial unrest.

Answer 20

1894 - 17,000 industrial strikes
1904 - 90,000 industrial strikes
1900 - Zhubatov Unions set up by the Moscow chief of the Okhrana - ‘official’ channels for hearing complains - ended in 1903 after Zhubatov’s dismissal
1904 - Father Gapon sets up Assembly of St P Factory Workers on the Zhubatov model - approved by Plevhe + supported by Orthodox Church; 12 branches and 8,000 members

Question 21

Short-term causes of the 1905 revolution: rural unrest.

Answer 21

1902-1907 - unrest in countryside - ‘Years of the Red Cockerel’ due to widespread arson; mainly in central Russia, but also Ukraine, Georgia, Poland; Stolypin deals with this harshly (gallows = ‘Stolypin’s necktie’)

Question 22

Short-term causes of the 1905 revolution: R/J war.

Answer 22

Initial surge of anti-Japanese patriotism turns into opposition; crowds in Warsaw celebrated Plevhe’s assassination in 1904; rise in prices and food shortages; Nov 1904 Mirsky appointed after Plevhe, agrees to meet zemstvo representatives in St P, but Nicholas refuses becaus it is ‘harmful to the poeple whom God has entrusted to me’

Question 23

Short-term causes of the 1905 revolution: Bloody Sunday.

Answer 23

3 Jan 1905 - strike at Putilov Iron Works - 150,000 workers
9 Jan 1905 - Father Gapon leads a peaceful march to the Winter Palace to present a petition that requests reform
12,000 troops used to break up march - 40 killed at Narva Gates, 150 at Troitskaya Square

Question 24

Key events in 1905 revolution..?

Answer 24

3 Jan - Putilov Iron Works strike
9 Jan - Bloody Sunday
4 Feb - Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich assassination (SR bomb)
18 Feb - Nicholas promises an elected consultative assembly, asks Bulygin to prepare draft proposals
March - zemstva liberals meet in Moscow
April - All-Russian Union of Railway Workers is established and workers everywhere start forming illegal TUs

Question 25

Key events in 1905 revolution..? (part 2)

Answer 25

8/9 May - ‘Union of Unions’ set up; liberal professional unions demanding full civil rights + an assembly with full legislative powers; Peasants’ Congress in Moscow calls for an All-Russian Union of Peasants
2 June - Congress of Union of Unions prepares for a General Strike
14 June - Potemkin Battleship Mutiny
24 July - Bulygin publishes details of his plan for constitutional reform
12-15 September - zemstva conference rejects Bulygin’s draft proposal (‘Bulygin’s Duma’) and demands a Duma elected by universal suffrage
29 September - printers’ strike —> wave of strikes in Moscow

Question 26

Nicholas’ attempt to quell the 1905 revolution: the October Manifesto.

Answer 26

1) universal suffrage for men
2) guaranteed civil rights
3) emergence of a Duma, through which all laws have to be passed
(17 Oct 1905)

Question 27

Nicholas’ attempt to quell the 1905 revolution: the November Manifesto.

Answer 27

1) redemption payments are cut in half (1906), abolished (1907)
2) improved resources for the Peasant Land Bank

Question 28

Key points in the Fundamental Laws, 23 Apr 1906

Answer 28

Supreme autocratic power to the Tsar; but he exercises power in conjunction with the State Council and State Duma; the Tsar ratifies all laws, but the Duma can revise them first and put forth suggestions; civil rights: freedom to meet up peacefully, + of speech, TUs, religion; the State Council is elected by the sovereign, but the Duma - by population, although the Tsar decides the length of each Duma session; Article 87 - in ‘extraordinary circumstances’, Duma can be in recess and legislative power is returned fully to the Tsar and his ministers

Question 29

First Duma features.

Answer 29

May - June 1906; ‘Duma of National Hope’
Majority of seats - left parties - Kadets and Trudoviks
Boycotted by Bols and SRs + Union of Russian people (right)
Prime Minister Witte forced to resign, replaced by right-winger Goremykin
‘Address to the Throne’ requested political amnesty, State Council abolition, universal suffrage, Article 87 abandonment, death penalty abolition, civil service reform, seizure of gentry’s land etc
Response: Duma dissolved, Goremykin replaced by Stolypin
200 Duma delegates went to Finland to call on people not to pay taxes + do military service, but this fails and they get a 3-month sentence

Question 30

Second Duma features.

Answer 30

Feb - June 1907; ‘Duma of National Anger’
Kadets weakened, Octobrists supported by govt, SDs and SRs joined
Stolypin struggled to find support for his policies (eg agricultural reform), used article 87 while Duma was not in session - once it was, these were rejected
—> Stolypin’s coup, 1907
SDs proclaimed dangerous, hence Duma dissolved, new electoral law passed

Question 31

Third Duma features.

Answer 31

Nov 1907 - June 1912; ‘Duma of Lords and Lackeys’
Octobrist and rightist majority, Kadets and leftist parties reduced —> pro-tsarist
2,200 / 2,500 govt proposals approved
By 1911 Octobrists side more with the opposition —> Duma suspended twice
Stolypin assassinated by SRs in 1911, replaced by right-winger Kokotsov

Question 32

Fourth Duma features.

Answer 32

Nov 1912 - 1917
Right dominance, but Octobrists lost 1/3 seats
Kokotsov: ‘Thank God we still have no parliament’ —> growing frustration, protests increase dramatically between 1912-14
1913 Nicholas tries to reduce Duma to consultative from legislative, but his own Council of Ministers rejects the proposal

Question 33

How was Stolypin supportive of the autocracy?

Answer 33

Used Article 87 to pass laws
Deprived workers and peasants of voting rights
Set up field courts martial in 1906 to crush peasant uprisings
1000s of peasants executed by hanging or sent in exile in ‘Stolypin carriages’
Stolypin’s coup, 1907
March 1911 - persuaded the Tsar to suspend both houses of the Duma

Question 34

How was Stolypin supportive of democracy?

Answer 34

Believed in the necessity of reform
Gave main attention to agriculture
Developed understanding with the Octobrists
Saw the Duma as a partner (only PM to do so)
Proposed many reforms to extend civil rights, reform local govt, justice and education