Nicholas II

Question 1

When did Nicholas II come to power?

Answer 1

1894

Question 2

How did Nicholas II come to power?

Answer 2

After Alexander III’s death

Question 3

What did Alexander III die from?

Answer 3

Kidney disease

Question 4

How did Nicholas II feel about becoming Tsar?

Answer 4

He did not want to, lacked confidence, unprepared

Question 5

How was Nicholas II described?

Answer 5

As weak, stubborn unorganized

Question 6

Who influenced Nicholas II?

Answer 6

His father (Alexander III) and Pobedonostsev

Question 7

What was Nicholas II commited to?

Answer 7

Tsarist conservatism

Question 8

What did Nicholas II believe about democracy?

Answer 8

That it would be the collapse of the Russian Empire

Question 9

What did Nicholas II’s wife, Tsarina Alexandra, support Nicholas II in?

Answer 9

His refusal to adapt politically to changing social and economic conditions

Question 10

What did Russia need in order to compete and remain a “great power”

Answer 10

Modernization and industrialization

Question 11

What was needed for Russia to remain a military power?

Answer 11

Industrial economy

Question 12

What did Russia have to move away from to industrialize the economy?

Answer 12

an agriculture-dominated economy

Question 13

What did the inefficient agricultural economy struggle to do in Russia?

Answer 13

Feed the growing population, provide government with a surplus for national security

Question 14

What were the ‘peasant problems’?

Answer 14

‘land hunger’, low income, debt, starvation

Question 15

What could Russia’s ‘peasant problem’ lead to?

Answer 15

Revolts, uprisings, threatened stability of tsarist regime

Question 16

What did modernization lead to?

Answer 16

calls for parliament/democracy by industrial working class in poor conditions, greater opposition to tsarist regime

Question 17

What was Nicholas II’s key issue?

Answer 17

he had to get political benefits of economic modernization without making concesstions to epposition calls for political change

Question 18

What was Nicholas II’s key aim?

Answer 18

Modernize without revolution

Question 19

Why was agriculture so inefficient/backwards?

Answer 19

Medieval farm tools were used, old-fashioned land usage

Question 20

Why was Russia’s industrial output still at a low level compared to Wester Europe?

Answer 20

they had an underdeveloped banking system, serfdom prevented available source of workers, communication, transport system

Question 21

Who was the Minister of Finance in 1992-1993?

Answer 21

Sergei Witte

Question 22

What did Sergei Witte believe?

Answer 22

Russia had to industrialize, development could avoid dependency on more developed economies and create a strong modern state in Russia

Question 23

What was Witte’s four-fold plan to fund program of capital investment?

Answer 23

1. protective tariffs on foreign goods
2. attraction of foreign capital (loans from France)
3. Placing currency on Gold Standard to encourage more foreign investment
4. Squeezing resources out of peasantry, workers through low wages, high taxes, exporting ‘surplus’ grain