Nicholas II 1894-1917 Flashcards
1
Q
1894
A
Nicholas comes into power and sees himself as ‘unfit to reign’
- 1881 Emergency powers still used
- Russification strong = Nicholas praised regiments who put down disorders for Jewish groups
- Economy has an annual growth of 8% until 1903 under Witte
2
Q
1896
A
-30,000 women go on strike due to the poor working conditions = government has to reduce the working hours to 11 and a half per day = showed the proletariat was able to organise itself
3
Q
1898
A
- Social democratic workers party formed = some wanted to improve the conditions for workers whilst others wanted to start a working class revolution
- Marxist social democrats were active in getting workers to strike
4
Q
1900
A
- 20% of the budget was used to pay of loans from other countries (France and Britain). This was more than what was spent on education at the time
- 2 million workers in factories
5
Q
1901
A
- Social revolutionaries become more popular= peasants make up a large membership
- Middle classes also join after the poor treatment of students by the police in 1881 = protest on government restrictions on universities
- despite being highly uncoordinated, they managed to assassinate 2,000 government officials in the run up to 1905
6
Q
1903
A
- Social democrats spilt into the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks. B= militant young workers M=other workers and intelligentsia
- Years of the Red Cockerel = worst in the central Russian provinces where the landlord/peasant relationship was at its worst. Resulted in peasants taking back their land, setting fire to villages and killing the landlords/officials
7
Q
1904
A
-Russo-Japanese War= showed the weakness of the government
Consequences:
-Trade with the East disrupted on the trans-Siberian railway
-Shortages of jobs and materials
-Lost control of Korea and Port Arthur to Japan
8
Q
1905
A
- Bloody Sunday Revolution in January= 150,000 go on strike due to bad working conditions/4 workers being sacked at the Putilov Steel works
- 130 killed and 300 wounded
- By the end of January 400,000 were on strike = vandalism and strikes increased over the next few months
- Main left parties were exiled in Europe and Right groups attacked people in the streets who seemed disloyal to the tsar
- October Manifesto= written up to create a constitutional government of Dumas and provided Russians with civil liberties = still has article 87 which gave tsar power to take control of the Duma at any given point
- Nationalities took advantage of the situation= Poles and Finns declared independence = 93 polish people shot sparked violence, 300,000 soldiers remained in Poland due to this.
9
Q
1906
A
- Loan from France used to stabilise the economy after the disarray in 1905
- Stolypin becomes the Prime Minister Cons: neckties= field court marshals set up to stop peasant uprisings = Thousands killed by hanging. 3,000 revolutionaries killed
- Carriages= taken away to Siberia
- Peasant Land Bank= Helped peasants move away from the mir and gain their own land better
- 1st Duma= big hostility on both sides
10
Q
1907
A
- 2nd Duma= more radical
- 3rd Duma= managed to work with Stolypin and create good land reforms (strip farming) and improvements in the army
11
Q
1912
A
- 4th Duma= Stronger right and weakened Octoberists
- Lena Goldmine Strikes= strikes due to the poor working conditions and working hours = 200 killed= caused a rise in strikes in the years 1912-14
12
Q
1914
A
- War breaks out in August= former divisions broken and a surge of nationalism towards the tsar
- Top officers in the army had been appointed due to their loyalty to the tsar= made the army weaker = also had lack of care for soldiers and there was few supplies
- Railway system collapses, as all the food was sent to the front through the rail network = due to this there was little grain and peasants had to work in factories
- ‘Silver age’ for Russian culture= relaxing of censorship had allowed culture to become more broader. But there was still some traditional elements due to autocracy.
- By 1914, Russia is the fifth biggest industrial power = actually not that powerful as USA, Britain and France were ahead= shows Russia’s backwardness
13
Q
1915
A
- By December 1 million Russians had been killed or taken prisoners in the war
- Duma reforms a ‘Progressive Bloc’ to take control of the government
- Tsar takes direct control of army= tsarina and Rasputin are left in charge = bad properganda as the tsarina was German = If the war went wrong, the tsar would be left responsible
14
Q
1916
A
- Prices of food and fuel quadruple since 1914= people can’t afford to buy basic items
- 1,000 growth in the output of artillery and rifles
- Causalities rise to 8 million= nearly every Russian affected
- Increased strikes in the military start to break out
- Support for the tsar has began to drop = all classes are disillusioned with his role
15
Q
1917 Part 1
A
- Bread rationed at the beginning of Feb = some women waiting for 24hours
- 23rd of February= women and men march in the streets and strike from their factories = Over the next 3 days army also join = by 27th Feb full revolution
- Duma takes over = 2nd March Tsar abdicates and a Provisional government formed between the Progressive Bloc and the Soviet
- PG= head Prince Lvov
- PS= mostly Mensheviks had 1,300 members = but dual power
- Kerensky was the in between man
