Nicholas II (1905-1917)

Question 1

When was the St.Petersburg workmen petition, how many signed it and what did it call for

Answer 1

January 22nd, 1905

135,000 workmen

• Freedom (of speech, press, religion etc).
• Education
• Equality of all
• Repeal of indirect taxation
• Repeal of land redemption tax
• Protection of labour + 8 hour day
• Representation

Question 2

What was the October Manifesto

Answer 2

October 17th 1905, signed by the Tsar promising constitutional reform

• Civil Freedom
• Representation through Duma
• Duma involved in every law

Huge political concession, but immediate social justice is untouched, so unrest and strikes continue

Question 3

What was the reaction to the October Manifesto

Answer 3

Demonstrations for and against it take place.

WORKERS - Trotsky publicly denounces it, and many workers oppose it as it lacks social reform. But enthusiasm for stikes dwindles and many return to work

PEASANTS - Peasants redemption payments are halved, but it makes little impact on the heightened rural unrest. Many peasants seize land for themselves and directly assault noble manors.

Question 4

What happened on December 3rd 1905

Answer 4

Egged on by Lenin and Trotsky, the St Petersburg and Moscow Soviets plan an armed workers uprising to take power. Moscow is briefly a barricaded battlefield, but the rebellion is crushed, 2,000 civilians die

The government orders troops to “fire no blanks and spare no bullets”. Army stays loyal to the government

Question 5

When were the Fundamental laws and what were they

Answer 5

April 23rd, 1906

Reasserts Nicholas’ autocratic power

• Claims his right to veto legislation and rule by decree if an emergency demands it
• Claims the right to dissolve Duma whenever
• Asserts his right to control armed forces
• Make all foreign policy decisions
• Control the church

Question 6

Why did the Tsar survive and become strengthened by the 1905 revolution

Answer 6

• The deep social and political divisions between the opposition groups appeared. The fragmentation of this opposition allowed him to take the initiative
• The left became politically fragmented. Working-class felt betrayed with liberal leaders as they did not achieve an 8-hour working day or land redistribution
• Middle + upper class and liberals were happy to accept the Manifesto as their call for a constitutional monarchy had been granted. Feared a whole-scale revolution + the radical potential of peasants and Soviet.
• Assured the loyalty from the officers which resulted in the creation of the Octoberists., committed to making the parliamentary system work. Return of still loyal army from Japan restored order.

Question 7

How did the Liberal bourgeoise benefit from the revolution

Answer 7

• Censorship ended
• December 11th - new electoral laws grant wide male suffrage.
• Political parties legalised

Question 8

How did the radicals lose out from the revolution

Answer 8

Head of the soviet is arrested

December uprising crushed

Question 9

How did the workers lose out from the revolution

Answer 9

Demand for 8-hour working day abandoned

White-collar workers ambivalent towards strikes and employers are hostile

Question 10

How did the workers win from the revolution

Answer 10

Wider male suffrage

Representation in Duma

Question 11

How did Peasnats lose out from revolution

Answer 11

Redemption payments are halved - but makes little impact amongst the heightened rural unrest

Peasants seize land for themselves, however, illustrates their suffering as they have no choice

No nationalisation of land

Question 12

How did the Tsar win in the short term

Answer 12

Army stays loyal

Able to cling onto autocratic power with mass arrests, police terror and drove socialists back underground - long term downfall

Successful reversal of October manifesto

Question 13

What was the most important reform by Stolypin

Answer 13

Dismantling of village communes, organising kernel of the revolution of land - linked to the creation of a new class of peasant landowners. As these farmers became wealthier, they would hopefully give up their revolutionary claims

Lenin admitted that had the gamble worked the agrarian structure would have become ‘bourgeoise’ and the revolution would have been undermined

It was a failure, only 15% more did so by 1917

Question 14

What successes did Stolypin achieve as Prime Minister 1906-11 on farming

Answer 14

(Stolypin)
Wanted Mirs weakened, wanted to develop Kulaks into a class of capitalist richer landowning peasants. Kulaks would farm more efficiently, use modern technology and spend surplus wealth on consumer goods 

Subsidies to encourage migration, 3.5 million settled in Siberia away from the over-populated East. Transformed it into a jor agricultural centre

Another Peasant bank in Nov 1906, to help buy land from the commune

Encouraged peasants to working on land blocks rather than narrow strips.

Jan 1907, Redemption payments officially abolished

Grain production rose, by 1909, Russia = biggest cereal producer

Question 15

How did Styolypins agricultural reforms fail

Answer 15

By 1914, 90% peasant land still in traditional strips, as many prefered the security of that system

Peasant controlled land held by the communes only fell from 73% to 60%

Fewer than 1% achieved Kulak wealth

Did not address the issue of land hunger, with booming peasant numbers, and 50% land still in nobility

Question 16

How did organised radical activism cause the 1905 revolution (2)

Answer 16

July 1904 - Minister of interior Pheve is assassinated by combat section SR’s, crowds dance in Warsaw

Feb 1905 - Tsar’s uncle is assassinated (Grand Duke Segi) by a bomb

Question 17

How did moderate Liberals cause the 1905 revolution (4)

Answer 17

Oct 1904 - Union of Liberation. Banquets begin, some having over 600 guests. 11 Thesus Petition presented to Tsar for constitutional reform

Feb 1905, almost every uni closed in the Empire to prevent any more student protest

New imperial manifesto requires people to submit their requests to the tsar, thousands did so by 1905. many used exact language from demands made bu Union of Liberation.

Zemstva rejects tsar’s concessions in Sept and demands a powerful Duma

Question 18

How did the Tsar’s mistakes cause the revolution (2)

Answer 18

Russo-Japanese war

12,000 troops used to break up peaceful demonstration, 1000 dead, Bloody Sunday sparks rebellion

Question 19

How did Industrial activism cause the revolution (5)

Answer 19

Jan 1905, the walkout at the Putilov Metalworks in St.P leads to a city-wide strike of 111,000

Jan 9th, father Gapon leads a peaceful march of 150,000 workers to the WInter palace. They carry pics of tsar and patriotic banners. Shot down in Bloody Sunday

400,000 workers go on strike in response to Bloody Sunday (not organised enough to threaten Tsar much)

June 14th Mutiny as soldiers fed up of mouldy meat rations and conflict - civilians on land come to pay respect to dead-on mutinied Russian ship. More than 2,000 killed + many more wounded by government troops

Oct 1905 - stikes and uprisings in all major cities

Question 20

Ther are more….in Poland than the whole of the Empire in 1905 summer

Answer 20

Strikes

Question 21

What did the Japanese war reveal in Russian autocracy

Answer 21

Showed that Nicholas needed to delegate

Lead people to support liberal banquets calling for a constitutional Russia

Despite all military reforms, Russia forces till rubbish. Inadequate funding and only sent reserve troops because of the domestic unrest

Question 22

What happened to the Peasants in the summer of 1905

Answer 22

Began to exploit the air of chaos by attacking manor houses and chasing off landlords Nearly 3,000 manors were destroyed. Army deployed over 2,700 times to suppressed uprisings

Question 23

Why did Russia lose the Japan war

Answer 23

• Underestimated Japanese who were more socially and technologically advanced. Also had better intelligence, easily destroyed the Russian fleet + 8 battleships as they knew their precise position
• Russia failed to secure its lines of communication. Trans-Siberian railway wasn’t fully completed delaying troop transport. Every gun, bullet and ration sent from st.P so supply lines overstretched.
• No clear political leadership of the war. Regular clashes over policy prevented the government from creating a coherent military strategy. Nicholas too weak to take full control
• poor quality troops, only reserve ones sent because many needed to control worker and peasant unrest

Question 24

What 3 paragraphs would be used on what brought about the 1905 revolution

Answer 24

Failures in Russo-Japanese war - made tsar look incompetent and damaged economy

Demands for constitutional change - Vast majority of opposition groups to the tsar were calling for same reforms

Long Term Socio-Economic Griveinces - decrease in living conditions for urban workers, fostered resentment against the regime

Question 25

What was the impact of the loss of the Russo-Japanese war on Russia

Answer 25

• Led to workers protest + support of liberal banquets
• Damaged the prestige of a political system that prided itself in military success
• Mobilisation of the army and navy was unpopular + Slavophille press presented government as incompetent, bringing bad news from the front

Question 26

The war……………..the already deep and ingrained political unrest.

Answer 26

Catalysed

Question 27

What did the great Tsarist Conservative Pobedonostev say to Sergei when discussing the new working class

Answer 27

“The working class? I know no such class in Russia…we have peasants”.

Question 28

Moscow was said to be overrun with “……………………” in 1900

Answer 28

Farm animals - illustrates the lack of infrastructure in place for the booming amounts of peasants

Question 29

Give examples of poor living conditions for workers

Answer 29

• Many factories opened squalid and overcrowded workers barracks or forced workers to sleep on factory floors.
• Urban slums, 30,000 died of cholera outbreak in St.P alone 1908-9.
• No tradition in the state or church providing charity to alleviate urban poverty.
• 1900-6 depression = steady supply of labour, allowed factory workers to exploit workers with little fear of punishment.
• Majority of Russian families earned less after-tax than the cost of feeding a family.

Severed ties between workers and Tsar and caused them to become even more radical in their beliefs

Question 30

Give reasons for peasant resentment

Answer 30

Crop failures in 1881 and 1901 caused famines to return ( mainly as Mir suppresses agricultural modernisation such as sticking to farming in long narrow strips, killing tens of thousands)

Tsar alienated himself from his past supporters by burdening the peasantry to alleviate the declining nobility - placed the tax burden for industrialisation squarely on peasant's shoulders 
- Elevated a social class at the extreme irritation of two others, the frustrated middle class and the resentful peasantry without securing much loyalty in return.

Question 31

Why did the tsar do little to stop the liberals

Answer 31

Fear of a mass uprising despite the Okhrana’s involvement

Question 32

What did the liberals demand

Answer 32

Constitutional assembly, mass education and removal of land captains

Question 33

Nicholas is a….decision maker; this is why he consistently ignores advice from good policymakers

Answer 33

Dogmatic

Question 34

What was the impact of keeping Alexi’s illness from the public

Answer 34

Appears to be retreating from the Russian people.

The pressure of keeping it a secret affects the political decisions that he makes for the rest of his reign such as his later reliance upon Rasputin.

Question 35

His decision to send the baltic fleet into war, consisting of …ships and…men was disastrous as they are the………of Russia’s power in Europe
When Russia loses this fleet, it’s standing amongst the great nations of the world…

Answer 35

42
12,000
Mainstay
Collapses

Question 36

What was the impact on leaving the palace at the time of the winter palace march despite protest from his mother and Mirksy

Answer 36

Was not only a huge mistake but also a huge missed opportunity for him to symbolically play the character he always saw himself as.

Illustrates how he has distanced form society as he couldn’t comprehend their suffering - left behind regimental troops to fire on protestors

This was a very visible bloodbath on the streets of St.P, causing many to lose faith in autocracy altogether, cruising Russia with a plethora of terrorist organisations. revolutionary parties, and effectively radicalises the political body in Russia

Question 37

What was the significance of Grand Duke Sergi’s wife (Ella) visiting the culprit (Kalaleyev) to understand why he did it

Answer 37

Illustrates how out of touch the Romanovs are from public feeling at the time - his assassination caused a snowball of unrest

Question 38

What did Nicholas say to his minister and what was the reply

Answer 38

“You’re talking as if this is a revolution”.

In which minister replies “Your majesty. this is a revolution”.

Question 39

How many workers joined the Assembly of St.P factory workers

Answer 39

8,000 members within weeks