Nicholas II and challenge to the autocracy Flashcards
1
Q
what happened may 1986?
A
- celebration of nicholas II coronation
- crowds gathered at khodynka fields for free food, drinks and gifts
- a crush happened, 1400 men women and children trampled to death
- celebrations carried on as though nothing had happened
2
Q
when was the great famine?
A
1891 to 1892
3
Q
what were the political impacts of the great famine?
A
- over-bureaucratic tsarist gov had not coped with the crisis
- left zemstva and voluntary organisations to provide necessary relief work
- led to greater public mistrust in the government
4
Q
what does ‘the years of the red cockerel’ refer to?
A
- the unrest in the countryside, cases of arson
5
Q
where was unrest at its worst in the beginnings of nicholas ii’s reign?
A
- central russian provinces
- where the lord/peasant relationship was still traditional
6
Q
examples of peasant unrest
A
- cases of arson, setting fire to landlord’s barns
- destroying grain
7
Q
how did the government respond to peasant unrest?
A
- stolypin specifically aggravated the situation further
- peasants were flogged, arrested and exiled, and even shot in their thousands
- gallows were in such a constant use that it was referred to as ‘stolypins necktie’
8
Q
details of industrial striking in the beginning of nicholas ii’s reign
A
- 17k 1894
- 90k 1904
- 1901 obukhov factory (st petersburg) saw violent clashes between armed police and whip carrying cossacks
9
Q
what response was there towards union striking?
A
- zubatov (moscow chief of okhrana) set up police-sponsored trade unions
10
Q
what was the aim of setting up police-sponsored unions? how long did it last?
A
- to provide ‘official’ channels for complaints
- in an attempt to prevent workers from joining radical socialists
- until 1903
11
Q
A
12
Q
details of the russo-japanese war
A
- a response to a japanese assault on port authur jan 1904
- russians misjudged their enemy
- 6000 miles from the capital
13
Q
motives behind the russo-japanese war
A
- maintenance of the trans siberian railway to vladivostok
- spur line added to port arthur
- japanese objected and began shelling the naval base
14
Q
public response to the russo-japanese war
A
- after plehve assassinated 1904, crowds in warsaw took to the streets
- renewed cries for a duma
- then the minster who replaced plehve, mirsky, agreed to talks with zemstva representatives about an elected assembly
15
Q
who replaced plehve in 1904?
A
mirsky
16
Q
details of bloody sunday
A
- 9 january 1905
- after russian forces surrendered to japanese 20 dec 1904
- strike began 3 jan at the putilov iron works in st petersburg (150k workers involved)
- father gapon union members started a peaceful march to the tsars winter palace 9 jan
- 12k troops to break up demonstration
- hundreds killed, thousands wounded
17
Q
tsar response to gapon marches
A
- 12k troops responded
- 40 killed at narva gates, hundreds wounded
- troitskaya square 150 dead and hundreds wounded
- winter palace had cossacks, cavalry and heavy artillery, bayoneted troops
18
Q
how did the tsar respond to bloody sunday politically?
A
- after grand duke sergei assassination 4th feb 1905
- agreed to meet workers representatives at tsarskoe selo
- through the workers had been badly advised, said they should return to work
- dismissed moderate mirsky
19
Q
when do russia surrender to the japanese?
A
- december 20th 1904
20
Q
when are the strikes and where leading up to bloody Sunday?
A
- 3rd january 1905, strike at the putilov iron works
21
Q
when is bloody sunday?
A
9th january 1905
22
Q
when is grand duke sergei assassinated?
A
4th feb 1905
23
Q
when does nicholas agree to consultative assembly?
A
18th feb 1905
24
Q
when do illegal trade unions begin to rise?
A
- all-russian union of railway workers established and everywhere workers begin forming illegal trade unions
- april 1905
25
when was the ‘union of unions’ set up and what is it?
- 8/9th may 1905
- federation of liberal/left professional unions
- demanding full civil and political rights, universal suffrage and nationwide elections to an assembly with full legislative powers
26
what was the treaty of portsmouth?
- ends russo-japanese war
- russia conceded in territory to japan including the southern half of the island of sakhalin
27
when was the treaty of portsmouth?
- 23rd august 1905
28
soviet
a council of workers
29
general strike
strike involving all workers, bringing the country to a standstill
30
what motivated the october manifesto?
- st petersburg soviet was setting up a general strike
- upon the backdrop of loss in russo-japanese war, peasant unrest, striking in major cities, demands for independence by the poles, finns, latvians
- ministers worried about the position/legitmacy of tsardom
31
what did the october manifesto promise?
- to grant civic freedom (personal rights and freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and union)
- to establish a state duma allowing voice to all classes of the population
- to give the state duma the power to approve laws
32
details of the counter revolution
- jews faced large pogroms
- gangs sent up to round up and flog peasants in a bid to restore order
- pleased with the manifesto, however autocracy remained and the power of the duma was limited
33
what happened to the st petersburg soviet after the october manifesto?
- 3 december 1905
- leaders arrested, tried and subsequently exiled to siberia
34
what was the effect of repressing the st petersburg soviet?
- weakened the revolutionary movement in the capital
- led to the authorities being able to regain control
35
when was the general strike in the lead up to the october manifesto?
10th october
- moscow railways brought to a halt
36
when was the october manifesto published?
17th october 1905
37
who becomes PM in the october manifesto?
witte
38
what does witte do when he becomes PM?
- issues an amnesty for political prisoners; general strike in st petersburg is called off
39
when are demonstrations seen for and against the october manifesto?
- 18th october 1905
- right wing violence led by the black hundreds
- strikers begin to return to work
- military mutinies continued
40
41
when is there a change to redemption payments?
- november 3rd 1905
- halved amid the heightened rural unrest
42
when does lenin come back to russia?
- 8th november 1905
- to st petersburg
43
when does censorship end?
- 14th november 1905
44
when is the st petersburg soviet head arrested? who replaced him?
november 1905
- trotsky
45
when are there arrests to the st petersburg soviet? how many and who?
- trotsky and 250 others
- december 1905
46
when is there a general strike in moscow? what is its effect?
december 7th 1905
paralyses the city
47
when does the franchise expand? how?
- 11th dec 1905
- indirect male suffrage (over 25, owning 400 acres meant you could vote directly, indirect meant you voted for a representative upon your behalf)
48
what was the lower chamber of the state duma?
- members elected under a system of indierct voting by estates
- weighted on the favour of the nobility and peasants
- deputies elected for a five year term
49
what was the upper chamber of the state council?
- half elected by zemstva, half appointed by the tsar
- noble representatives from the major social, religious, educational and financial institutions
50
what did the three houses (lower and upper chamber, government) have in common?
- equal legislative power
- all legislation had to receive approval of tsar
- any one of the three bodies could veto legislation
51
what was the government?
- appointed by the tsar, accountable to the crown, independent of the duma
52
when were the fundamental laws?
april 1906
53
what were the fundamental laws?
- reassertion of autocratic power
- tsar claimed the right to: veto legislation, rule by decree in an emergency or when the duma is not in session, appoint and dismiss government ministers, dissolve the duma as he wished, command russias land and sea forces, declare war conclude peace and negotiate treaties and control all foreign relations, control military and household expenditure, overturn verdicts and sentences given in the court of law, control over the orthodox church
54
who were the trudoviks?
- non-revolutionary breakaway from sr party
- moderate liberal views
- nationalisation of non-peasant land, democratic representation, minimum wage and eight hour working day
- supported by peasants and intelligentsia
55
who were the kadets?
- led by milyukov
- central liberal party
- favoured constitutional monarchy and parliamentary government
- full rights, compulsory redistribution of large private estates
56
who were the octobrists?
- led by guchkov
- moderate conservative party
- accepted october manifesto and opposed further concessions
- supported by wealthy landowners and industrialists
57
progressives
- loose grouping of businessmen who favoured moderate reform
58
who were the rightists?
- led by purishkevich
- extremely right wing
- favoured monarchism, orthodoxy, pan-slavism and anti-semitic
- promoted violent attacks on left wing and led pogroms with the black hundreds
59
pan-slavism
- belief that slavs should be united
60
details of the first duma
- boycotted by the SRs and the bolsheviks and rightists
- dominated by radical-liberal
- strongly critical of the tsar and ministers
- brought around wittes resignation
61
why did witte resign? who was he replaced by?
- after scrutiny of the first duma
- goremykin (old-fashioned conservative)
62
what did the first duma request?
- abolition of the state council, compulsory seizure of gentry lands without compensation, universal and direct male suffrage, abandonment of the emergency laws, abolition of the death penalty and reform of the civil service
- passed a vote of no confidence against the tsar after refusal of the proposals
- duma dissolved ten weeks later
63
who was goremykin replaced by?
stolypin
very conservative
64
what was public reaction to the dissolution of the first duma?
- two hundred delegates travelled to vyborg
- appealed to citizens not to pay taxes or do military service
- response involved heavy military action, imprisonment of leaders and disenfranchised those who signed the appeal
65
details of the 2nd duma
- bolsheviks, mensheviks and srs participated
- stolypin struggled to find any support for the agricultural reforms, had to pass it through the tsar’s emergency powers while the duma was not in session
- duma refused to ratify so spread a rumour about a plot to assassinate the tsar
- duma was dissolved
- arrested and exiled the more radical delegates
- introduced an illegal emergency law to alter the franchise
- weight of peasants, workers and national minorities reduced, gentry increased
66
details of the 3rd duma
- agreed 2200 out of 2500 gov proposals
- a sign of how unpopular the tsar was
- large disputes over naval staff, and stolypins extension to primary education
- had to be dissolved twice
67
details of the 4th duma
- new PM kokovtsov ignored the duma and its influence declined
- duma too divided to fight back
68
stolypins reaction to the 1905 revolution
- 1906 established court martials that dealt with crimes with political intent
- over 3000 were convicted between 1906 and 1909
