Ocotber Manifesto Flashcards
By October 1905
The Russian empire seemed to be near to total collapse
What was going on
There were strikes and demonstrations in all the major cities,peasant uprisings throughout the countryside , demand for independence from the poles, Finns, Latvians and other minority groups
Witte told Nicholas he had to choose between two course of action
1) put down uprising brutally
2) introduce reforms (his favoured option)
What did Nicholas prefer
A military dictatorship to constitutional governments
-his advisers and generals agreed with witte
Nicholas was dragged RELUCTANTLY to agreed to the October manifesto on
17th october
A st petersburg soviet, inspired by the unions of unions, and dominated by radical revolutionaries, was set up to
direct a general strike(strike involves all workers so country bought o standstill)
-began in Moscow at the beginning of October 1905
what did the Tsar’s October manifesto promise?
1)to grant civic freedom(personal rights and freedom of conscience,speech ,assembley and union)
-end of censorship of the press
2)an elected duma(parliament)-> establish a state duma so allowing a voice to all classes of the population
3)to give the state duma the power to approve laws
example of the extent of the Tsar’s reluctance to grant constitutional reform
Grand Duke Nicholas, the Tsar’s uncle, pulled out his revolver and threatened to shoot himself if nicholas did not agree to the concessions
the liberals hailed the ocotber manifesto as
the first step towards constituional governement - for them main aim of the campaign had been achieved
nicholas had no intention of becoming a
constitutional monarch
what is a constitutional monarch?
a monarch who rules in conjuction with an elected assemble and whose powers are limited by that assembly
how had Witte achieved what he had set out to do
he isolated the radicals by accommodating the liberals
after granting of the manifesto there were brief periods of celebration in which
-political meetings were held in streets + parks
-new newspapers and publications flourished
-testing out the end of censorship
