Political authority

Question 1

What was Nicholas II’s character as a ruler?

Answer 1

1) He was very indecisive
2) Nicholas was unable to impose authority successfully despite his strong belief in
autocracy
3) He was easily influenced by his advisors
4) Nicholas had very inconsistent political view on reform

Question 2

What early economic opposition was there to Nicholas II?

Answer 2

1) Movement to the cities concentrated workers in complexes and factories, making
strikes easier to organise

Question 3

How did the workforce become militarised under Nicholas II between 1894-1905?

Answer 3

1) The literacy rate of the workforce was 57% in 1897, allowing workers to read
political literature and begin to articulate their views
2) 1896: Textile workers in St. Petersburg organised a strike of 30,000
3) Demands remained economic, and forced the government to introduce legislation
like limiting the working day to 11 1/2 hours

Question 4

What economic and social problems did Nicholas II face?

Answer 4

1) 1898-9: Famine in the Central Volga
2) 1899: special factory police force established
3) 1900: an international recession hit all areas of the economy
4) Workers returned to villages to stir up countryside revolts about taxes and high
rents. In 1902, widespread peasant violence began in the Poltova province

Question 5

How did Okhrana activity increase under Nicholas II?

Answer 5

1) Rebellious students were expelled from university, exiled or drafted
2) 1901: Cossacks charged into a crowd of students, killing 13 and imprisoning
1,500

Question 6

What occurred in the countryside in the early 1900s?

Answer 6

1) 1903-5 were nicknamed the Years of the red cockerel
2) Peasant attacks on country estates became more common. In 1902, there were
80 attacks in one province
3) There was rapid population growth, which lead to a land shortage. In 1855, the
population was around 70 million, but had grown to 126 million by 1897

Question 7

What occurred in the cities in the early 1900s?

Answer 7

1) Industrial strikes increased greatly in number: 1894: 17,000; 1904: 90,000
2) Unskilled workers generally smashed machinery and attacked foremen
3) Skilled workers were sympathetic to the Social Revolutionary (SR) and Social
Democrat (SD) cause
4) 1902: public meetings were banned after unrest in factories grew

Question 8

Why did the Russo-Japanese War break out?

Answer 8

1) 1895: Sino-Japanese war
2) 1896: Russia extended the Trans-Siberian Railway to Port Arthur
3) 1904: Japan placed Port Arthur under siege

Question 9

What was the Russo-Japanese War?

Answer 9

1) April 1904: Russian army was defeated along the Yalu River
2) March 1905: Russian army was defeated at Mukden
3) May: Almost all Baltic fleets sunk at Tsushima after a 7-month voyage

Question 10

What were the consequences of the Russo-Japanese War?

Answer 10

1) First time in modern history an Eastern power had defeated a European one
2) Renewed demands from the zemstvo for a national assembly
3) Crisis of confidence in the Tsarist regime

Question 11

What was Bloody Sunday?

Answer 11

1) 3-8 Jan 1905: 120,000 workers in St. Petersburg went on strike
2) 9 Jan 1905: Father Gapon conducted a peaceful march to the Winter Palace to
petition the Tsar
3) 12,000 troops were used to break up the protestors, killing 130 and wounding
over 400

Question 12

What was the immediate impact of Bloody Sunday?

Answer 12

1) Strikes of over 400,000 in January in St. Petersburg. All influential revolutionary
leaders were in exile, meaning it was probably spontaneous
2) 3,600 government officials were killed

Question 13

What occurred in February 1905?

Answer 13

1) 4th Jan 1905: Grand Duke Sergei, the Tsar’s uncle, was assassinated with an SR
bomb
2) Nicholas met with worker’s representatives
3) Proposals for an elected consultative assembly were drafted

Question 14

What was the impact of the Potemkin battleship?

Answer 14

1) June 1905: the battleship Potemkin mutinied
2) The Potemkin sailed to Odessa, where troops killed 2,000 citizens greeting it
3) The Potemkin was forced to surrender in a Romanian port
4) The Tsar realised he was losing control of the army, and entered negotiations to
end the Russo-Japanese War

Question 15

How was the St. Petersburg soviet formed?

Answer 15

1) September 1905: A peaceful strike of 2 million St. Petersburg workers lead to the
formation of the SP soviet

Question 16

What was the October Manifesto?

Answer 16

1) Civic freedom was granted
2) A state Duma was created with universal suffrage

Question 17

In what ways did the October Manifesto not quell the population?

Answer 17

1) The climax of rural disturbances of 1905 was in November
2) During the last 10 weeks of 1905, there were 200 rebellions in the armed forces
3) 600 anti-Jewish pogroms occurred
4) Street warfare continued until the end of December in Moscow
5) 3rd Dec: leaders of St. Petersburg soviet were arrested

Question 18

How did Nicholas survive 1905?

Answer 18

1) The events of 1905 were unorganised
2) Most of the army remained loyal to the Tsar
3) The traditional peasant loyalty was still intact
4) The Tsar established a national assembly in the October Manifesto

Question 19

What were the Fundamental Laws?

Answer 19

1) Passed in April 1906
2) All legislation had to receive the approval of the Tsar
3) Article 87: in emergencies the Tsar could make laws without consulting the Duma
4) A State Council was created, with half the members chosen by the Tsar

Question 20

How did the state gain control after 1905?

Answer 20

1) By 1906 almost all provinces were placed under martial law
2) August 1906: field courts set up to deliver swift verdicts. Closed in April 1906,
when over 1,000 people had been executed
3) 1908-9: Stolypin used ordinary courts to sentence 3,600 people to death

Question 21

What was the First Duma?

Answer 21

1) April 1906 (after Fundamental Laws were passed)
2) Dominated by liberals who demanded an increase in power and tried to abolish
the state council
3) Dissolved after two months

Question 22

What occurred in the lead up to the Second Duma?

Answer 22

1) The Kadet Party offices were closed after an appeal was launched to encourage
the Russian people to defy their government
2) Stolypin introduced Martial Law, which continued until 1911

Question 23

What was the Second Duma?

Answer 23

1) February–June 1907
2) Revolutionary leftist parties (SR, SD) joined, as the Kadets were weakened
3) Stolypin’s land reforms were blocked and had to be passed using emergency
powers
4) The Duma refused to ratify the land reforms and was dissolved

Question 24

What occurred in the lead up to the Third Duma?

Answer 24

1) Stolypin reduced the peasant vote even further, leaving 1/6 males able to vote

Question 25

What was the Third Duma?

Answer 25

1) November 1907 – June 1912
2) Dominated by the Octobrists and the Rightists
3) 1911: the Duma was suspended twice
4) A very progressive national health scheme was created
5) Disputes over Stolypin’s education and government reforms
6) The tsarist regime had become so unpopular that a right-wing Duma was
confrontational

Question 26

How were the 1906 agrarian reforms implemented?

Answer 26

1) The Peasant Land Bank was given more land to distribute
2) Redemption Payments were cancelled
3) Incentives to move peasants to Siberia created (3.5/97 million moved)
4) Slow in implementation, as physically disentangling land from the commune took
time

Question 27

What were the motives of Stolypin’s agrarian reforms?

Answer 27

1) The Mir no longer served its purpose, as it couldn’t quell discontent, shown by the
1905 Revolution, and the radical results of the peasant vote in the First Duma, as
well as acting as a brake on economic development
2) Peasants couldn’t innovate due to landholding patterns
3) Wanted to create a wealthy peasant class that supported the Tsar

Question 28

Why did reforms mostly stop after 1906?

Answer 28

1) The success of repressive policies convinced the Tsar that reform was no longer
necessary
2) The government was not represented in the Duma
3) The political elitism of the Russian government was not fundamentally changed
until 1914

Question 29

What was the Lena Goldfield’s Massacre?

Answer 29

1) 1912: Striking mine workers were shot at by soldiers
2) Reported as criminals by their employers

Question 30

What was the Fourth Duma?

Answer 30

1) 1912-1917
2) Relatively docile
3) Critical of the government’s handling of social unrest, but largely ignored