Rule of Tsar Nicholas II

Question 1

What was Tsar Nicholas II’s personality like?

Answer 1

• Emotional
• Unassertive
• Indecisive
• Unprepared
• Fragile
  “I am not prepared to be a Tsar.”
  “I know nothing of the business of ruling.”

Question 2

What was the general view of the monarchy?

Answer 2

• They had a divine right to rule
• Tsar was like a parental figure to the Russian people

Question 3

How did the Tsar operate?

Answer 3

• Had advisors and ministers but essentially had sole authority over Russia in all aspects

Question 4

What were Russian attitudes toward the Tsar?

Answer 4

• Seen as a parental figure
• Necessary for the country (due to prolonged reign, the Romanov dynasty had ruled for around 300 years)

Question 5

What was Russia like in 1894?

Answer 5

Very contrasting opinions, some saw it as magnificent whereas some saw it as extremely oppressive

Question 6

Which two Russian figures can be said to exemplify the contrasting perceptions of Russia in 1894?

Answer 6

Benckendorff - positive view
Herzen - negative view

Question 7

What political factors demonstrate that Russia was a positive place in 1894?

Answer 7

• Stable leadership, Romanovs had been in power for 300 years

Question 8

What political factors demonstrate that Russia was a negative place in 1894?

Answer 8

• Large amount of political activists due to the lack of free speech present, for instance bomb thrown at Tsar Alexander II
• Government censorship was imposed, which prevented liberal ideas from seeping into Russia, however lead to these ideas becoming more popular due to attention drawn to their restriction

Question 9

What economic factors demonstrate that Russia was a positive place in 1894?

Answer 9

• Emancipation Decree of 1861 abolished form of Russian slavery (serfdom), let peasants buy land
• Russia was the largest grain producer in the world, money from exports

Question 10

What economic factors demonstrate that Russia was a negative place in 1894?

Answer 10

• 4/5 of population were peasants who were predominately illiterate and uneducated
• Russia was geographically too far north to grow most crops and to raise cattle
• 45% of the government’s annual spending went toward maintaining the army / navy
• Emancipation Act of 1861 largely redundant as land prices were too high for ex-serfs to buy land

Question 11

What social factors demonstrate that Russia was a positive place in 1894?

Answer 11

• Orthodox Church had been entirely independent since the 15th century, which was an outstanding expression of Russian culture

Question 12

What social factors demonstrate that Russia was a negative place in 1894?

Answer 12

• In 1900, a Moscow suburb with 40,000 people had only one church
• Social class divide was wildly disproportionate, 87.5% working class or peasants, 12% upper class, 0.5% ruling class

Question 13

What military factors demonstrate that Russia was a positive place in 1894?

Answer 13

• Large army due to conscription

Question 14

What military factors demonstrate that Russia was a negative place in 1894?

Answer 14

• Conscription used as punishment, military morale was generally low
• Rigours of service life had accounted for the deaths of over one million soldiers during 1825-1855

Question 15

Who was Sergei Witte?

Answer 15

1889 - Entered Russian government as Director of Department of Railway Affairs
1893 - Became Minister of Finance
Encouraged expansion of Trans-Siberian Railway
Very admired in Russia, however had some powerful enemies - eg. Minister of the Interior (Plehve) who in 1903 passed on documents to Nicholas II that Witte was part of a Jewish conspiracy = Witte removed as Minister of Finance
1905 - Witte was asked by Tsar to negotiate end to the Russo-Japanese War, impressive performance = brought back into government to help solve industrial unrest that had followed Bloody Sunday
1905 - Encouraged Nicholas II to make concessions following Potemkin Mutiny, he agreed and published the October Manifesto
- Nicholas II forced Witte to resign due to his doubts regarding reforms that had been introduced

Question 16

Russo-Japanese War

Answer 16

Causes
- Prompted by Russia’s desire for expansion, they wanted an ice free port and used his to distract people from the poor living and working conditions
Events
- Russia annexed Manchuria, claiming it as a Russian territory
- Initially thought that war would be easy, Japan much smaller nation and Russia had ‘great bear’ reputation
February 1905 - Japan lay siege to Port Arthur and sank Russian ships, then attacked the Russian army on land, forced them to retreat - lost 28,000 men
Battle of Mukden - 89,000 Russian men lost
May 1905 - Battle of Tsushima, Russian Baltic Naval Fleet were completely destroyed by Japanese
Consequences
- Russia humiliated on the world stage and for its people
- Treaty of Portsmouth signed, Japan given Port Arthur and Russia had to evacuate Manchuria
- Compounded feelings of ill-will toward the Tsarist regime

Question 17

Causes of the 1905 Revolution

Answer 17

• From 1899 Russia had been hot by several depressions, produced widespread unemployment ad angry outbursts
• Toward end of 1902/3 there were a series of mass strikes by the workers, peasant discontent with the system of repression joined with desperation of industrial workforce
• Throughout 1890s, rent strikes by peasants, attacks on private land were commonplace
• Peasant landholdings estimated to have decreased in size by 20%, taxes had risen
• 1901 massive crop failure
• 1902 major peasant uprisings
• Darby “cumulative and complex pattern of social and political agitation which ca,e to a head during Russia’s unsuccessful war with Japan”
• Russo-Japanese War

Question 18

Events of the 1905 Revolution

Answer 18

December 1904 - Major strike broke out at Putilov Steel Works in St Petersburg, other factories struck in sympathy
January 1905 - 120,000 people on stroke, coincided with military failure at Port Arthur
- Workers marched towards the Winter Palace, led by Father Gapon, intention to present Tsar with a liberal petition asking for constitutional reform
- Included plans for 8 hour work day
- Freedom to organise trade unions
- Improved working conditions, free medical aid, higher wages for female workers
- Elections to be held for constituent assembly by universal, equal and secret suffrage
- Freedom of speech, press, association and religion
- End to war with Japan
22nd January 1905 - March took place, crowd included families, religious symbols, portraits of Tsar
- Authorities panicked, 10 killed by initial volley of fire, 20 more injured, by end of ‘Bloody Sunday’, 200 workers killed and 800 injured
By end of Jan 1905 - 400,000 workers on strike, land seized, properties burned, peasants squatted in landlords houses, refusing to pay rents
- Georgia declared itself independent state, Poles demanded ich to rule themselves, Jews protested for equal rights
February - protests intensified, Grand Duke Sergei, Tsar’s uncle was assassinated, prompted tsar to propose advisory assembly, eased short-term agitation but received 60,000 petitions over next few months
- Failure during Russo-Japanese War prompted discontent within armed forces, mutinies happened in the army and navy in summer of 1905
- Most high profile mutiny was on Prince Potemkin, soldier on board was shot by captain, caused soldiers to revolt
- Sailed to Odessa, where an anti-government strike was taking place, to gain support from people on the land, authorities killed thousands to maintain control
- Fell to Witte to negotiate peace with Japanese and deal with fallout of 1905 Revolution

Question 19

Consequences of 1905 Revolution

Answer 19

• People had begun general strike by Autumn of 1905
• Elected Soviets were formed in St Petersburg and Moscow, workers took action to help represent their demands for better working and living conditions
• Potential these councils had to promote agitation and unrest was immediately recognised by revolutionaries
• Trotsky (leading Menshevik at the time) became Chairman of St Petersburg Soviet and organised several strikes as a result
• Authorities also recognised the threat this workers solidarity posed, prompting the October Manifesto

Question 20

What was the October Manifesto?

Answer 20

• Recognition that the Tsar and his regime faced serious threat of collapse
• Prompted by Witte, intended to divide the opposition forces of the liberals, peasants and workers

Question 21

How were the liberals appeased by the October Manifesto?

Answer 21

Witte understood their desire for political change, so granted them:
- A legislative duma (Parliament with law making power)
- Freedom of speech, assembly and worship
- Right for political parties to exist
- Legalising of trade unions

Question 22

How were the peasants pacified by the October Manifesto?

Answer 22

November 1905 - announcement made stating that all mortgage payments for land (largest cause of peasant discontent) were to be reduced gradually then abolished altogether
- Result of this was that “the number of lad seizures by the peasants reduced as well as a decline in the lawlessness in the countryside” (Lynch)

Question 23

How were the industrial workers impacted by the October Manifesto?

Answer 23

• Not treated as fairly as the liberals and peasants, policy was more of suppression rather than concession
• Government felt confident enough to crush the Soviets using the power of the armed forced to back them up, despite mutinies earlier in the year, troops who returned from fighting in the far east remained loyal to the Tsar and government
• Reflected in the 5 day siege that ended with St Petersburg soviet being stormed and leaders (eg. Trotsky) being rounded up and arrested
• Moscow soviet ended up in flames, burned down by government troops in December

Question 24

When and why were the Dumas introduced?

Answer 24

• October 1905, Nicholas II introduced an element of democracy by setting up Dumas
• Unlikely that this would have happened without the war, Tsar was a staunch adherent of “autocracy, orthodoxy and nationalism”.
• Argument re-enforced by the fact that in a very short space of time, powers of the Duma were greatly diminished through Fundamental Laws

Question 25

Fundamental Laws

Answer 25

• April 1906, Nicholas II announced that he would “posses the initiative in all legislative matters” and that “no law can come into force without his approval”
• Determined to keep control of how the legislative Duma was to go about its work

Question 26

First Duma

Answer 26

• April - July 1906
• Most important discussions concerned land distribution
• Government stated that compulsory redistributions was not an option, angered the First Duma who wanted a more radical solution, their disappointment and demands quickly gained press coverage
• In response, Nicholas II claimed the actions of the Duma were illegal and disbanded it after two months

Question 27

What happened between the First and Second Dumas?

Answer 27

• New approach to dealing with dissidents adopted
• New chairman of the Council of Ministers, Stolypin, thought that process of dealing with dissenters was too soft, therefore ordered the trial system for civilian rioters to be accelerated by introducing field court-martials that resulted in fast trails and thousands of executions

Question 28

Second Duma

Answer 28

• February - June 1907
• Composition was greatly affected by Stolypin’s policies
• Fewer Kadets and Labourists, more SDs, SRs, Octoberists and far right
• Tsar and Stolypin continued to mistrust work of the Duma over land reform and management of the Russian army
• SD member of the Duma was framed by the Tsar for attempting to arrange an army mutiny, Tsar proclaimed that Duma was subversive, so dissolved it and overhauled the electoral system

Question 29

What electoral reforms did Stolypin introduce following the Second Duma?

Answer 29

• Wealthiest 1% of the electorate controlled 66% of all seats in the new duma
• Representation for workers and peasants was cut by roughly one-half
• Non-Russian representation slashed by over one half

Question 30

Third Duma

Answer 30

• November 1907 - June 1912
• As a result of electoral reforms, Third Duma consisted mainly of people loyal to the crown, such as wealthy property owners
• Significant reduction in nationalist members from non-Russian parts of the empire
• J.N Westwood “an unrepresentative Duma was not necessarily an ineffective Duma”
• Major reforms strengthened the army and navy, judicial system was improved with reinstatement of justices of the peace and abolition of land captains, state run insurance schemes for workers were introduced for the first time
• This occurred because Nicholas II and ministers showed more trust in the lower chamber, which served its full term of office

Question 31

Fourth Duma

Answer 31

• November 1912 - February 1917
• Dominated by politicians from the far right
• Rule coincided with the brutal repression of civil disorder, eg. state police killed striking miners at the Lena Goldfields (1912)
• This outraged many Duma members
• Became infamous for putting pressure on Tsar to abdicate, members subsequently formed the Provisional Government
• Despite its criticism of the Tsarist regime, the Duma remained an institution dominated by the ‘old guard’ of landowning conservatives and liberals

Question 32

Consequences of the events of 1905

Answer 32

Short term: pressure from below seemed to result in concessions being made with the setting up of a Russian parliament (Duma)
Long term: Duma was seen to fault to meet needs of those who expected more genuine and widespread political representation

Question 33

Stolypin’s aims

Answer 33

• His policies from 1905-7 were partly a reaction to the social unrest that had materialised in 1905
• Stolypin wanted to avoid a repeat of those events and used a mixture of reform and repression to achieve his aims

Question 34

Reforms: land redistribution

Answer 34

• Rural unrest peaked 1905-7
• Stolypin appointed prime minister 1906, aim was to use land redistribution to build and strengthen the class of more able, education and ‘best’ peasants
• Unused or poorly utilised land was made available to the Peasant Land Bank (established 1883)
• Peasants who were still farming strips were given the right to consolidate their land into small holdings
• These provisos were designed to ensure that the mainstay of the Russian rural economy became the small peasant farms run independently by peasants

Question 35

Why did this backfire?

Answer 35

• Process led to an expansion in the numbers joining the wealthier class of peasants who in theory, would be more loyal to the Tsar, however they were not totally satisfied with the reform as they believed that the best land was still inaccessible to peasants
• By 1914, around 2 million peasants left the village communes, leaving some regions very short of labour, WW1 accelerated this trend
• This exodus added to the challenge of keeping supplies of food going to support growing urban population

Question 36

Repression: Stolypin’s neckties

Answer 36

• Responsible for the introduction of field court-martials in 1906 for civilian rioters
• Result was a series of very quick trials and executions, which gained the label of ‘Stolypin’s neckties’ after the noose that was used in the hangings
• 1905, 10 people executed, by 1908, this had risen to 825

Question 37

What was the political situation like in Russia in 1914?

Answer 37

• Relatively stable
• Creation of the duma created initial problems for Nicholas II as participants in the new assembly took the opportunity to criticise tsarist policies
• However the Tsar (with help of Stolypin) reduced the authority of the dumas and its challenge was mitigated
• Liberal members of the duma were upset by this but did not feel it was correct to openly defy the Tsar, the more radical groups still lacked enough support to consider mounting a revolution and many of their leaders (including Lenin) had been exiled

Question 38

What was the economic situation like in Russia in 1914?

Answer 38

• 1909-1914, gross national product had grown at average annual rate of 3.5%, slow compared to Russia’s European rivals
• Low levels of industrial productivity
• Factories employed vast amounts of labour to compensate for a lack of investment in modern technology
• Agricultural production had increased and Stoylpin’s ‘wager on the strong’ had resulted in number of peasant households becoming independent farms rising from over 42,000 in 1907 to 134,500 in 1913
• However, by 1914, figure had falen to just under 98,000, suggesting peasants had started to leave the land for urbanised areas
• Russia’s railway system had continued to develop so that by 1914, 70,000km of track existed (vs 20,000 in 1881)
• However Trans-Siberian railway had yet to be competed and thus parts of Russia were still unconnected to the ‘centre’.

Question 39

What was the social situation like in Russia in 1914?

Answer 39

• From 1897-1914, the population increased from 125 million to 166 million, this put pressure on those working on the land to increase the supply of food
• Urbanisation had occurred at a rapid pace, although about 80% of the Russian population still lived in rural areas
• Nicholas II had paid little attention to the working and living conditions of those in towns and cities - in 1914, there were just over 1000 towns but only about 200 had piped water and just 38 had a sewerage system
• Outbreak of cholera in St Petersburg in 1910 caused over 100,000 deaths
• Economic and social changes had resulted in rising working-class consciousness and the potential for a challenge to tsarist authority from below, eg. the Lena Goldfields strike of 1912 was considered such a threat that the state sanctioned the killing of striking miners by troops