Russia 1 Flashcards
What were the main features of the Tsarist Government?(6)
Autocracy - The whole empire was ruled by the tsar, and he had absolute power. He would not listen to any calls for political reform or greater democracy.
He also had the backing of the Orthodox Church which was present in every household at the time. It taught that the Tsar was God’s representative to spread God’s word.
Repression - Newspapers were censored and political parties banned. Within the police force, 10,000 officers had the job of solely dealing with political opponents of the regime.
Furthermore, the Tsar had strong backing from the army, particularly the Cossack regiments who were very loyal to the Tsar.
Incompetence - There had been some good Tsar’s in the past but most agree that Tsar Nicholas was a poor ruler. He was terrible at making decisions and often appointed family members in high positions which made everything more corrupt.
What was the peasant class before Russia 1905?(3)
Around 84% of the population in 1900 were peasants, who had terrible living and working conditions.
When there was a bad harvest, thousands would die. In 1891 400,000 died from crop failure with a combination of cholera. The average life expectancy was under 40.
Their farming methods were backwards and they had tiny amounts of land in proportion to the nobles who still had large estates. Nevertheless, most peasants were still loyal to the Tsar because of the church.
What was the worker class before Russia 1905?
The senior minister Sergei Witte introduced policies that trebled oil and coal production, and quadrupled iron production. Lots of peasants therefore left the countryside to work new jobs in developing industries.
However, the working and living conditions of these ‘workers’ was hardly any better than that of the peasants. Trade unions were also illegal so there was no way to protest.
What were the long term causes of the 1905 uprising?(2)
Huge reforms meant that Russia experienced 6% annual growth compared to 2% of Britain and France. This was because an industrial employee worked an 11-hour day and 10-hour Saturday.
Economic depression following 1902 - wages fell and factories and mines were closed. Poor harvests in 1901 and 1902.
What were the short term causes of the 1905 uprising?(2)
Russo-Japanese war started 8 February 1904. This lead to increased taxes among things such as salt, and alcohol. Russia surrendered Port Arthur 2 January 1905; many Russians thought Japan was a 3rd world country.
A new minister of the interior, Svyatopolk-Mirsky, was appointed August 1904. He had led to a growth in liberal ideas because he encouraged those pressing for concessions; for example he allowed the zemstvo to gather and discuss policy issues.
When was Bloody Sunday, describe what happened?(3)
On Sunday 22 January 1905 a priest called Father Gapon lead 200,000 protestors to the Winter Palace to hand the Tsar a petition asking a minimum wage of a rouble a day, and to reduce the working hours to eight a day.
Many marchers carried pictures of the Tsar to show respect for him, but the Tsar was not in the Winter Palace he had left St Petersburg.
Without warning, the Cossacks on horseback opened fire and killed around 96. The news then spread fast and shortly there were riots and strikes all over the country
Describe the aftermath of Bloody Sunday?(2)
The Tsar Uncle, Duke Sergei, was assassinated 4 February. All sorts of groups such as students, liberals and the nationalities joined the workers demanding change - 400,000 workers were now on strike.
In June, sailors on the Battleship Potemkin mutinied in response to unhealthy meat that had been provided to them and one of their fellow cremates killed.
They had killed their officers and received huge support from hundreds of workers on strike at Odessa around 15 June.
How did the Tsar restore order through the October Manifesto?(3)
The Tsar had to issue the October Manifesto on 30th October. This offered an elected parliament called the Duma, as well as right to free speech and right to form political parties. This ended the violence and disorder because liberals felt that they had won a democratic government.
After making peace with Japan in December, the Tsar recalled his army and used the Black Hundreds group to attack political opponents. A Bolshevik uprising that ensued was crushed by the army and okhrana introducing martial law.
In the countryside throughout 1906, troops were sent out in huge numbers to crush the peasants and the nationalities.
How did Stolypin keep things in order, deal with protestors?(3)
He began in 1906, right after he was appointed Prime Minister. He started by setting up military courts which could sentence and hang someone on the spot.
From 1906 to 1910 the year before Stolypin’s death the number of strikers dropped from 1.1 million to less than 50,000.
Executions were frequent as well, in 1906 144 died, ‘07 456, ‘08 825.
How did Stolypin keep the control under the Tsar, deal with Duma?(3)
The first two Duma had 1 noble representative for every 2,000 nobles but only one worker representative for every 90,000 workers. Nevertheless this Duma was very radical and so the Tsar dissolved the one of 1906, and the second one in 1907.
This is where Stolypin came in and changed the Duma to favour the rich even more, which made it more conservative and useful to the Tsar.
How did Stolypin increase the economy, deal with the Peasants?(5)
He allowed wealthier peasants, the kulaks, to shift away from the mir communes and buy up land. About 15% of peasants took up this offer and created larger and more efficient farms.
He called it the ‘wager on the strong and sober’. Grain production increased from 55 to over 90 million tons from 1900 to 1913.
On the other hand, 90% of land in the more fertile West of Russia was still being run by inefficient communes in 1916.
Furthermore, a lot of the peasants that had been forced to sell land now had no job. They were wanderers and around 4 million were encouraged to take the Trans-Siberian railway.
However, they found that all the best land was taken up by rich that didn’t use it. Over half returned to European Russia all this while prices had risen so much greater than wages.
Who was Stolypin?(5)
Pyotr(Peter) Stolypin, began as the Marshal of the Kovno Governorate(now in modern Lithuania) between 1889 and 1902 which gave him the inside view of local needs.
After he became governor in Grodno Governorate, things changed again in 1903 Feb where he became governor of Saratov.
After the 1905 revolution he was known as the only governor to have kept a firm hold on his province during the revolution. It was rumoured that he had a police record on every single adult male in his province.
He became interior minister for two months in 1906, and then on 21st July 1906 he became Prime Minister.
He was shot twice 14 September 1911 in an Opera house, and died 4 days later. This was the 11th attempt to kill him.
How did rule change after Stolypin’s death?(4)
The number of strikers began increasing after Stolypin’s death, back up to 1.3 million in 1914. One strike in particular was highly publicised, the Lena gold field strike, where troops opened fire on striking miners(17th April 1912).
Gregory Yefimovich, or Rasputin, was in the Tsar household so often that political opponents used him to portray a sign of Tsar’s weakness.
Not only did the Tsar not know of this, but even if he did, he was so out of touch that he was likely to not care. Even though there were heavy rumours of his beloved Alexandra to be sleeping with Rasputin.
How did the Tsar lose support of the army from the First World War?(4)
At first soldiers were enthusiastic as they felt that they were fighting to defend their country against the Germans; as oppose to showing loyalty to the Tsar. However, lots of peasants conscripted into the army were badly lead and treated poorly by the aristrocrat officers.
Many were also short of rifles, ammo, artillery, shells and even basic winter clothing. At the Battle of Tannenberg(1914) for example, up to 150,000 Russian troops were either killed or captured prisoner while Germany had only lost 30,000 men.
In September 1915, the Tsar then took military presonal control of the military; he was an incompetent military strategist and hence was held accountable for most of the defeats and errors of the army. By late 1916, Russia had lost 1.7 million soldiers and another 2 million were POWs.
At the end of the war it emerged that Russia had mobilised 13 million soldiers, and over 9 million of that number had either died or been wounded. Not only was there huge discontent within the army, but also now most of the army were former peasants who had always hated the Tsar.
How did the Tsar lose support of the middle class, peasants and workers from the First World War?(3)
Huge conscription rates(because of the casualties) meant that lots of people became widows or orphans that needed state war pensions which were often not received. An extra 3.5 million industrial jobs were spawned between 1914-16 but workers got no extra wages.
There were now fuel and food shortages, a crippling rail network and increased inflation. The zemsto was the rural self-governing organisation created in 1864. Many middle-class in this organisation were appalled by the surfeit of wounded men left to die.
The middle-class hence set up their own medical organisations that were more effective than the government agencies. In 1915 a Duma alliance titled the Progressive Bloc requested the Tsar work with them desperately; he dismissed this group a month later.
What were the demonstrations in build up to the February(March) revolution?
9th January 1917, 150,000 workers marched in memory of Bloody Sunday. On 14 February there was another large demonstration in support of the duma, around 80,000 people.
A week later, the same crowds protesting(steelworkers) were joined by women from International Women’s Day. The government also announced during this week that bread would soon become rationed.
As weather improved, the demonstrations increased in size - without planning there were 240,000 people protesting between 23-25 February. The Tsar however, was absent as he was at Mogilev(780km from Petrograd).
What caused the Tsar to be overthrown in the February(March) revolution?
On 25 February the Tsar ordered the police an army to stop the unrest in the city. Therefore on the afternoon 26 February soldiers opened fire and killed around 40 protestors. This caused soldiers in other regiments to question their orders - that evening soldiers of the Pavlosvky Guards Regiment began to question their orders.
While this mutiny was quickly shut down, things spiralled out of control and the same regiment that shot the protestors stated they would no longer obey weapons.
As people began to take control of the railway stations, and Soviets began forming again; the members of the duma sent a petition to the tsar asking him to create a cabinet. He refused, but he then abdicated on the 2nd March.
What were some problems faced by the Provisional Government?(3)
The Petrograd Soveit controlled the railway system and the postal and telegraph service because these were industries in which workers supported the soviet.
The Petrograd Soviet set up groups to organise food supplies, it even had its own newspaper to spread ideas. In March, the ‘Central Executive Committee’ was set up which claimed to represent all of the workers’ and soldiers’ soviets across Russia.
Due to the war, 568 factories closed in Petrograd between February and July with 100,000 jobs lost.
