Russia Flashcards
How did Rasputin get involved with the royal family in Russia?
The Romanovs’s son Alexis had haemophilia and would suffer from painful bleeding so in 1907 the Tsarina called on Rasputin to see if he could heal him and it seemed that he was able to ease his pain
Who was Rasputin?
He was presented as a holy man that could heal people but was also known as a drunken and womanizer
Rasputin’s influence and issues over the Romanovs
-Would tell Tsarina about ministers he didn’t like and the Tsar would fire them
-Eased son’s pain from haemophilia
-When WW1 started Tsar took control of the army so left Tsarina in charge of Russia, Rasputin could easily manipulate her
-Rumours of Rasputin having affair with the Tsarina
who was Leon Trotsky?
Leon Trotsky was a Soviet revolutionary, Marxist theorist, and politician
What was the Tsar’s big mistake?
In 1915 he made a mistake of taking control of the army in WW1 when he was a bad ruler as is but also had no experience or knowledge of controlling an army, this also left Tsarina and Rasputin in Russia and he could be blamed for everything going wrong
What happened in 1913?
They celebrated the Romanovs being in power for 300 years which a lot of the public felt patronage towards
Russia in the WW1
They formed an alliance with Britain and there was some Patriotism, the russian army was big but they hadn’t advanced with their technology, they suffered defeats in Tannenburg and Masurian lakes and soldiers were treated badly the fought in pairs, one had boots and the other had a rifle
WW1 impact on people
Peasants- They were forced to join the army so there was a shortage of farmers
City Workers- There were food shortages as the peasants had gone to fight so prices went up and people were starving to death
When did Rasputin die?
He was murdered on the 16th December by a family member of the Romanovs who was aristocracy in attempt to save the monarchy but it was too late and now they could fully blame the Tsar
how much of the population was peasants?
80 percent
What does MIR mean?
A commune of shared out land strips
What is serfdom?
a legal code granted landowners complete authority over the peasants who lived on their land
when did serfdom end?
1861
What is redemption payments?
when The government payed the landowners for freeing the peasants and then made the peasants pay it back
Who is Witte?
Sergei Witte was an influential policy maker. He persuaded the Tsar to pass his October Manifesto. Issued in 1905, it promised significant political reform, although most of these promises were open to interpretation: A Duma (elected national parliament) was to be set up
What are some reasons to oppose the Tsar?
1)There was censorship and they had no freedom of speech
2) Strict control by the okhrana the secret police
3) There was autocracy, being ruled by one person
4) Nicholas 2nd wasn’t a strong leader
5) There was no basic education
What groups opposed the Tsar?
KADETS
SOCIAL DEMOCRATS
SOCIAL REVOLUTIONARIES
Who are the social revolutionaries?
They believe in violence and assassinated 2 government officials and members of the okhrana
who were the social democrats?
A small, disciplined party who followed the ideas of Karl Marx
When did the social democrats split?
1903 they split into the Bolsheviks (majority) and the mensheviks (minority)
who are the Kadets?
Middle class reformers who wanted more democracy
Who is Plehve?
he told the Tsar to start a short victorious war against Japan in 1904 to make people feel more patriachal
what happened in 1904?
the war with japan
what happened in 1905?
Bloody sunday
who lead the march on bloody sunday?
Father Gapon
How did the Tsar survive the 1905 revolution?
With a mix of repression and reform
- he created a Duma
-ended the war with japan
- allowed free speech and right to form political parties
- wrote the october manifesto
- used force and crushed strikers and arrested people and exiled them to siberia
What did the october manifesto say?
Promised a Duma, free speech, right to form political parties
When did the Dumas close down?
First one closed in 1906 and second one in 1907 the third lasted from 1907 to 1912 as it was full of tsar’s supporters
When was stolypin appointed priminister?
In 1906
Who was peter stolypin and what did he do?
Appointed priminister in 1906 and came down harsh on strikers he had the nickname the hangman’s noose known as stolypin’s necktie as he hung over 1000 people and 21000 were exiled to siberia, he tried to get peasants on his side and set up the peasants land bank to supply government loans Kulaks would buy lots of land he also increased schools from 100,000 to 150,000
what was one of stolypin’s mistakes?
He focused too much on peasants and not enough on city workers who had very poor conditions and were more likely to start a revolution as they lived in the city
who were the kulaks?
Rich peasants that liked stolypin and bought a lot of land
when was stolypin assassinated?
1911 was assassinated by a social revolutionary who felt he only helped the kulaks not poorer peasants
what is the Petrograd soviet?
Had support of parts of the army
what was the dual government?
when after the Tsar abdicated and they had to decide how ran the country so the provisional government and the petrograd soviet shared power which didn’t work
Peace, land, bread Provisional government
They didn’t pull out of the war so there was no peace, they didn’t sort out the Peasant land reforms and supplies were prioritised for soldiers at war so there was not much food still
