Russia 1906-1917 Flashcards
1
Q
How did thee Fundamental laws change between 1905 and 1906?
A
- 1905: Nicholas II had promised that steps would be taken to ensure that no law could be passed without the Duma’s approval and further undertook to give the Duma powers.
- 1906: , The drafting of the Fundamental Laws became an exercise in clawing back as much political ground as possible. Government ministers, with the Tsar’s full encouragement, set out to restrict the powers of the Duma to the barest minimum required by the wording of the October Manifesto
2
Q
Why did the Tsar have the ability to change the Fundamental laws?
A
- The regime was under major attack in 1905 but the following year, the regime had been saved.
3
Q
What were some features of the fundamental laws?
A
-‘The All-Russian Emperor possesses the supreme autocratic power. Not only fear and conscience, but God himself, command obedience to his authority.’
- The Fundamental Laws gave the tsar the right to dissolve the Duma at any time of his choosing.
- allowed the tsar to proclaim new laws without Duma approval at times when it was not in session.
4
Q
What role did the tsar have in the members of the Duma?
A
- The tsar alone had the right to appoint and dismiss government ministers. There was no requirement to seek Duma approval.
5
Q
What were positive aspects of the Fundamental Laws?
A
- Freedom of assembly
- Freedom of association
- Freedom of speech
6
Q
Why did relations in the First Duma deteriorate?
A
- The duma was too radical in its approach when it demanded the full democratisation of Russia, radical land reform and amnesty for all political exiles.
7
Q
Why did the Government dissolve the First Duma?
A
- The Duma called for the Government to resign its power.
- The Duma also began to debate a land reform programme which they knew was unacceptable to the Tsar and his ministers.
8
Q
What was the Vyoberg manifesto?
A
- 200 Duma members who fled to Finland called upon their fellow-citizens to refuse to pay taxes until the Duma was restored.
9
Q
Why did the Vyoberg manifesto fail?
A
- Russians were drained from the revolutionary movement of 1905 and didn’t take to the streets.
10
Q
How were elections to the second Duma different to the first Duma?
A
- In 1907, the revolutionary socialist parties (SRs, Mensheviks and Bolsheviks) participated in the elections rather than boycotting them as they had done in 1906.
The Government disrupted electioneering by the opposition parties and secretly financed the campaigns of favoured extreme right-wing candidates
11
Q
What was the political makeup of the Second Duma?
A
- The second Duma was more polarised between left and right than the first but, from the government’s point of view, it was no more amenable.
12
Q
Why did Stolypin dissolve the Second Duma?
A
- He was frustrated by the second Duma’s obstructiveness and dissolved it on the basis that Bolshevik members were involved in treasonable activity.
13
Q
How did Stolypin change the duma electoral system for the future dumas?
A
- Designed a system where a new one would reduce the representation in the Duma of peasants, workers and national minorities.
- The nobility were able to elect half of the Duma whilst the peasantry were only able to elect one-fifth of the Duma.
14
Q
What was the Tsar’s thoughts on the Duma?
A
- Nicholas II loathed the Duma and made little attempt to conceal his feelings towards it.
15
Q
Which party did Nicholas openly support?
A
- The Union of Russian People Party.
16
Q
Why did Nicholas loath the Duma?
A
- he believed that its existence was an affront to the principle of autocracy he felt he had a duty to uphold.
17
Q
What was Nicholas’s involvement in the day to day running of the Duma?
A
- Nicholas left the day to day running of the Duma to his ministers, and never addressed the Duma again as he had done in the 1906 opening ceremony.
18
Q
Which political parties dominated the Third Duma?
A
- The third Duma was dominated by the Octobrists, the largest single party with 154 seats, and around 150 pro-regime right-wingers.
19
Q
Which political parties dominated the Fourth Duma?
A
- . In the fourth Duma, the right-wing parties were a little stronger, the Octobrists a little weaker.
20
Q
What was the name of the Octoberist leader in 1905?
A
- Alexander Guchkov
21
Q
What did Alexander Guchkov claim about post-1905 Russia?
A
- It was not an autocracy.
22
Q
What did Guchkov complain about in 1908?
A
- The amount of military positions given up to the Tsar’s family (nepotism)
23
Q
What did Guchkov complain about in 1912?
A
- He complained about the growing influence of Rasputin which angered both the Tsar and his wife as they saw Rasputin as a man who had cured their son;s haemophilia.
24
Q
Why was the Duma powerless and emphasised the lack of lawful order in Russia?
A
- The Tsar and his ministers such as Stolypin were able to prevent the Duma from making legislative changes, therefore ruling as autocrats, no different to life before 1905.
25
Why was there an argument that by 1914, Russia was largely autocratic rather than fully autocratic?
- Russia in 1914 did have a constitution of sorts in the shape of the 1906 Fundamental Laws.
- In 1914, political parties were within limits free to criticise the regime. This had not been the case before 1906. By 1914, there was also a relatively free press in Russia.
26
Why was Nicholas an ineffective leader in regards to Russia's political progress?
- One problem was his inaccessibility.
- leaving aside his determination to uphold the principle of autocracy, he had no real policies of his own.
27
What was the main reason for disorder in the countryside between 1905-07?
- Land hunger`
28
What are statistics regarding the violence from peasantry during 1905-07?
- 1906 - 1000 people killed, dominantly Government ministers, and this figure rose to 3000 by 1907.
29
How did the Tsarist minister, Durnovo, strike back at the countryside?
- he sent army units into areas with no most disorder under the orders of not showing any mercy.
30
What are some figures which show the extent of Durnovo's response to the Russian peasantry?
- an estimated 15,000 people dead and 20,000 wounded. In addition, 45,000 people were exiled to Siberia. In some cases, whole villages were burned to the ground.
31
What other method did the Government use to restore order with the peasantry
- The Government used the halving of peasantry redemption payments in half by 1906
32
What were the repressive strategies of Stolypin?
- In August 1906, Stolypin proclaimed a state of emergency covering virtually the whole of European Russia.
- This gave government officials the power to imprison people without trial for up to six months and to exile troublemakers.
33
What were the features of the field court martial against peasants in European Russia?
Cases were heard within 24 hours of an offence being committed. * Trials were held in secret. * The accused did not have the right to be represented by a lawyer. * Trials lasted for a maximum of two days. * Death sentences (by hanging) were carried out within 24 hours of the court reaching its decision. * No appeals against verdicts or sentences were allowed.
34
What was Stolypin's necktie
-"Stolypin's necktie" was a derogatory nickname for the hangman's noose, used to refer to the executions of over 1,000 people.
35
Was repression successful?
- The restoration of order in rural Russia took time. Peasant disturbances did not subside quickly or completely in 1906-07. Unrest in some areas continued on into 1908. Eventually, though, the violence unleashed by the state did its work, and the regime succeeded in reasserting its authority in the countryside.
36
Were revolutionary parties outlawed after 1905?
- No
37
How did the Tsarist regime manage revolutionary leaders such as Lenin/Trotsky etc?
-Revolutionary leaders were either arrested or driven into foreign exile.
38
What sentence was Trotsky given in 1906?
- Lifetime exile to Siberia.
39
Where were most of the revolutionary leaders by 1914?
- Western Europe in exile.
40
How many arrests were there of Bolshevik members in the Black Earth region 'Voronexh' after the dissolution of the Second Duma?
- 2000
41
What was expropriation?
- The gaining of party funds by robbing banks.
42
What was Stolypin's overall belief about his repression in restoring faith to the Tsarist regime.
- He wasn't apologetic about his repression and insisted that it had to happen if Tsarism was going to have a long term future.
43
What was Stolypin's approach to land reform?
- He aimed to break up the village commune,do away with open-field strip farming and reconstruct Russian agriculture on the basis of peasants owning their own separate farms.
44
What were the political benefits of land reform that Stolypin saw?
- Peasants would develop a strong attachment to the principle of private ownership and would therefore resist socialist calls for the communal orstate ownership of land
- peasants who benefited from the Stolypin landreform would have a vested interest in the survival of the Tsarist regime because a new regime mightundo what Stolypin had done.
45
What were the economic benefits of land reform that Stolypin saw?
- A more highly motivated peasantry would be more productive.
- Increased agricultural production would ensure the supply of food to Russia's growing industrial towns and eliminate the possibility of outbreaks of unrest caused by high food prices.
- Increased output would also enable Russia to export food stuffs and help to generate capital that could be invested in industry
46
What were the key features of Stolypin's land reform?
- Every peasant householder could demand that his share of communal land be turned into his own private property.
- In villages, separate small farms could only be created after a vote among villagers.
- The government set up local bodies called land organisation commissions to settle any disputes arising out of its land reform measures.
47
Why didn't Stolypin's land reforms become as successful as anticipated?
- The implementation of Stolypin's land reforms was overtaken by war and revolution
48
What was the known impact of Stolypin's land reforms before 1914?
- very limited
49
What was the trend of the peasantry uptake of Stolypin's land reforms?
- Initially there was a huge influx of peasants taking up Stolypin's land reforms, however, peasants decided they didn't want to leave their traditional roles and those that did were often looked upon badly.
50
How many peasant households remained full members of village communes?
- 80%
51
What were the issues with Stolypin's land reforms?
- They were concerned with making more productive use of the land that peasants were already cultivating so they did not in themselves involve any transfer of additional land to the peasantry.
-As a result, they did not really address the issue of peasant land hunger,
52
How did Stolypin deal with overpopulation in the black earth region?
- Emigration to Siberia.
Peasants were offered a range of inducements to migrate to Siberia: free or cheap land, interest-free loans and reduced railway fares.
53
What were the results of Stolypin's emigration policy?
- The results were impressive: between 1906 and 1913, some 3.5 million peasants emigrated to Siberia, though nearly 20 percent of them failed to settle and made the return journey to European Russia.
54
What other areas of Russian life did Stolypin want to change?
- The education system
- The power of the zemstvas
- Providing benefits for industrial workers
55
How did Stolypin aim to change the education system?
- He aimed to give children at least 4 years of education from the age of 8.
56
How did Stolypin aim to increase the power of the zemstva?
- getting rid of the land captains (landowners who in 1889 had been given powers to direct and control peasant affairs in their localities) and giving the zemstva additional powers.
57
How did Stolypin aim to increase the power of factory workers?
- he aimed to introduce a proper scheme of compensation for factory workers hurt in industrial accidents.
58
Why did Stolypin's aims to reform Russian sectors of life run into difficulty with conservatives?
the nobility took issue with local government reform, the Orthodox Church resisted educational reform and industrialists complained that the workmen's compensation scheme was too expensive.
59
What was the Lena Gold Mining Company?
- A company in eastern Siberia who had developed a thriving mining industry in which the Tsar's mother was a shareholder.
60
What were the 2 problems that workers in the Lena goldfields were unhappy about?
- Unhappy about the environment being harsh
- Unhappy about their treatment (long hours, low pay).
61
Why did the Lena goldfield strike begin?
- The serving of rancid horsemeat in a canteen.
62
What did workers demand for in the Lena Goldfields?
- Wage increase by 30%.
- 8 hour day and improvements in medical care.
63
When did the Tsarist army interfere?
- After a month of standstill
64
What was the mssacre at Lena gold?
- April 1912, at Nadezhclinsk, a company of 90 soldiers opened fire on a column of 3,000 unarmed marchers. There are no definitive casualty figures,but a conservative estimate is 160 killed and 200 wounded.
65
What was the outcome of the Lena gold massacre?
- Worker wages and pay wasn't met.
- 10,000 people gave up and left with their jobs being replaced by Koreans and Japanese people.
66
What was the impact of the Lena Gold massacres?
- Gave way to increasing revolutionary movement, where the period of calm had come to an end.
67
Features of the Russian army (statistics)
- 1.4 million men
- 3 million trained reserves
- Largest army in Europe
68
Four key weaknesses of the Russian army?
- Generals owed their places to nepotism rather than ability
- Physical standards and educational standards were low
- Less motivation due to Russia's sparse landscape.
- Russian army was still poorly equipped. It did not have enough heavy artillery, machine guns or motorised vehicles
69
What were the statistics in regard to the number of rifles Russia were producing?
- There was even a shortage of rifles: in the early stages of the World War, the army needed a minimum of 100,000 new rifles a month, but Russian industry could supply only 27,000.
70
How did the allies view Russia before the war?
- Allied generals hoped Russia would act as a steamroller but these hopes were very quickly dashed.
71
How did the Russians perform in 1914 and 1915 during WW1?
- The Russians were beaten in the Battle of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes.
- The 'Great Retreat' saw Russia be forced out of Poland and Lithuania at a cost of one million men killed or wounded whilst one million men were captured.
72
What was the Brusilov offensive?
- In 1916, Russia tried to regain the initiative by launching a counter attack, known as the 'Brusilov offensive', directed against the armies of Germany's ally, Austria. The 'Brusilov offensive' was halted when German forces came to the aid of the Austrians.
73
Why did the Munitions Crisis actually happen?
- Military planners ruled out the possibility of a long war so didn't prepare ammunitions for a long war.
74
What was the impact of the Munitions crisis?
The political damage, however, had been done: it was widely assumed that the catastrophic losses of 1915 were the result of the Tsarist regime's incompetence and mismanagement.
75
How did the war damage Russian transport?
- military traffic was given priority. The movement of ordinary freight was, as a result, seriously disrupted, not only in the areas near the battlefront but further afield too.
Trains carrying food supplies to the cities were often seriously delayed, their cargo sometimes rotting away before it reached its destination.
76
What was the impact of damaging transport?
- Food prices soared as did inflation.
77
What 3 reasons were there for food shortages in Russia?
- Grain production fell in wartime, mainly because some important food-producing areas were occupied by the Germans.
