RUSSIA: 1914-1939 Flashcards
what were the problems of ruling Russia in 1914
The Russian Empire huge and made it very hard to govern (92x bigger than Britains; 1/6 of the worlds land; 22.3milion km)
Communications were difficult - roads were unpaved and slow, thick with mud and railways only covered a small fraction of the country
communications were also difficult as out of 125.6million people and only 55million spoke Russian (despite this, they were expected to conform in the Russian ways called Russification)
MOST PEOPLE WERE PEASANTS
what were the social problems in Russia
The 1897 Census showed terrible social inequality.
- Over half the peasants had no land or homes of their own.
- poor farmland
- rising population (more people moving to towns)
- shortages
- land and wealth belonged to about 1million of the 125.6million people
what was town life like in Russia
- more peasants were moving to towns and cities to look for work in factories
(pop. Moscow = 1.8million people, most industrialised city and 50% of factory workers lived there) - Life in general was difficult - work was hard to find, the hours were long, low pay, hard and dangerous work (accidents were common)
- factory workers lived in the worst part of town: sometimes 10 to a room
(Factory owners lived well and made huge profits, paying low wages and spent little time on improving work conditions for the workers)
who was russia originally ruled by?
Russia was ruled by a Tsar who made all the decisions, however, was advised by his Council of Ministers (chosen by his friends in the nobility) , they believed they had been chosen to rule by god - the Romanov family had been ruling since 1613.
what was Russia’s church?
The Russian Orthodox Church
When did the Tsar Nicolas the II become Tsar ?
1894
how was russia ruled
Ruled by the tsar and his council of ministers - The Tsar was an indecisive leader
He censored books, newspapers etc…To ensure they were not hostile against him. His secret police looked for opponents of the Tsar who, if found, would have been exiled to Siberia.
Was the Tsar up to leading Russia
No
Even he said “I am not ready to be Tsar. I know nothing about the business of ruling.”
What were the Tsars secret police called?
Okhrana
what happened in the 1905 revolution?
There were a series of demonstrations and strikes. The Tsars troops guarding the Tsar’s Winter Palace in St Petersburg fired into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators- killing 130 and wounding many more. ** NOTFINISHED