Russia Topic 1 Flashcards
How was Russia ruled in 1905
- By Tsar Nicholas II
- Russia was autocracy
What does an autocracy mean
There was no control over the Tsar’s power, but he was given advice from ministers which he chose
What was the Tsar in control of
The army and was supported by the Church
Why were the peasants in discontent with the Tsarist government
- They were hungry for land
- They were overtaxed
- They lived in desperate poverty
- Not enough land to make enough food, caused a famine
- Shocked at how the government dealt with the famine
- The word was banned from newspapers
What percentage of the population were peasants
85%
Why were the industrial workers in discontent with the Tsarist government
- Had terrible living conditions
- Low wages
- Long hours
- Terrible working conditions
Why were the middle class in discontent with the Tsarist government
- They had no say in how Russia was governed
- They believed they should of had a say
- They wanted a fair legal system
- Were scared of the violent liberal groups
Why were different nationalities in discontent with the Tsarist government
- They wanted independence from Russian Oppression
- Russification, making them speak Russian and adopts Russia’s culture
What was the Okhrana
The Tsar’s secret police
Why were the police given a great deal of power
To protect the Tsar from the threat of terrorists
Why was censorship used
To stop the publishing of radical ideas
Who was the political opposition to Tsar Nicholas II?
- Liberals (kadets + Octobrists)
- Social revolutionary party
- Social democratic party
Why did the Tsar receive opposition from the Social Democratic party
- They believed in communism
- Wanted a revolution to get rid of the Tsar and the Tsarist government
- They believed in giving power to the workers
What did the social democratic party split into
- Mensheviks, more moderate
- Bolsheviks, more revolutionary
Why did the Tsar receive opposition from the Socialist revolutionary party
- They wanted to end the Tsarist regime
- They believed in using violence
- They believed in giving peasants their own lands so were supported by the peasants
Why did the Tsar receive opposition from the liberals
- Groups such as the Kadets, wanted a constitutional government in which the Tsar remained the head of state
- They wanted his power to be limited
- Wanted democratically elected governments
Why was there a revolution in 1905, the two triggers
- War against Japan
- Bloody Sunday
How did the Russo-Japanese war cause the 1905 revolution
- Japan and Russia both wanted Manchuria, in China, for its resources
- Russia was confident as a major European power it would be able to beat Japan
- Japan beat the old military tactics of Russia
- Russian people blamed the Tsarist government for this humiliating defeat
How did Bloody Sunday cause the 1905 revolution
- Bloody Sunday was a massacre of unarmed protestors
- Took place in St Petersburg
- It was led by Father Gapon, the people were bring a petition to the Tsar
- The petition was for better conditions of industrial workers
- The march was peaceful until the demonstrators starting shouting abuse at the soldiers, insulting their failures
- The soldiers fired two warning rounds then came into the crowds and attacked
- The event united people in disgust and anger
How many protestors were killed in Bloody Sunday
100
What were the long term causes of the 1905 revolution
- Economic hardships
- Political opposition
What is the Potemkin mutiny, 1905
- mutiny of Russian sailors
- The navy faced poor conditions and tough discipline
- The navy were embarrassed due to their loss to Japan
- some sailors believed it was wrong for officers to have complete control over their lives
- The mutiny started due to the sailors being forced to eat meat with maggots in, they were threatened to be shot if they did not eat it
- The officer shot one of the sailors who died, this set off the mutiny
- The sailors attacked the officers taking over the ship
Where did the sailors sail to, in the Potemkin mutiny
To Odessa where strikes and protests had been taking place
- Riots spread throughout the city, with support for the sailors and funerals for the lost
- The Tsar sent his army to stop the riots in Odessa
What happened to the sailors, where did they find asylum
A Romanian port, they sunk the ship rather than risking recapture
What were the peasant riots
- Peasants rioted against their landlords, even burning down their manor houses and sometimes killing them and their families
- They creates communes
How many manor houses did the peasants burn
3000
What did the industrial workers did in the 1905 revolution
- They used strikes to achieve their aims
- A general strike was organised, including important workers e.g. railways meaning Russia could not function
- the general strike became a national strike against the government
What did the Tsar do in response to the 1905 revolution
The October Manifesto
What did the Tsar grant in the October Manifesto
- New civil rights for the people of the Russian Empire, freedom of speech, religion, right to from trade unions
- The Duma was set up
- Laws would have to be approved by the state Duma and government actions would have to be supervised
What were the immediate reactions to the October Manifesto
- The liberal middle class were delighted
- However the Manifesto did not do anything to improve the condition of the workers or peasants
- The social democratic were very critical of the manifesto and the middle class for abandoning the workers
What was Stolypin’s role
He was to stop the unrest in the countryside of the peasants
- He was hated due to his extreme methods
- Stolypin’s necktie
Why did Tsar Nicholas II survive the 1905 revolution
- Concessions, the October Manifesto
- The military, the army and navy stayed loyal to the Tsar
- Disunited opposition, they were not organised or unity
What are the fundamental laws
Laws issued by the Tsar when he met with the Duma for the first time
- An upper state council could block any decision made by the Duma (the state council was chosen by the Tsar)
- the Tsar kept the important powers e.g. power to dissolve the duma, veto any decisions, authority over armed services
- Only the Tsar could change the fundamental laws
When was the first duma
1906
What was the first duma like
- Very strongly anti-government
- their main demand was land reform, taking more land from the landlords
- the kadets wanted the government to answer straight to the duma
- the demands were way to radical for the tsarist government
How long did the first duma run for
10 weeks till the Tsar dissolved it
When was the second duma
1907
What was the second duma like
- mostly social revolutionaries
- recognised as an even bigger threat to Tsarism than the first duma and therefore was dissolved
What was the third duma like
- Stolypin organised a change in the election rules so that more conservative deputies were elected, they could be relied on to support the government
- showed that the tsar would never willingly give up his autocratic power
How long did the third duma last
Its full 5 year term as it could be relied on for support of the government and the Tsar rein
What was the fourth duma like
also dominated by conservatives
- nationalist parties were even stronger
- opposition to the government was too weak
When did the fourth duma end
February 1917
What did Stolypin believe about farming
- He believed that the way farming was organised (communes) was inefficient and old fashioned
What were Stolypins land reforms
- He allowed peasants to leave their communes so they could go and buy their own land and create more efficient modern farms
- he gave peasants loans and encouraged them to find land in Siberia
- He hoped in time peasants would grow richer and be happy and support the Tsar again
Were stolypins land reforms successful?
- Families still tended to live and work as if they were still in communes, e.g. letting animals graze on eachothers land
- he was unsuccessful in preventing further unrest in the countryside
- Food production did increase by a third
- 3.5 million peasants moved to Siberia
What was the Lena gold field strike
- miners went on strike due to the quality of horsemeat they were given and their management taking no notice
- they demanded better working conditions, 8 hour days, higher wages
- an order was given to open fire on the protestors
- the shooting outraged russia due to the similarity from ‘ bloody sunday’
- 750,000 workers went on strike to show their solidarity
- The gold mines were forced to close in the end
