Russia: Tsar Flashcards
What was Russia like at the beginning of the 20th century?
Huge and diverse - many different cultures and nationalities, 22m km2
Contrasting classes and a backwards economy - 84% peasants who were unhappy, poor, hungry and didn’t own the land they worked on, 1.5% nobility, workers in cities with poor quality working and living conditions
Autocracy and Tsarist rule - no parliament or democracy, absolute power
Religion - Russian orthodox christianity
What were the long term causes of the 1905 revolution?
Diversity, poverty, economy, contrasting classes
What were the short term causes of the 1905 revolution?
Enforced industrialisation
- this was to try and change backwards economy, spent lots of money
- the money spent on improving the industry was sourced from the Russian people - taxes on grain, alcohol and salt and workers wages were low
- 1902: people lost their jobs so there were strikes
Bad Harvests
- poor harvest in 1900 and 1902
- peasants already had barely enough money to survive and now they were starving
- lead to violence, landlord’s houses were burnt
Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905
- caused prices to rise in cities and there was a shortage of food and goods
- less industrial materials led to factories closing and people losing their jobs
- Russia lost, humiliating the Tsar e.g. in 1905 Port Arthur fell to the Japanese
What was the trigger for the 1905 revolution?
Bloody Sunday 22 January 1905
- it was a demonstration led by Father Gapon in St Petersburg where 200,000 people marched to the Tsar’s palace, wanting them to agree to his requests
- they were demanding an 8-hour working day, a minimum wage of 1 rouble/day, fewer taxes and a voice
- they thought that the Tsar was their ‘little father’ and that they would be greeted with refreshments
- the Tsar was not there, soldiers fired on the crowd, 100s died, 1000s wounded
How was the Tsar able to maintain control after the 1905 revolution?
1) In September a peace treaty was signed between Russia and Japan - 1000s of troops were now able to put down the unrest (workers strikes and peasant riots) and he had their support as he gave them good pay and promised better conditions
2) October Manifesto - promised a Duma, freedom of speech + press and the right to form political parties
- liberals and middle classes believed they had won a democratic government so stopped protests and supported the government
3) Land redemption payments were stopped, winning over the peasants
What was the role of Stolypin / why was he important?
He was appointed as Prime Minister by the Tsar in 1906
1) He set up a peasants bank which provided loans to allow wealthier peasants (kulaks) to buy strips of land
- led to better and more efficient farms and harvests improved as a result
- however, poorer peasants were forced to sell land and become labourers wandering around the countryside seeking work
2) Stolypin’s hard line tactics killed off opposition in the countryside and in Stolypin’s courts, 1000s were executed on “Stolypin’s necktie” where they could be hung on the spot for violence without trial
How did life change for the peasants from 1906-1914?
1) Stolypin set up a peasants bank which provided loans to allow wealthier peasants (kulaks) to buy strips of land
- led to better and more efficient farms and harvests improved as a result
- however, poorer peasants were forced to sell land and become labourers wandering around the countryside seeking work
2) The government encouraged over 4m peasants to settle on new lands on the Trans-Siberian railway - but when they got there, after long journeys, they found the best land had been taken by rich landowners and they were angry
How did life change for the workers from 1906-1914?
1) Industry boomed - the Baku oil fields were rivalled only by Texas
- by 1914 Russia was the world’s 4th largest producer of coal and steel
2) Wages for factory workers stayed low but the cost of food and living was very high - most workers could only afford enough bread to eat
3) There were very low standard living and working conditions
4) 1912: Strike in the Lena goldfields in Siberia about low wages and the 14-hour working days - troops killed 170 workers and injured 373
5) 10,000s of strikes from 1905-1914 - the army and police dealt with all these strikes firmly
- 20,000 strikers, protesters and revolutionaries were exiled by Stolypin
How did the government and autocratic rule change from 1906-1914?
1) The First Duma April 1916 - it could not pass laws, appoint ministers or control finance in important areas like defence and the Tsar could dissolve it whenever he wanted
- there was 1 representative for every 2000 nobles but 1 for every 90,000 workers
2) Second Duma 1907 - demanded more power and rights for the people e.g. land for the peasants and the right to free education
- was dissolved by Tsar after a few weeks
3) Third Duma 1907 - passed good measures for the army + navy
- accident insurance for workers
- but Stolypin changed the way members were elected to favour the rich
- was again dissolved by the Tsar very quickly
4) Fourth Duma 1912-1914 - achieved little before the war but the Tsar did work with it
How did the governments actions change from 1906-1914?
1) Although freedom of press had been granted in the October Manifesto of 1905, newspapers were still censored or fined for articles
2) The Okhrana (secret police) was still very active with 1000s of informers
3) The Tsar appointed Stolypin as prime minister - Stolypin’s hard line tactics killed off opposition in the countryside and in Stolypin’s courts, 1000s were executed on “Stolypin’s necktie” where they could be hung on the spot for violence without trial
What happened during the March 1917 revolution / why was it successful?
1) Very large demonstrations from the 7-10 March and the Tsar ignored the leader of the Duma who told him that the situation was at breaking point
2) 12 March - The Duma took control and set up a Provisional Committee to take over the government demanding that it be in charge of Russia
- the Tsar ordered them to disband and for the army to break the strikes - the soldiers refused and instead joined the demonstrations, they had had enough of the war and the way they were treated
3) 15 March - the Tsar attempted to return to Petrograd but the railway workers refused to let his train into the city
- he then issued a statement announcing his abdication and when his brother didn’t take over, Tsarism was over
Why did Russia do so badly in WW1?
1) Russian equipment and tactics were very outdated - Germans had over 10x as many heavy machine guns
2) The Russian army was made up of conscripts with very little training - within 6 months of war starting there was widespread desertion from the Russian soldiers
3) The officer corps was not meritocratic - all officers were nobles and over 1/2 had no military training
4) Russian transport could not cope with the demands of the army - during WW1, over 75% of the army transports were delayed by a week or more
5) Sep 1915: the Tsar took personal command of the army and went to the front - he had no military experience and the situation continued to deteriorate
Why would you have expected Russia to do well in WW1?
The Russian army was at least equal to the German army in manpower and material
Improvements to the Russian railway - mobilisation of 1.2m men was possible
The whole country (except the Tsarina) was united against Germany
Who was Rasputin?
Rasputin became very close with the Tsarina and Tsar as he was seen to be a holy man who claimed supernatural powers to treat the Tsar’s son for haemophilia
He seduced many women and became very powerful in government - he was feared and disliked by many
Why did Tsarism fall in March 1917 (1) ?
Economy was gradually getting worse - Industry’s input to the economy was low, as supplies were being made to be sent off to the war
- this caused many workers to lose their jobs (as factories closed) or go on strike (if they weren’t already fighting) and when these problems weren’t solved, the Tsar was to blame - there were over 700 peasant risings and over 1300 workers strikes in the first 2 months of 1917
- there was inflation of the prices of basic goods and even though wages also increased, this was not enough (an average daily wage could only buy a 1/5 of what it could in 1914) - so some of the peasants who were already hungry due to bad harvests, could afford even less to eat and were now starving
