Section 2:chapter 7

Question 1

Nicholas II beliefs and authority

Answer 1

Little interest in politics
Believed in God-given right to rule
Tutored by pobedonostsev
Intended to maintain autocracy, Russification/suppress demands for reform

Question 2

Demands for change and government reaction

Answer 2

1894 = serious unrest
govs failure to deal with famine (1891-2) = more support for reform
trouble in uni crushed by Okhrana
1902-7 disturbances towns/countryside - suppressed by Stolypin
Industrial strikes escalated in towns

Question 3

What did Father Gapon form in 1904
to prevent workers joining radical socialists

Answer 3

An ‘officially approved’ trade union, the assembly of St Petersburg factory workers to ‘channel’ workers grievances

Question 4

Outline the events of the Russo-Japanese war

Answer 4

Jan 1904 - Japanese attacked Russian naval base at Port Arthur
Plehve (minister for internal affairs) encouraged Tsar to launch swift/successful war to divert attention from unrest at home
Initial outburst of patriotism, series of defeats lead to further opposition

Question 5

When and why was Plehve assassinated

Answer 5

July 1904

Poor advice on the Russo-Japanese war

Question 6

What happened after Plehve was assassinated

Answer 6

Crowds in Warsaw celebrate on streets
Renewed cries for representative national assembly Duma
Nov 1904 - new minister for internal affairs(Mirsky) invited zemstvo representatives to discussions in st Petersburg

Nicholas refused to allow representative gov + only conceded expansion of Zemstvas rights

Question 7

When was Bloody Sunday

Answer 7

9th January 1905

Question 8

What happened on the 3rd of January 1905?

Answer 8

Strike began - Putilov works (StPetersburg)
Involved around 150,000 workers

Question 9

Outline the events of bloody Sunday

Answer 9

 Father Gapon lead, peaceful march to Winter Palace
Wanted to demonstrate workers loyalty and request reform
Demonstration broken up by military force
 Hundreds killed or wounded

Question 10

 What did bloody Sunday encourage

Answer 10

Outbreak of rebellion -spread through Empire

Question 11

What happened on the 4th of Feb 1905

Answer 11

grand duke Sergei (Tsars uncle) assassinated
Nicholas agreed to meet workers representatives - told strikers to return to work

Question 12

What caused the October manifesto

Answer 12

St Petersburg soviet (council of workers) set up to direct general strike
Witte (chairman of Tsars council of ministers) - ‘country on verge of revolution’
Tsars uncle - would shoot himself, unless reforms instituted

Question 13

When was the October manifesto established?

Answer 13

The 17th of October 1905

Question 14

What did the October manifesto promise?

Answer 14

grant civic freedom (personal rights/Freedom of conscience, speech)
Establish State Duma (giving voice to all classes )
State Duma- power to approve laws

Question 15

What was the public’s reaction to the October manifesto

Answer 15

Greeted with celebrations on streets
Crowds sang French revolutionary anthem
General strike called off (radicals urged workers to fight on - ‘we have been granted everything and yet nothing..autocracy remains’

Question 16

Why did the October manifesto fail

Answer 16

Tsar - no intention of becoming a ‘constitutional monarch’
Few ministers had commitment  to manifesto
Trepov - ‘fire, no blanks + Spare no bullets’ in forcing workers back to factories

Question 17

What happened on the 3rd of December 1905?

Answer 17

Headquarters of St Petersburg Soviet surrounded -leaders arrested,Tried + exiled.
Weekend Revolutionary movement in capital and authorities regained control
However still further month of street warfare in Moscow

Question 18

What was the new constitution

Answer 18

In accordance with tsars October manifesto, new constitutional arrangement:
Lower chamber (state duma) - deputies elected through indirect voting
Upper chamber (state council) - deputies 1/2 elected by zemstva, 1/2 by tsar
2 houses had equal legislative power + all legislation must be Tsar approved

Question 19

What were the fundamental laws?

Answer 19

5 days before first duma met(23 April 1906) -Nicholas issues fundamental laws
- reasserted autocrat power + right to:
- dissolve Duma
- command russias army / navy
- to rule by decree in emergency/ Duma not in session

Question 20

Outline the first Duma May - July 1906

Answer 20

• Boycotted by Bolsheviks, SR’s + extreme right
• Mostly radical liberal, 1/3 peasants
• strongly critical of Tsar + ministers
• ## Dissolved in July (hard line stolypin became prime minister)

Question 21

Outline second Duma, Feb -June 1907

Answer 21

• ‘Duma of national anger’
• even more oppositional than its predecessor
• Dissolved - refused to support Stolypins agrarian reform
• 

Question 22

Outline third Duma - Nov 1907- June 1912

Answer 22

• agreed to majority of gov proposals, but disputed some reforms
• was suspended twice in 1911

Question 23

Outline fourth Duma, Nov 1912 - 17

Answer 23

• New prime minister ignored Duma + influence declined

Question 24

Outline the political developments by 1914

Answer 24

• autocracy appear to have recovered:
  
  • Stolypin - ruthlessly restored order in countryside
  • agri reform =agrarian sitch improved
  • Dumas influence = non existent
  • revolutionary groups weakened
    However - from 1912 - labour troubles resurfaced
• Rasputin damaging Nicholas reputation