The Collapse Of The Russian Empire 1894-1917 Flashcards
When were the fundamental laws introduced?
April 1906
What did article 87 of the laws allow the tsar to do?
Have the right in “exceptional circumstances” to pass his own laws without consulting the Duma
What is the state council?
Half members chosen by tsar
Equal power to Duma
Both chambers have to agree for all decisions to be passed
How much power did the Duma really have?
Little real power and limited ability to enact laws
What did the fundamental laws do to the liberals?
Dismayed them
Had hoped for universal secret and equal election but instead got complicated system weighted towards upper classes
In what way was the electorate system weighted towards the upper class?
2000 landowners represented by one deputy
90 000 workers represented by one deputy
When was Stolypin appointed president of the council of ministers?
July 1906
When were the first elections of the Duma held?
Beginning of 1906
What did people have of the Duma?
High expectations
When was the first Duma?
April 1906
Who are the kadets?
Constitutional democrats supported by the liberal intelligentsia and led by Paul milyukov
What did the kadets want?
Democratically elected assembly Universal suffrage Full civil rights for all citizens End of censorship Recognition of trade unions and free education
What did the kadets call themselves?
The party of popular freedom
Who are the trudoviks?
Loose grouping consisting mainly of deputies whose main aim was agrarian reform
Who are the rightists?
Lose collection of groups on the right with a wide ranging set of views
What did the octobrists want?
A new legal order and cooperation between the government and the public
Who were the octobrists?
Nationalists
Who supported the octobrists?
Industrialists
Landowners
Those with commercial interests
Who were the progressists?
Business men and members of the zemstva who wanted reform
Name 9 groups in the Duma
Mensheviks Bolsheviks Socialist revolutionaries Trudoviks Kadets Progressists Octobrists National groups Rightists
Who had the majority in the first Duma?
Kadets - 182/448 seats
Who was the second largest party in the first Duma?
Trudoviks - 107 seats
What happened in the first Duma?
Hostility towards tsar
Kadets didn’t hold back - demanded Duma have more power and elections more secret and universal
Two months of bitter disagreement and fierce debates
Tsar horrified by hostility dissolved Duma
What was the kadets reaction the dissolution of the first Duma?
Two hundred deputies went to vyborg in Finland and issued vyborg manifesto urging Russians not to pay taxes - kadets offices closed down and members dismissed from govt service
Deputies arrested and disbarred from re election
How many eligible workers in St p voted in the second Duma?
Over 70%
What was one of the reasons so many workers in St p voted?
Revolutionary parties except Bolsheviks had joined for the first time
Who were the largest group in the second Duma?
Trudoviks - 104 seats
Which side had the most seats in the second Duma?
The left
200 seats
When did the second Duma meet?
February 1907
What was the second Duma know as?
The Duma of national anger
What was the second Duma like?
More radical than first
Right and left provoked each other
Left attacked govt ministers and interrupted them
How long did the second Duma last before the tsar dissolved it?
Three months
What happened after the second Duma?
Stolypins coup
Vote restricted to upper and propertied classes
Who dominated the third Duma?
Octobrists - 154 seats
Rightists - 147 seats
What was the third Duma like?
More cooperative
Still critical of govt
By 1911 relations breaking down
What did the third Duma show?
Duma could work positively with govt
What were the third Dumas main achievements?
Stolypins land reforms
Education law 1908 -compulsory primary schooling 8 -11
Army and navy improvement s
Justices of peace replace land captains
National health insurance scheme - sickness benefit to workers
What was the fourth Duma like?
Interrupted by war
Rightists stronger and octobrists weaker
Critical of govts handling of social unrest
When were the Dumas introduced?
In the October manifesto
What was the main work of the fourth Duma?
Support and money for previous education law in 1908
Reform of Orthodox Church and reduction of state control - but no final decisions made before war broke out
When was Stolypin assassinated?
September 1911
What happened after stolypins assassination?
Constitutional experiment ground to a halt
Nicholas became increasingly isolated
What are the dates of the third Duma?
November 1907-June 1912
What are the dates of the fourth Duma?
November 1912 - August 1914
What did Stolypin set up in 1906?
Field court martial to crush peasant uprisings
What is stolypins necktie?
Thousands of peasants executed by hanging
What is stolypins carriages?
Thousands of peasants sent into exile
What did Stolypin believe?
Reform essential and that industrial progress alone wasn’t sufficient so he focused on agrarian reform
What were the bold aims of stolypins land reforms?
Feed rapidly growing population
Create a strong conservative peasantry who would support the regime
What is stolypins coup?
Radically changed the electoral system after second Duma to deprive peasants and workers of their votes and create a more conservative and cohesive electorate
How Stolypin alienate the Duma and the octobrists?
Used article 87 to to pass measures by decree when Duma not sitting
What did Stolypins reforms cause the right to do?
Work to block him and get him out of office
What did Stolypin say in 1906?
“I am fighting on two fronts. I am fighting against revolution, but for reform. You may say that such a position is beyond human strength and you may be right”
What was the number of political strikes in 1911 - 1914?
1911 - 24
1912 - 1300
1913 - 1034
1914 - 2401
What was the number of strikers in 1921 - 1914?
1911 - 105 110
1912 - 725 491
1913 - 861 289
1914 - 1 448 684
What was the Lena goldfields massacre?
Striking workers protesting about degrading working conditions clashed with troops and over 200 killed
When was the Lena goldfields massacre?
April 1912
What three things were the workers protesting about in the Lena goldfields massacre?
Degrading working conditions
Low wages
Fourteen hour working day
What did the goldfields massacre do?
Open floodgates to workers protests
More militant and frequency and scale of strikes increased
What strike happened in July 1914?
General strike in St p involving barricades and street fighting
What national circulation did the Bolshevik paper Pravda achieve?
40 000 copies per issue (over twice the Menshevik equivalent)
Him many members of the St p committee Bolshevik were okhrana agents?
4/5
Describe Nicholas 11
Overwhelmed at taking over from admired father
Loved military life and saw it as his personal domain
Strong religious convictions and a family man
Narrow minded and anti semetic
Poor leadership skills
What kicked Nicholas s reign off to a bad start?
May 1896 during coronation celebrations 1400 killed in khodynka field in crush for beer and food - later Nicholas was at ball - public outrage at his lack of concern
Who was Nicholas influenced by?
Pobedonostov
What were the problems with Alexandra the tsarina?
Born of German royal house and disliked by the court
Son alexis was haemophiliac giving her a great dependance upon Rasputin
Strong willed and obstinate
Argued against any move towards constitutional monarchy
Why was Rasputin able to work his way into the tsar and tsarinas respect?
Rasputin seemed to be able to stop the bleeding if their haemophiliac son when other doctors couldn’t
Tsarina saw this as sign from god and gave him elevated position at court
What did Rasputin connection to the tsar cause?
Reputations and political damage
Tension between tsar and Orthodox Church
Tension between tsar and Duma due to tsar censoring reports in news on Rasputin
Tension between tsar and stolypin who hated effect he has on public image
What happened just before Nicholas came to reign?
Catastrophic famine 1891 - 1892
Killed half a million people by end 1892
Government continued to export grain whilst people starved
Zemstva were first to organise relief and it took public volunteers to make it effective
What did the famine 1891 -1892 do to the bureaucracy?
Discredited the bureaucracy as they were incompetent to help
Zemstva pushed for more autonomy
Prince Lvov called for National Assembly
What policies did Nicholas continue?
Emergency powers of 1881 an Russification pushed more vigorously
How did the modernisation threaten the regime?
Peasants pouring into cities created social tension
Workers concentrated together easier to organise strikes
More educated workforce due to witted work made it easier to read political literature
Growth of middle classes created pressure for political change
What happened as the 1890s progressed?
Urban workers became more militant
Which urban workers in particular mounted huge strikes?
Textile workers in st P
30 000 spinners and weavers in 1896 and 1897
What did the urban workers resent?
Working and living conditions and the way they were treated
What did the strikes force the government to do?
Restrict the working day to eleven and a half hours
What was the peak for strikes?
1899 involved 100 000 workers
Could only be dealt with by police arrests and executions
What was established in 1899 because of these strikes?
A special factory police force with units permananetly stationed near large industry
How did the students react in the 1890s?
Serious disturbances
Many radicalised and joined SRs
When was there a famine in the central Volga region?
1898-9
What did the 1900 international recession cause?
Falling wages and unemployment resulting I widespread industrial action
What province saw the first wave of peasant violence in 1902?
Poltava
Landlords were withdrawing land needed to feed families and renting it out at more exploititative rates
What was the only constructive response to problems in the cities?
Zubatovs trade unions set up on 1901
Trade unions supervised and partially funded by police
What caused xubatovs dismissal?
In 1903 a strike organised by police unions in Odessa escalated into a general strike
Many feared the trade unions would politicise workers
What are the “seedbeds of liberalism”
The zemstva - had created a class of people skilled in local politics
What was formed in 1903?
The union of liberation demaninding economic and political reform
What was the major opposition to tsarism before 1905?
The liberals
How many government officials did SR assassinate between 1901 and 1905?
2000 including minister of interior Plehve in 1904
Who and when formed social Democratic Party?
George Plekhanov in 1898
When did the SD split into two parties?
1903 at second party congress
The bolsheviks and the Mensheviks
What was the difference between the Mensheviks and the bolsheviks?
Mensheviks believed the party should be broadly based and more democratic
