The Rule of Nicholas II Flashcards
What is autocracy?
- Autocracy is a form of government when on person possesses unlimited power.
What was Nicholas’s belief about autocracy?
- Nicholas truly believed that autocracy was rigid and unwavering, without any form of challenge.
What was Russia’s structure of politics during Nicholas II’s time?
- No constitution
- No Parliament
- No legal trade unions
What was a strength and a weakness of Nicholas II as a leader?
- Nicholas’s strength was his sense of duty,
- His weaknesses was being too naive and genuinely believing that Russian people supported him.
What is orthodoxy?
- Orthodoxy refers to the role of the Russian Orthodox Church and its role and status within the Russian Empire.
- The Orthodox Church was the spiritual wing of the Tsarist regime.
What was Orthodoxy’s reputation?
- Corruptness
- Drunken priests
- Losing legitimacy in Russians growing cities
What is nationality/russification?
- Nationality was a doctrine about Russia and its place within the tsarist regime.
- The Tsar enforced Russian upon the entire empire due to its majority meaning that russification oppressed nationalities.
How did the Tsar aim to impose russification?
- Russification was imposed through the use of Russia’s language in court proceedings and in school lessons becoming compulsory in countries such as Poland and Estonia.
Why was Russification counterproductive?
- Because its aim was to counter nationalist movements but instead caused more resentment.
Where were Jewish people forced to live in Russia and how many Jews were living in Russia?
- Jewish people were forced into the Pale of Settlement and there were roughly 5 million Jews still living in Russia at the time.
What were other problems facing the Jews?
- Their access to education was severelt restricted.
- They were often subject to social pressures such as pogroms which were organised attacks on the Jews.
What were 3 repressive strategies used by the Tsarist Government?
- The Army
- Censorship of newspapers
- The Okhrana`
What was the Okhrana and its role?
- The Okhrana was the political police force of the Tsarist wing.
- Its role was to suppress and infiltrate revolutionary movements.
How many Okhrana agents were there in Russia by 1900?
- 2500
What was the cause of peasant unrest?
- Poverty and desparation
- This was due to environmental factors such as droughts, crop failures, erratic conditions and a short growing season.
Why was strip farming ineffective for 3 reasons?
- Took time moving from strip to strip every 10-15 years.
- Due to the long period, peasants weren’t inspired to keep up to date with their land.
- Land was wasted marking borders for strip farming.
How did urban workers protest against the Tsar?
- Through the form of strikes
How many times were the army called upon during strikes in 1901?
300 times
Why did workers strike?
- Grim working conditions and low pay
- Harsh working conditions, almost military style
- 60 hour weeks
- The spread of disease such as cholera and typhus
What were liberal beliefs about tsarism? (2 things)
- Liberals beleived in ending autocracy through a constitution which transferred power to democratically elected institutions, whilst guaranteeing freedom of speech and rights.
- Privately owned enterprises.
What was the view of moderate liberals on Tsarism?
- The strive for a figure head monarch such as in Britain.
What was the zemstva?
- Elected local councils
Why were the zemstva important?
- They were key helpers during the southern Russian famine in 1891-92 but were left out of national affairs by the autocratic regime in Russia.
Who was the main leader of the Social Revolutionaries?
- Victor Chernov
What was the aim of the social revolutionaries in terms of the peasantry?
- Winning the support of the peasants despite not being a peasantry party.
Why were the SR’s loosely organised in their approach?
- Some SRs believed in radical, terrorist methods but some believed in liberalism.
What was Victor Chernov’s ideas for Russia?
- He was a unique socialist, who believed in transferring power to Russian peasantry populations
- Co-operation between individuals at a local peasantry level.
How did the SR’s attempt to gain control?
- Violent methods
- Assassination of Government officials and ministers.
What was a disagreement about RSDLP membership between Lenin and Martov?
- Lenin believed that membership should be restricted to those willing to carry out personal participation, but Martov believed there should be freedom of membership.
What was Lenin’s views on Tsarist Russia and marxism?
- He believed Russia was now a capitalist country not fedual, hoping to build up a party of key revolutionary professionals who were ready to seize the moment.
What were Bolsheviks and Mensheviks?
- Bolsheviks led by Lenin adapted Marxist ideology to suit their purposes whilst Mensheviks stayed rigid to Marx.
What were 4 reasons for limited impact of opposition groups?
- The number of socialist/revolutionary groups was too small.
- Russia’s peasantry was scattered across a vast land area.
- The leaders of socialist groups were middle/upper class intellectuals meaning it was not easy for them to reach across the class divide and win the confidence of workers and peasants whose way of life was so different
- Literacy levels were as love as 21 percent.
How did repression halt revolutionary impact?
- Before 1905, revolutionary groups were illegal and had to operate underground
- There was a lack of freedom of speech or assembly.
- The Okhrana had a bureau based in Paris.
Why did Russia want Manchurian land?
- Mineral wealth
- Warm water sea of Part Arthur
Why did the Russian’s lose the war?
- Over confident and underprepared
What was the Battle of Tsushima?
- Battle in 1905 where the Russians got humiliated.
What was the Treaty which ended the Russo Japanese War?
- THe Treaty of Portsmouth signed in 1905 in the USA.
What were the opinions of Russia’s defeat at Manchuria?
- Liberals were angered by the regime.
- ## Economic life was disrupted which fuelled resentment due to food shortages and unemployment.
What happened during Bloody Sunday?
- 150,000 unarmed demonstrators gathered at several assembly points around St Petersburg.
- 200 were killed and 800 were wounded.
What was the reaction to Bloody Sunday?
- A massive wave of protest spread across Russia.
- Half a million workers went on strike
- Universities were closed for the rest of the year.
Why is Bloody Sunday seen as more of a revolutionary trigger than the Russo-Japanese War?
- The event had happened in Russia’s capital, so there was stronger resentment.
Who were the main revolutionary forces until the autumn of 1905?
- The middle-class liberals were the dominant revolutionary force.
Who were the latter revolutionary forces?
- The labour movement came to the fore.
- The St Petersburg Soviet also come to the forefront, which for a short time had a higher profile than any other workers’ organisation.
