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