Tsarism - 1917 Flashcards
why was Russia a difficult country to govern?
- the terrain - hard to send messages, travel, keep things under control
- bad infrastructure
- unexplored terrain
- meassages take a long time to be passed
- 200 different nationalities were divided, living in different conditions and lifestyles. they were subject to Russifications meaning many were unhappy
-language barrier - 93,7 million peasants - no land, hoes, inefficient farming, people leaving towns due to industrialisation
- population gorwing - food deficit
-social inequality and poor quality of life - the effects of industrialistation also lead to food shortages and meant that there was lower productivity if people were hungy and discontent grew
how might have diversity made Russia easier/harder to govern?
- tsar coudl act as a unigying leader and bring together and represent various backgrounds
- difficult to achieve national unity
- language and ethnic difficulties make communication more difficult
how might have the overall social structure made Russia easier/harder to govern?
- 77% were peasants, they were subsurvient to those above them
- peasants made russia easier to control as they had no power but discontent grew
- nobility was made up on top 1% but owned 25% land. some held important jobs in army due to wealth
- this made it easier for tsar to control land and people + giving power to those who were loyal to him but it also creases large social inequality
- urban workers worked in poor environments - easier to control poor but disconent caused
how might have agriculture made Russia easier/harder to govern?
- strip farming was normal and this lead to inefficient farming as 1/3 land had to be left uncultivated
- meant that there was a lack of food and starvation leadinh ot discontent
- socio-economic innefficiency
how might have industry made Russia easier/harder to govern?
- huge amount of minerals and raw materials e.g., oil, gold
- mobilisation was slow and it was limited by poor rail connections and a lack of flourishing market
- this was good - potential welath
- lack of industry makes it harder to control and make it a power
how might have the role of the Tsar made Russia easier/harder to govern?
- tsar faced no formal checks on his power. there was no assembly or parliament
- newspapers and books weere censored and the tsar was a absolute ruler
- he mantained powe and noone could chllenge him, meaning he controlled societ and had the ability to shape beliefs (making russia easier to govern)
- however the decisions made coudl create some opposition
how might have the army made Russia easier/harder to govern?
- very large
- few rights
- crushed disturbandces for tsar
- therefore, easy to control
- however, they were poor and unhappy
- therefore moral was bad
name of loyal part of army to the Tsar?
Cossacks
the was the name of the secret police? what does this show
Okhrana, Konspiratsia
- this was the secret police
- thwy dealt with those who chritisised the government. they had spies and agents everywhere
- this shows that there were eyes everywhere
- you were controlled by the tsar in the way you acted and the way you were allowed to express ideas
- therefore, poeple lied in terror and weren’t allowed to express ideas freely
what does the structure of the tsarist state tell us?
the tsar was at the top. then there was an imperial council, cabinet of ministers, sneatew. and below the cabinet of ministers was the government departments, civil servants and officials
- shows he is the most powerful
- shows that he has no political rivals or potential opposition
- has absolutely, autocratic power,
- has loyalty at top levels of government
what religion is followed in Russia? why does this help the Tsar?
- orthodox
- it supported the divine right odf the tsar to rule and believers had to obey the tsar as an agent of god
- they believed there wa sa mystical bond betweent eh god-like tsar and people
- this means they would back the tsar
- he had divine right
- he had highest level of authority
- it teaches loyalty to the tsar
- gave him unchecked power
what were some characteristics that the Tsar needed to rule
- practical knowledge required to govern a country the size fo Russia, of which he possesed none
- he had no strength if character intelligence
- he was unable to cope with the country’s deppening crisis
- needed to be authoritative and handle subbordinates
- had to be able to summon officials to do complicated tasks and resolve larger questions
- had to be open to helping, give advice, be assertive
- tackle discussions like politics and work in a group
what characteristics did the Tsar show?
- childish, shy, juvenile
- possesed no practical knowledge fo how to run a country as big as russia
- had impeccibale manners, spoke french, english, German, was sporty and rode horses
- polite
- unable to cope with role and didn’t have the strength
- inable to handle subordinates
industrius, conscientious - could only handle trivial matters
- kept officials weak and divided to mantain control
- grew jealous of anyone having powerand forced out capable people
- exploited trivial matters with ministers creating little coherance in the government
- by keeping minister sepearated, he crearted chaos
what was the most important (or main causes) cause of the 1905 revolution?
- enforced industrialisation
- harvests
- russo-japanese war
- Bloody Sunday
- long term discontent form urban workers, peasants, national minorities, alienated intelligentsia
how did enforced industrialisation relate to relate to the 1905 revolution?
- peasants had to pay heavy taxes on grain among other things so that the Russian gov. could invest in industrialisation, however wages were kept low
- everything wa sokay until 1902 hen there was an industrial slumpa nd so many lost their jobs leading to strikes
