Tsarist Russia and 1905 Revolution

Question 1

What were the three key systems of government in tsarist Russia, and their function?

Answer 1

State Council of Imperial Russia, personal advisors personally appointed. The Cabinet of Ministers, personally appointed, worked separately. Senate; transforms the will of the Tsar into law.

Question 2

What were punishments for political protest?

Answer 2

Censorship, imprisonment, exile.

Question 3

How did Figes describe the provincial governors?

Answer 3

“To lovers of liberty the provincial governor was the very personification of Tsarist oppression and despotism.”

Question 4

What were the two police forces?

Answer 4

Okhrana, secret police. Standard police force for general law and order.

Question 5

Approximately how many people worked in the zemstvos and what were they called?

Answer 5

70,000, Third Element

Question 6

Who were the little tsars and how did they come about?

Answer 6

Land captains brought about to curb the liberalism of the zemstvos. Executive and judicial power over peasants, could interfere and abuse the peasantry.

Question 7

How did John Bite describe Nicholas II?

Answer 7

Had a “weakness of will” and was “poorly educated, narrow in intellectual horizons, a wretchedly bad judge of people, isolated from Russian society.”

Question 8

How did Orlando Figes describe Nicholas II?

Answer 8

“It was not a ‘weakness of will’ that was the undoing of the last tsar but, on the contrary, a wilful determination to rule from the throne, despite the fact that he clearly lacked the necessary qualities to do so.”

Question 9

How did modernisation of the Tsars have a negative impact on the people?

Answer 9

Rising price, taxes, interest rates.

Question 10

How many military suppressed industrial strikes were there in 1893 and then in 1902?

Answer 10

19, to 522

Question 11

What was the Russification program and did it work?

Answer 11

An attempt by the government to get people in Russia to seem themselves in Russians. This did not particularly work, rather led to the persecution of ethnic minorities and led to backlash.

Question 12

Who were the Union of Russian People?

Answer 12

Monarchists who supported the persecution of Jews.

Question 13

What were pogroms?

Answer 13

Violent killings in 1905-6 of non-Russians in major cities by groups like Union of Russian Men and Black Hundred gangs.

Question 14

Who were the Socialist Revolutionaries?

Answer 14

Led by Viktor Chernov and Alexander Kerensky. Fought for land ownership for peasants, violence to overthrow the tsar. Largest revolutionary group.
Maximalists, left faction: Socialism, terrorism, assassinating bourgeoisie.
Revolutionaries, right faction: Moderate, cooperative.

Question 15

Who were the Social Democratic Workers Party?

Answer 15

Marxists, supported by industrial working class. Believed Russia was in position for revolution with growing industrial class.

Question 16

What did Lenin assert in the What is to be Done 1902 paper?

Answer 16

..the more we confine the membership of such an organisation to people who are professionally engaged in revolutionary activity… the more difficult will it be to wipe out such an organisation.”

Question 17

Who were the Narodniks (Populists)?

Answer 17

Established and active in the 1870s, led by middle and upper classes, peasant based revolution, attempted to educate the masses, assassinated Alexander II in 1881 by the Peoples Will, evolved into the Socialist Revolutionary Party.

Question 18

What were the two groups of liberals called?

Answer 18

Octobrists and Kadets

Question 19

Who were the Octobrists?

Answer 19

Established in 1905 in response to the October Manifesto, moderate tsarists, commercial class, supported O.Manifesto and creation of the duma, non violent.

Question 20

Who were the Kadets?

Answer 20

Established in October 1905, progressive land lords, small businessmen and intellectuals. Pursued constitutional monarchy, sought equality, civil rights, free speech, recognition of unions education. Largest liberal party, major opposition to tsarist in the duma.

Question 21

When, where, and why did the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks form?

Answer 21

1903 at the Second Party Congress because the Social Democratic Workers party were divided over the editorial board of the party newspaper Iskra.

Question 22

When did the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks officially seperate?

Answer 22

1912

Question 23

What did Shiela Fitzpatrik say of Lenin?

Answer 23

“Lenin differed from many other Russian Marxists in seeming actively to desire a proletarian revolution rather than simply prediction that one would ultimately occur…he insisted that the proletariat..could and should play a dominant role.”

Question 24

What was the trigger for Japan breaking off diplomatic negotiations with the tsar and when did this occur?

Answer 24

Russia annexed Manchuria in 1903, Japan broke off relations in January 1904.

Question 25

When did the Russo-Japanese war begin?

Answer 25

8 February 1904

Question 26

When did Port Arthur surrender to Japan and how many Russians had died?

Answer 26

January 1905, 31,000

Question 27

When was the Battle of Mukden? What was the outcome?

Answer 27

February 1905, Russia land army lost. 90,000 men died.

Question 28

When was the Battle of Tsushima and what was the outcome?

Answer 28

May. Russian Baltic Fleet defeated in less than 24 hours. Russian public is defeated.

Question 29

When was the Treaty of Portsmouth? What did it do?

Answer 29

September 1905. Conflict officially ends, Japan retains control of Porth Arthur and maintained Korea in its sphere of influence. Russia cedes territory. Sergei With prevents Russia from having to pay compensation.

Question 30

When was Vyacheslav Plehve, Minister for Interior, assassinated?

Answer 30

15 July 1904

Question 31

Who and why caused Plehve’s assassination?

Answer 31

Socialist Revolutionary Combat Organisation, he was greatly disliked for his role in the Russo-Japanese War.

Question 32

Who replaced Plehve as Minister for Interior? How was he received?

Answer 32

Prince P.D Sviatopolk-Mirskii. He was liberal and well received; relaxed censorship, supported zemstvos, abolished corporal punishment.

Question 33

What occurred on 17 September 1904?

Answer 33

Paris Conference; various socialist groups meet up in secret (Union of Liberation, Socialist Revolutionaries). Provided a united front against autocracy.

Question 34

When was the unofficial national Zemstvo Conference held in Petersburg? What did they call for?

Answer 34

6-9 November 1904. They called for a constitution and other reforms.

Question 35

What did Nicholas II say when Mirskii presented the proposed reforms from the Zemstvo conference to him?

Answer 35

“I shall never, under any circumstances, agree to the representative form of government because I consider it harmful to the people whom God has entrusted my care.”

Question 36

What contributed to economic hardship from October 1903 to October 1904?

Answer 36

Real wages had decreased by up to one quarter, industrial recession, poor working conditions, poor harvests, rising cost of living.

Question 37

What caused an increase in striking workers in December 1904?

Answer 37

Four workers from the Putilov steel works being dismissed.