chapter 7 Nicholas II and challenge to autocracy

Question 1

how did nicholas view his role as tsar?

Answer 1

he had been brought up to show no signs of weakness and that it was his god given duty to rule autocratically
- had seen grandfather be killed after making concessions
- had been tutored by staunch autocracist Pobedonostev

Question 2

nicholas and the church

Answer 2

• committed to autocracy (probably influenced by Pobedonostev
• meant that church maintained powerful influence

Question 3

nicholas and ethnic minorities

Answer 3

• continued russification and support for black hundreds (right wing and anti-semetic)
• as a result of this support he was no more popular with ethnic minorities than his father had been

Question 4

what event put an omnious start on nicholas’s reign

Answer 4

• may 1896 celebration on Khodynka Field to celebrate Nicholas IIs coronation
• free food, drinks and gifts meant large crowds gathered
• however rush to see new tsar and family was so great that around 1400 were trampled to death
• ceremonies went on as if nothing had happened

Question 5

why did the great famine 1891-92 politicise russia?

Answer 5

• tsarist gov (under A. III) had failed to cope with crisis (was over-beauratic)
• zemstva and voluntary organisations had provided relief
• as a result: greater public mistrust of gov’s competence and firmer belief in the power of ordinary members of society to play a role in national affairs
• subsequently reformist groups developed a broader support base by 1900

Question 6

How did the tsar react to outbreaks of trouble in Russian universities in early 1900s?

Answer 6

• increased use of the Okhrana
• rebellious young people expelled, exiled or drafted into army

Question 7

example of tsar reaction to student outbreaks in early 1900s

Answer 7

• 1901 students in St petersburg protested
• a squadron of cossacks charged into the crowd killing 13
• 1500 students were imprisoned in peter and paul fortress

Question 8

when were ‘the years of the red cockerel’ why were they given this name?

Answer 8

1902-1907; period marked by widespread disturbances in towns and countrysides
- named because there were so many instances of arson in rural communities

Question 9

who mostly dealt with the disturbances of 1902-1907? What did he do?

Answer 9

• stolypin
• he arrested, flogged and shot peasants in their thousands
• gallows in such constant use it got nicknames ‘stolypins necktie’
• harsh reaction caused further discontent

Question 10

industrial relations?

Answer 10

• industrial strikes escalated
• from 17,000 in 1894 to 90,000 in 1904

Question 11

how did the gov attempt to control proliferation of illgal unions?

Answer 11

• 1900 moscow chief of Okhrana, Zubatov, organised police sponsored trade unions
• idea was to provide offical channels for complaints to prevent workers joining radical socialist unions

Question 12

when did Zubatov’s police-sponsored trade unions collapse? Why? what happened to him?

Answer 12

• experiment only lasted until 1903, when zubatov was dismissed and exiled
• one of the unions had been involved with a general strike in Odessa

Question 13

What replaced Zubatov’s police sponsored trade unions?

Answer 13

• assembly of st peterburg factory workers was formed in 1904 by Father Georgi Gapon
• approved by Plehve (min. internal affairs) and supported by orthodox church

Question 14

who encouraged nicholas to respond to japanese assult of port arthur in 1904 and why?

Answer 14

Plehve encouraged tsar into war with japan in hopes that ‘a swift victorious war’ would detract from the internal unrest

Question 15

when was russo-japanese war?

Answer 15

1904

Question 16

what was the reality of the russo-japanese war?

Answer 16

• russian forces were greatly inadequete and Japan had fairly strong military force
• as a result russia faced a series of defeats and the intial war patriotism was replaced by more government opposition