N11

Question 1

Nicholas II problems preventing his success

Answer 1

• Unprepared to be tsar , not ready
• Wife seen as arrogant/uncaring german ( was shy,withdrew) = hated, criticised for having no son
• Working class = very poor, radicals
• War – Japan and russia- Nicholas starts it,confiden/arrogant,easy victory -waste of russias resources and humiliating defeat – catalyst for other problems=pressure
• 1904,male heir BUT has haemophilia
• Dream of close/loving family – adoring father,loving husband, family man
• Protests-freedom of speech,workers rights,demand to see tsar guards
• attack, 1000 dead – bloody Sunday Jan 1905 – triggered revolution

Question 2

Descriptions of Nicholas

Answer 2

-no confident, panicky,unfit for job
-Educated man but not practical suited
-caring man, idolised as father figure, good relationship with his people
- traditional, old-fashioned
-non-confrontatoinal
-admires his father

Question 3

Nicholas as a ruler

Answer 3

• overwhelmed to live up to fathers rep
• strong religious convictions
• narrowminded and prejudiced , anti-semitic
• had a bad start – Khodynka may 1896 = 1400 killed, 600 injured in a crush for free food/beer – when to ball that evening – careless
• gained loyalty and respect but lacked training and experience
• indecisive ,poor leadership
• strong principle of autocracy

Question 4

The tsarina

Answer 4

Had strong dislike for court, was perceives as cold and alouf, regarded as an outsider,disliked by Russians. Strongwilled and obstinate, believed tsar appointed by god, adamant he should keep his powers,not share them. Great and not always helpful influence on him.

Question 5

The famine 1891-92 = !

Answer 5

just before Nicholas came to the throne, draught had caused starvation and famine. Cholera,typhus struck = half mill killed. Gov did nothing, public had to help. Zemstva was first to organise, others joined. People remember gov didn’t help, zemstvo did!!

Question 6

Witte’s Great Spurt =

Answer 6

rapid increase in industry/production, peasants flood to town for work = urbanised, then radicalised

Question 7

Urban number growth =

Answer 7

become militant, resented working conditions, treatment = massive strikes. 30000 spinners and weavers 1896+7 = arrival of proletariat

Question 8

Emergence of new rev groups –

Answer 8

‘social democrats’ = workers encouraged to strike action
1899- 100000 workers involved in peak strike

Question 9

Students

Answer 9

= protest afainst gov restrictions on uni = huge dmeonstrations
In 1891 – police beat students with whips, arrested leaders. Middle classes horrified = students raicalised. Thousands joined socialist revolutionaries

Question 10

International economic downturn after 1900

Answer 10

= deep depression caused in russia. Falling wages and unemployment workers. = peasnats revolts were already angry due to tax and high rents

Question 11

First wave of peasant revolt =

Answer 11

1902, landlord withdrew land needed to feed a family . revolts in 1902 & 1903. Growing internal disorder . govs answer = repression

Question 12

Zubatov programme = police supervised trade unions

Answer 12

= 1901, 3 unions in Moscow, to connive workers lives could be improved within the system. Submitted demand to employers, pressured into making concessions. Spread rapidly south and west. Gov feared – harm economy and politicise workers . 1903 = strike by unions turned into general strike, zubatov was dismissed.

Question 13

Bolsheviks =

Answer 13

aim of communist russia,radical ideas of Marxism, instigate proletariat revolution, occur as quickly as possible . limited to small group of dedicated revolutionaries

Question 14

Mensheviks =

Answer 14

aim of communist russia, radical ideas of Marxism,occur naturally , instigate proletariat revolution,broad group-anyone can join, follow Marxist theory , let it happen

Question 15

Social revolutionaries =

Answer 15

russia future with the people, give peasants land ownership , don’t compensate owners. Different factipns within the party b. carried out political assassination 1901-5 . murdered tsars uncle

Question 16

Octobrists =

Answer 16

October manifesto is best settlement, parliamentary democract, few liberals,nobles and uppr class + zemstvos. Want to work with the tsar

Question 17

Kadets =

Answer 17

push Nicholas for more changes than within October manifesto . oct manifesto = beg not end . educated middle class support. Challenge Nicholas but still in ruke of law

Question 18

Opposition strength to tsarist regime

A11s assassination =

Answer 18

security stepped up, tsar in castle of Gatchina – ended populist movement although some met in secret
Self education circles conttibued underground + contact with radicals

Question 19

Opposition strength to tsarist regime
George Plekhanoov =

Answer 19

George Plekhanoov = emancipation of labour froup in 1883 – translated and arranged Marxists tracts smuggled into Russia , demonstrate Marxism applicable to Russia

Plekhanov – argued Russian revolutionaries had to accept inevitability of marxs stages of development . revolutionaries should concentrate among Russian workers in citirs not peasnats

Question 20

Opposition strength to tsarist regime
students

Answer 20

1886 students tried to reform peoples will , made bombs , were arrested. Months later 5 were hanged

Question 21

Opposition strength to tsarist regime
After peak of 1881 -

Answer 21

slavophile attractions diminished in 1890s, moved towards industrialisation , socialism began to take root. Some attracted by Marxist theory, drawn to socialism others= liberal stance. Famine = turning point in development of opposition

Russian society polarised by great famine = increased opposition organised against gov. zemstvo expanded activites= revival of rural economy

Question 22

OVERALL opposition strength to tsarist regime

Answer 22

BUT OVERALL = little chances of success against tsarist regime. Industrialisation sped up. Marxist discussion spread, illegal trade unions. Small beginnings of changes in thinking that had long term importance = little chances of success against tsarist regime. Industrialisation sped up. Marxist discussion spread, illegal trade unions. Small beginnings of changes in thinking that had long term importance

Question 23

Khodynka Field 1896

Answer 23

400000, free food and rink to celebrate new tsar . 18th
Announced tsar on the way = people got excited , pushed forward in crowd surge
=deaths, people crushed,falling in ditches estimate 1400
Authorities carried on with celebrations
Seen as bad omen

Question 24

Russia ‘on the brink’ by 1904

Answer 24

Targeted assasinations – senior gov ministers e.g Plehve the minister of interior assassinated by Azhev in 1904
Political violence spreading
High food prices, famine = economic problems
Uni disturbances = protests
Putilov engineering works 100,000 on strike in early ‘05

Question 25

Bloody Sunday

Answer 25

9 jan 1905 at st Petersburg Discontent winter, cut electricity,good shortages, 20000 urban/factory workers concession. Marched to winter palace. Wanted higher pay but loved tsar. Sang patriotic hymns, were peaceful, brought petition for tsar to sign asking for help ‘ let everyone be equal and free’ March passed a designated point = soldiers were nervous = opened fire. Led by Father Gapon – murdered year later by SRs Fatal betrayal by tsar = 200? Dead Gov response = arrestes and executions TRIGGER FOR 1905 REV

Question 26

Russo-japenese war 1904-05

Answer 26

Russo-Japanese war 1904-05 1904 = surprise attack on Port Arther, Manchuria = lots of damage Sent Baltic fleet to the rescue , 18000 miles Were underequipped, undertrained peasants Mrch 1905 – 89000 soldiers killed in battle of Mukden with japenese 14 May 1905 – Tsushima = worst naval fleet in history - lost 8 battleships and 4 cruises - 4000 dead . 7000 prisoners Japan only lost 3 torpedo boats = humiliating defeat Middle of 1905 = forced to sign peace treaty in Sep Liberals ‘ union of unions’ make demands – parl gov and universal suffrage = widespread unrest throughout russia Discontent spread thru forces = protests against bad conditions and treatment . black sea fllet, Odessa – battleship Potemkin = mutiny by crew

Question 27

causes for revolution

Answer 27

Short term = industrial and urban Long term = Russian autocracy Long term = agriculture and peasants Aggravating factor = growth of radical groups Short term + aggravating + catalyst = russo-japenese war Trigger factor = bloody Sunday

Question 28

Oct manifesto

Answer 28

30 oct – published . did little to stop violence BUT meaningful comprise , got liberals on side and regained control = saves him

Question 29

overview

Answer 29

-disturbances and disorder throughout year but October = greatest danger, confronted with liberal agitation, strikes and peasant disorder -opposition struggled – spontaneous – tried to direct protest and channel it but limited success

Question 30

Why did tsarism survive

Answer 30

- Witte, governed to recover and used repressive methods well - Army as a whole remained loyal to regime, obeyed orders to suppress soviet and uprising - Oct manifesto, gave breathing space to regime, split opposition to regime, octobrists who agreed. Kadets still opposed it - Opposition weak = unable to control protest and exploit it, didn’t co-ordinate efforts. Liberals wanted end to autocracy but alarmed by working class militancy and danger of russia slipping into anarchy. Co-op between middle and working class = limited. Strikes = financial hardship, lost pay, so couldn’t be sustained

Question 31

Duma –

Answer 31

members elected in parliament as a legislative power – two chambers, lower decided by indirect voting, upper by the tsar + zemstvo

Question 32

Fundamental laws 23 April 1906

Answer 32

– five days before the first duma, reasserted nicholas autocratic power and claimed his right to : veto legislation, rule by decree in case on emergency, appoint/dismiss gov ministers, dissolve dumas whenever etc..

Question 33

Kadets

Answer 33

Kadets – constitutional democrats, led by Pavel Milyukov, central liberal party – favouring constitution monarchy with parl gov. full civil rights, redistributon of large private estates First duma in 1906 = 182 ( most popular) 4th duma in 1912-17 = 53

Question 34

Octrobrists

Answer 34

– led by Aleksandr Guchkov. Moderate conservative party, accepted oct manifesto First duma = 17 4th duma = 95

Question 35

The first duma – Duma of National Hopes May – July 1906

Answer 35

Boycotted by Bolshevik, SRs and right wing russia Liberal – 1/3 peasantry Overhwelimingly radical , strongly critical of tsar= wittes resignation Replaced by Ivan Goremykin ( old-fashioned conservative) Passed an ‘ address to throne’ requested political amnesty ( abolition of state council transfer responsibility to duma, seizure of lands of gentry without compensation, abandonment of emergency laws, abolition of detah penalty, reform civil service Nicholas orders Goremykns demands – inadmissible Duma passes vote of no confidence in gov, demands resignation of tsar ministers 10 weeks later duma = dissolved and goremykin replaced as PM by Stolypin

Question 36

Vyborg

Answer 36

= 200 delegates travelled to town to issue appeal to citizens to refuse to pay taxes or do military service in protest. Authorities stepped in – imprisoned leaders and disenfranchised those who signed the appeal

Question 37

Second duma – duma of national anger Feb – June 1907

Answer 37

Even more oppositional- extrene keft wing due ot Bolsheviks Stolypin struggled to find support for agrarian reform programme – passed under tsars emergency powers Duma refused to sign – spread story of plot to assainte tsar and dissolved duma , arrested and exiled more delegates Introduced illegal emergency powers to later franchise Peasants and workers decreased, representation of gentry increased

Question 38

Third duma – duma of lords and lackeys

Answer 38

Nov 1907 – June 1912 More submissive duma , agreed 2200 of 2500 proposals Shows unpopularity of tsarist regume that proved confrontational still Disputes over nabal staff, propsals to extend primary education 1911- had to be suspened twice 1912- clear duma system wasn’t working

Question 39

Stolypins role PM 1906-11

Answer 39

Tried to muzzle dumas, make less confrontational, major land reformer Assassinated 1911 – new PM = kokovtsov (1911-14) Stolypins use of court martials – dealt with politicsl crimes. Convicted and executed 3000 people

Question 40

Fourth duma Nov 1912-17

Answer 40

Very docile, not huge part in gov of russia ‘ thank god we don’t have a parliament ‘ shows attitude towards dumas PM = Vladimir Kokovstov

Question 41

Rasputin

Answer 41

Arrives 1903 to st petersrbug Claims spiritual powers Invited to court + healed aleksi = tsarina relies on gim,trusts. Taints the royal family = gossip of affairs

Question 42

Russian empire in WWI

Answer 42

Russia enemies - Germany and Austria Hungary - Start off strong against Austria Hungary but loses against Germany at Battle of Tannenberg – 50000 dead

Question 43

Key events

Answer 43

- Battle of Tannenberg major defeat - Battle of the Masurian Lakes majr defeat - Long retreat then by aut 1915 forced out of poland Lithuania latvia - Germany takes over Poland and takes warsaw ( aug 1915) - Revocers during winter1915-16 - Russia succeeds attack = try agon = battle where russia loses again - 1916 summer offensive by brusilov, over half Austrians killed or captured - But germand reinforced, moved back

Question 44

facts - Russias involvement tin wwI

Answer 44

By end of 1914 – 1.8 million had been killed wounded or taken prisoner New breeed of officers emerged, questioned hwy they were at war Nicholas as supreme head of military = catalyst Appointes bursilov – who was no respect for tsar himself – fights for Russia not for tsar 1916 summer offensive, begins wells captured 900 officers, 40,000 BUT in winter 1916 wht was lost captured back – german counter attack 100,000s = P of W camps = retreat + army question tsar, and duma and suprme command

Question 45

Problems form russias involvement

Answer 45

- 100,000s = P of W camps = retreat + army question tsar, and duma and suprme command - queues for broad, shortages for everything , food, clothes, petrol Autumn 1916 – two mutinies , tsar + family = isolated

Question 46

By beginning 1917 a peasant =

Answer 46

struggling with wartime inflation, tired and angry toward tsar and war, hoarding grain, conscripted into army, woman elderly or child (left from war)

Question 47

beg 1917 a soldier =

Answer 47

a soldier = demoralised, captured or in prisoner of war camp, brave valiant, poorly equipped or injured

Question 48

beg 1917 a worker +

Answer 48

a worker = on strike, poor conditons,coldlack of fuek paraffin queuing, thinking of protesting/revolution, wnating war to end

Question 49

Evidence war outbreak = popular

Answer 49

Huge crowds cheered, 6 mill enlisted in first four months, less peasant and work resentment = unity = defending motherland more important

Question 50

Military setbacks and problems first year of war

Answer 50

Had to retreat by 1915 summer from Latvia to ukriane, poorly equipped inexoerineced soldiers incomoenet officers, food shortages and inflation back home

Question 51

Members of duma response to war problems =

Answer 51

Members of duma response to war problems = demand concessions but Nicholas response= reject and suspends duma, says he will personally take charge

Question 52

Milyukovs speech nov 1916

Answer 52

= summarised political problems facing russia – aingled out Rasputin and tsarina ‘ shady perosnalities’ suggesting people surrouindg tsar were damaging monarchy

Question 53

Dec 1916 – prince Yusupov

Answer 53

, angry at rasputins influence, poisoned the shot then thrown into canal, died by dorwning added to mystique but still too late to save the monarchy

Question 54

Petrograd events Feb 1917

Answer 54

23 feb spontaneous protest from women = all sick og war and everything else want bread and freedom Left factories, joined ofrces with worker strikes, began food shortages – bakeris and butchers Women queuing 40 hours for shops sometimes not even getting any at the end ‘ was rotting from within’ Nicholas response = REPRESSIon , send his troops in

Question 55

Signifigance of war

Answer 55

STRESSES AND STRAINS OF WAR = TOO MUCH FOR RUSSIA Very significant Created immense social disruption Monarchy on its way down 15mill fought 2 mill dead Further isolated Nicholas

Question 56

Why did he abdicate 1917 feb/march

Answer 56

Demonstartions of feb 1917 – sick of war, bred queues, misery = spontaneous and violent ¼ million on streets of Petrograd Troops called to open fire – 200 dead , 2000 die before uprising over. Soldiers unhappy start to refuse to shoot crowds of protestors (army disintegrated ) relate more to crowds, majority lower classes = open mutiny against the tsar + officers murdered

Question 57

Nicholas reaction to growing crisis

Answer 57

Nicholas reaction to growing crisis Disinterested , detached from reality of situation Advice from duma leader = make concessions BUT was treated with contempt

Question 58

Nicholas tries to dissolve duma

Answer 58

Nicholas tries to dissolve duma = parliamentarisnd ignored, sent delegation to reason with him Attitude = ‘ hoarty disdain’ = feel empowered wont go quietly 27 feb rodzianko sends last telegram

Question 59

Nicholas finally succumbs

Answer 59

Nicholas finally succumbs Train back to cpitsl stuck in Pskov 2nd march – reach tsar and tell him they wont support him and ot abdicate Abdicated in favour of Michael = refusal = no more tsars ‘ pitiful excuse for tsar’ signed abdication in pencil , sneered at

Question 60

Dual power emerged in tauride palace :

Answer 60

Provisional government ( duma) – Prince Lvov = prime minister Wasn’t elected, jad no legal power but want proper democracy Petrograd soviet – represent smaller soviets(workers,sailors,soldiers) Agree to work with gov Base for radicals

Question 61

Western historians =

Answer 61

Western historians = Tsarist regime making progress Industrial and agricultural growth Countryside quiet Political progress Wwi = stresses and strains that couldn’t be dealt with = main cause

Question 62

Other historians – revisionists =

Answer 62

Other historians – revisionists = Underlying weaknesses in tsarist regime structure Couldn’t cope with provlems from industrialisation and modernisation Majority peasants in poverty Demands and aspirations of workers not met Tsra still hostile to political demands, stuck to outdated autocracy Conflict between society becoming more educated War exposed all these structural insituuonal weaknesses , couldn’t cope iwht stresses abd strains

Question 63

Tsar was too blame for rev

Answer 63

- Weak, obstinate, lacked interest in world around ihm - Didn’t willingly support witte or stolypins reforms - Refused to cooperate with dumas - Went to front 1915 - Resisted all forms change pre-1905 - Never committed to oct manifesto - Failed to relaise serious o fisutation in 1904 - Appointed incompetents to run gov after stolypins death - Supported Rasputin - Rejcted prosals of progressive bloc

Question 64

tsar wasn't too blame for rev

Answer 64

- Ill prepared - Oct manifesto forced on him - Work of progressives exposed his weaknesses - Growth opposition = more radical propsals for change - Defat and loss at war = dmage morLE - Economic disruption - Ocurence strikes and militancy in cities - Problems by industrialsiation and moderinsation - Hostility to stolypins reforms from all sides - Lack improvement living an dworking conditions for working classes

Question 65

More reasons for collapse

Answer 65

Feb 1905 – grand duke sergi killed 3 march – consultative assembly announced could discuss preliminary discussion of legislation

Question 66

aftermath of war

Answer 66

- Duma , still only power of discussion = rejection - Revolts broke out atleast 3000 that year - 20 oct general strike rapidly spread - 26 oct st Petersburg soviet formed by striking owrkers to organise future actions, Trotsky as leader