Nicholas II last Flashcards
(69 cards)
1
Q
Who was the sole ruler of Russia in 1894?
A
- Nicholas II
2
Q
What was autocracy?
A
- The absolutism of Nicholas II’s reign
3
Q
How was the Tsar subjected to law?
A
- No checks on the Tsar due to Russia having no constitution so the Tsar wasn’t limited by the law.
4
Q
Why was there corruption within the Government?
A
- Government officials claimed to be representatives of the Tsar so acted similarly when imposing laws.
5
Q
How did Nicholas’s government limit civil society?
A
- Banned trade unions
- Persecuted religious groups and minorities
6
Q
Why was the Tsar isolated?
A
- He ignored Russian provlems and had little understanding of the poverty in Russia
7
Q
What was Russification?
A
- The aggressive promotion of Russian culture and the forceful suppression of other national cultures
8
Q
Why was Russification introduced?
A
- Due to the growing nationalist feelings in non-Russian nations
9
Q
What were the forms of Russification?
A
- The imposition of Russian as the official langyage of the Govenrment.
- Promoting Russian within schools
- Establish Russian speaking universities
10
Q
Why was Russification counterproductive?
A
- It led to backlash by non-Russian groups with even more resentment against the Tsar.
11
Q
How did nationalism impact Russian society’s sentiment towards minority groups?
A
- People felt more anti-sentimental against Jews, Poles, Fins.
12
Q
What was Orthodoxy?
A
- The promotion of the Orthodox Church as the superior religion in Russia
13
Q
So how did Nicholas implement Orthodoxy policies in Russia?
A
- The number of parish clergy increased by 60%
- Orthodox churches were established in Baltic states.
- Church schools increased
14
Q
How did Nicholas target other faiths too?
A
- No christian churhces were allowed
15
Q
How was there anti-semitism in education?
A
- There were quotas for Jewish students where only 3% could be educated in Russia’s major cities and 10% within the Pale of Settlement
16
Q
What law had restricted Jewish settlement?
A
- May Laws in 1882 banned Jews from living in Russia’s rural areas but this law was repealed in 1905/
17
Q
How many pogroms were there in 1903 and 1904?
A
- 49 pograma
18
Q
What was the Okhrana?
A
- The Tsar’s political police force
19
Q
How many agents were there working for the Okhrana by 1900?
A
- 2,500
20
Q
How did the Okhrana enforce limitations to university life?
A
- Banned clubs and societies in unis
- Banned women from higher education
- Emphasised traditional subkect
21
Q
How many people did the Okhrana have records on by 1900?
A
55,000
22
Q
What percentage of the population did peasants make up?
A
- 80%
23
Q
How did the Tsar take over peasant freedom?
A
- He introduced Land Captains that would control how peasants lived their lives in Russia’s rural zones.
- Peasants could no longer vote on the zemstvo of their area.
24
Q
What percentage of the urban factpry workers made up Russian population?
A
- 4%
25
Were the working class paid better than the peasants?
- yes
26
What was different between working class people and peasants?
- Mortality rate of working class was much higher due to the conditions of factories in Russia
- With 17 hour days at a push or 12 hours for most.
27
What was the League of Liberation
- A group formed in 1903 which were home to the middle-class opponents of autocracy and led by Pavel Milyukov.
28
What percentage was Russia's bourgeoisie class?
- 1.5%
29
What were the 2 main goals of the political middle class in Russia?
- Middle class opponents wanted a Government in which elected representatives of the Russian people made laws
- And a Government that respected individual rights
30
What were the 5 demands of the League of Liberation?
1) Th end to autocracy
2) Universal suffrage (voting)
3) Maximum 8 hour days for workers
4) Redistribution of land to the peasants
5) Self-determination for all nations that were a part of the Russian empire.
31
How did the Government view the League of Liberation?
- The Government viewed the League as dangerous and arrested leading members of the League soon after its first congress
32
What did the Marxist belief state?
- Marxists believed that industrialisation and capitalism led to the exploitation of the proletariat, therefore advocating a proletarian revolution in Russia.
33
What were the divisions within the RSDLP?
- Lenin and the Bolsheviks argued that the proletariat in Russia was too weak and therefore needed to become a smaller, more private group
- Martov and the Mensheviks argued for the RSDLP's inclusivity.
34
What was the SR's main aim?
- Land reform for the peasantry
35
Who was the main leader of the SRs?
- Victor Chernov, who advocated for a different pathway to socialism which altered Marcist theory.
36
How were the SRs involved in political violence?
- Some SRs who were influenced by anarchism stressed the importance of revolutionary violence
37
Who was the Tsar's education minister and when was he assassinated by radical SRs?
- Nikolay Bogolepov in 1901
38
How large were the SRs and RSDLP?
- No more than 100,000 members between them by 1905
39
What were the key divisions in regard to opposition to the Tsar?
- Liberals wanted reforms to guarantee political rights but socialists wanted a full-scale revolution
- The RSDLP was divided between Bolsheviks and Mensheviks but the SRs were divided on the issue of violence
40
How did the Government respond to revolutionary groups?
- The Government were able to exile leading radicals through the use of the Okhrana
- Paul Milyukove was banned from the League for Liberation
- The Okhrana set up tabs on western, Russian leaders in Paris
- The Army used extreme violence on at least 800 occasions between 1900 and 1902
41
How was literacy level affecting revolutionary movements?
- THe vast majority of peasants could not read or write so it was difficult to engage with revolutionary leaders.
42
What was the cause of the Russo Japanese War?
- The Tsar believed that the Russian Empire needed to extend into China
43
What was the Tsar's approach to the Russo Japanese War?
- The Tsar believed that Russia would obliterate the Japanese army
44
What were the key military defeats that Russia faced?
- The Japanese forced the Russians to surrender at Port Arthur in 1905
- The Russian Baltic fleet was defeated by the Japanese navy at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905.
45
Why were the Russians dominated during the war?
- Japan's army was advancing and its Government was organised
- Russia's army was in a state and it was ran by incompetent leaders
46
How did the Russo Japanese War cause political consequences?
- The economic strain of fighting the war meant that the economy could no longer meet the needs of the Russian population
- As a result, food prices soared whilst wages remained the same, leading to the need to strike and protest.
47
How did the Russo Japanese War expose Nicholas II's incompetence?
- Nicholas had refused to listen to the bad news coming from the war
- Nicholas had appointed generals with little experience of modern warfare (nepotism)
- Nicholas trusted that God would provide a Russian victory
- Nicholas had little understanding of economics and modern military strategy
- Nicholas rejected realistic assessments of the problems facing Russia.
48
What happened during Bloody Sunday?
- Father Gapon led 150,000 protestors to the Winter Palace to present a petition to the Tsar for better pay and working conditions.
- The protest was peaceful
- However, Tsarist forced called in the army to maintain control and the soldiers opened fire on the crwod which led to more than 200 people killed and 800 people wounded.
- The massacre became known as Bloody Sunday.
49
What were the consequences of the massacre?
- Waves of protests across 1905 with 400,000 workers going on strike in response to the massacre.
50
What percentage of rural Russia had the authorities lost control of by the summer of 1905?
- Authorities lost control of around 15% of rural Russia.
51
How did peasant unrest take form?
- Violence against Governmental officials, landowners and government property
- Zemstvos' petitions which demandded land and were organised by moderate SRs.
- Land seizures
52
How did national minorities rebel in 1905?
- General strikes
- In Finland, the Tsar was forced to end the policy of Russification and restore traditional Finland rights.
53
How was military unrest caused by the 1905 Revolution?
- There was a mutiny of the Battleship Potemkin where sailors rebelled against their officials and took control of the ship
- Revolutionaries sailed to Odessa where they fired on government forces which were trying to suppress the revolution
- The Kronstadt naval base mutinied
54
How was urban unrest caused by the 1905 Revolution?
- Strikes in Russian cities broke out on a massive scale which included the targetting on Jewish people.
- The worst violence happened in Odessa where at least 400 Jews were killed and over 1600 Jewish homes were destroyed
55
How many people were striking by 1905?
- 2.7 million people on strike by 1905.
56
Why was the St Petersberg Soviet set up?
- To coordinate the strikes
57
How many workers did the Soviet represent?
- 200,000 workers
58
How was the Soviet ended?
- Tsarist troops stormed Trotsky's meeting due to its stronger position, even being able to suppress Bolshevik uprisings in Moscow.
59
What were the promises of the August Manifesto?
- Establishment of a Duma
- Giving men the right ot the vote
60
Why was the August Manifesto rejected?
- It ultimately didn't go far enough
- The Duma was consultative rather than legislative
- The electoral system didn't include equal voting
- The manifesto set no date for the first elections
- The manifesto contained no guarantee of individual rights, or press freedom.
61
How did the Tsar improve his August Manifesto?
- he released the October Manifesto which was a massive step towards constitutional reform.
- He allowed greater freedom of discuission and rights as well as assembly.
- Universal suffrage for Russian men
- An elected Duma with the power to approve or veto new laws
- Political parties could operate freely.
62
What was the response of the liberals to the October Manifesto?
- The Liberals welcomed the October Manifesto as they saw it as a prospect in ending the Tsar's autocracy and establishing a liberal democratic regime.
-
63
What was the response of the radical liberals to the October Manifesto?
- Radical Liberal claimed it didn't go far enough.
- The Tsar was still able to elect members of the Duma to dictate his policy
- THey also claimed the reforms failed to address the peasants' desire for land or the workers' need for better conditions.
64
Which groups imposed violence against jews and supported the Tsar?
- The Black Hundreds began pogroms against the Jews, associating with the Union of Russian People, defending the 3 pillars of Tsarism/
65
How did the end of the Russo-Japanese War allow the Tsar to recover power?
- The Tsar was able to recall 100,000 troops to suppress revolutionary activity.
66
Why were soldiers still loyal to the Tsar who were returning?
- These soldiers weren't exposed to the revolutionary proaganda of 1905.
- The Tsar rewarded soldiers (double pay, double rations, more clothes, more bedding)
67
5 reaosons for the Tsar's survival?
- Unco-ordinated protests
- October manifesto divided the opposition
- Concessions to soldiers won loyalty
- Workers were overwhelmed with the army returning in huge numbers
- The Tsar had popular support from the Union of Russian People and Black Hundreds
68
How was the Duma secretely allinged to Tsarism?
- The Duma would be indirectly voted
- The vote wasn't given to women, soldiers and some workers (socialists)
- The vote favoured the rich
69
What were 4 reasons for Autocracy not being fully restored by the end of 1905?
- The Tsar prevented nationalist uprisings in Finland
- The Tsar conceded some power to the Duma through the October Manifesto
- Political parties and trade unions were legalised and this allowed the formation of opposition groups.
