'To What Extent was the Tsar Successful in Strengthening his Authority Between 1905-1914'

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

• From 1905 to 1914, Russia was an autocracy governed by the Tsar (emperor), or Nicholas the II, whose authority was unquestionable. Nicholas’ family, the Romanovs, had ruled Russia for 408 years, ending at Nicholas’ abdication in 1917.
• At the time, Russia was an extremely large country: spanning across two continents, Europe and Asia, covering 22 million square kilometres wide, with a population of over 140 million. Due to the wide variety of ethnic groups and the large landmass, Russia was pointedly a very difficult state to rule- especially with only one man in power. After the Tsar’s failure to suppress a revolution in 1905, he had to rethink how he would reinstate his authority.

Question 2

Paragraph One (the Dumas)

Answer 2

• The First Duma met at the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg on the 10th of May, 1906. Although a single Duma was to last for four years before being dismissed and reformed again, between the years 1906 and 1914, only four Dumas were held. The First Duma was established in 1906 after the introduction of the Fundamental Laws, and lasted for ten weeks before being dissolved by the Tsar. This was largely because the first Duma was highly critical of the Tsar, including revolutionary groups, and demanded changes which would lead to the collapse of the Tsarist regime.
• In response, 200 members of the Duma had crossed to Vyborg in Finland and called on the people to resist the Tsar by: refusing to pay taxes; removing their savings from banks; and refusing to serve in armed forces.
• Overall, the Dumas were successful in strengthening the Tsar’s authority between 1905 to 1914 because the Dumas had reduced opposition from the middle classes by putting on the appearance that there was democracy in Russia.
• However, the Dumas were limited in strengthening the Tsar’s authority because the Duma allowed political debate to take place and political parties to develop, which further allowed anti-tsarist ideology to circulate within the Duma which encouraged people to rise up against him.

Question 3

Paragraph Two (Land Reforms of Prime Minister Stolypin)

Answer 3

• Stolypin had realised that peasantry contentment was essential to prevent revolution and that the peasantry constituted a large percentage of the population in Russia. He wanted to ensure that the peasantry were supportive of the Tsar and his autocracy. Stolypin attempted to do this in the form of the Land Reforms. Stolypin had realised that a lot of the resentment from the peasantry was due to the Redemption Payments, land hunger, high taxes and inefficient agriculture, and in result, abolished the Redemption Payments and encouraged the peasantry to become independent through the introduction of the Peasant’s Land Banks- which made loans for peasants to buy land available.
• He made sure that the Mirs could no longer stop the peasantry from leaving to buy private land, and even advised the peasantry to buy remote land in Siberia to open the countryside. He believed that, if the majority of peasants were independent, they would be very conservative in their outlook and be more likely to be supportive of the Tsarist regime.
• Overall, Stolypin’s land reforms were successful in securing the authority of the Tsar because many historians believe that around 7 million households became independent by 1915 as a result of Stolypin’s reforms, and therefore less likely to rise up against the Tsar.
• However, the Land Reforms were limited in strengthening the authority of the Tsar because Stolypin’s underlying assumption about the Russian peasantry was wrong: many peasants preferred the security of their communes rather than to be independent, meaning that the ideology of the peasantry was not turning conservative and pro-tsar as the peasantry were still working in their communes.
• In evaluation, whilst there were some limitations such as the Stolypin programme made very little impact on Russia where overpopulation was most notable- by 1914 only 10% of the land was converted into farms and the rest stuck to the old-strips system, meaning that the majority of peasantry still suffered with injustice from the Tsar and were more likely to revolt against him, overall the Land Reforms were successful in strengthening the authority of the Tsar because around 7 million peasant households had became independent of the Tsar by 1915 as a result of Stolypin’s reforms, meaning that the peasantry were gradually becoming more supportive of the Tsarist Regime.

Question 4

Paragraph Three

Answer 4

• In July of 1906, Stolypin was appointed Prime Minister. Stolypin had planned to suppress all opposition to the Tsar with as much brutality as he needed: he implemented a new court system using martial law and military courts that made it much easier to swiftly arrest and execute political revolutionaries- in the first 6 months after their introduction, the courts had passed 1,042 death sentences, and an estimated 3,000 suspects were convicted and executed by these courts between the years 1906 and 1909.
• The provinces placed under martial law by Stolypin closed down 1,000 newspaper agencies and 600 trade unions between 1906 and 1911.
• Overall, the ‘Terror for Terrorists’ movement was successful in strengthening the authority of the Tsar because it greatly decreased opposition groups to the Tsar and limited the spread of anti-tsar ideology which ensured that the Tsar was secure in his position.
• However, the ‘Terror for Terrorists’ movement was limited in strengthening the authority of the Tsar because Stolypin had created problems for the Tsarist Regime as he created resentment amongst all classes in Russia, particularly the peasantry and the working class, which could lead to more revolutionary action from these groups in the future- which was worrying for the Tsar as the working class and peasantry made up 82.5% of Russia’s population combined, meaning that they could easily overthrow him.
• In evaluation, whilst there were limitations such as revolutionary groups were wiped out completely- they survived underground and continuously attracted support: it was a revolutionary group who had assassinated Stolypin in 1911, proving that revolutionary groups were very much still active and the Tsar still had dangerous opposition, overall the ‘Terror for Terrorists’ movement was successful in strengthening the authority of the Tsar because the trials and executions had reduced the membership of revolutionary groups from 100,000 to 10,000 by 1910- meaning that the power of revolutionary groups was severely decreased and the Tsar’s position remained secure. ‘Stolypin’s necktie’ was the nickname for the noose, and became an infamous method of fear and oppression.