AQA A Level History Russia: Unit 2 The Collapse of Autocracy 1894-1917

When was Nicholas II regin

1894-1917

What was Nicholas II personality like

He was weak and unintelligent meaning he could not properly run the country but was fully committed to autocracy causing lots of opposition

What were the effects of the Great Famine 1891-1892

The famine showed how inefficient the civil service of Russia was and people were questioning whether it was time for more people to play a greater role in government at all levels
The Zemstva, with a huge amount of support, pushed for more autonomy with liberal zemstvo men like Prince Lvov calling for a national assembly
They presented these ideas to the Tsar but he denounced them as 'senseless dreams'
Famine shows limitations of the power of the Zemstva

When was the Great Famine

1891-1892

Opposition from workers between 1894-1904

As the 1890s progressed workers became more militant and went on strike more with support from the Marxist Social Democrats with textile workers in St Petersburg (mainly women) mounting strikes of 30,000 workers in 1896-1897 and the peak for strikes being in 1899 and involved 100,000 workers

How did the government respond to strikes between 1894-1904

The government was scared of strikes and dealt with strikes by police repression, arrests, imprisonment, exile and even execution with the government setting up a special factory police force in 1899 with its units stationed permanently near large industrial work

What was the government policy towards workers between 1894-1904

The Textile workers strikes of 1896-1897 forced the government to pass an 11h 30 min work day
The introduction of Zubatov Unions

What were Zubatov Unions

They were police run trade unions which allowed workers to make demands to employers and legally go on strike

Who was Zubatov

The head of the Moscow Okhrana who believed that repressive measures alone could not combat the strikes and thought that workers needed to believe in the system

When were Zubatov Unions set up

They started in 1901 in Moscow and spread among the south and west

When were Zubatov unions shut down

In 1903 after a strike organised by Zubatov unions in Odessa broke out into a general strike leading to Zubatov being sacked

Opposition from students between 1894-1904

The turn of the century saw serious disturbances involving students
In 1891 there was protests against government control of university university which mushroomed into huge demonstrations where police beat students with whips, arrested their leaders and drafted some into the army
Middle classes were horrified by the police brutality and many students were radicalised with thousands joining the Socialist Revolutionaries

Why were peasants angry between 1894-1904

There was another famine in the Central Volga region in 1898-9 and an international recession after 1900 caused a depression in Russia
This lead to falling wages, unemployment and widespread industrial action and then these workers returned to their villages to stir up peasant revolts as there was already lots anger about taxes and higher rents

Opposition from peasants between 1894-1904

The Poltava province saw the first wave of peasant violence in 1902 because landlords were withdrawing land needed to feed families or renting it out at more exploitative rent
Peasant revolts increased in 1902 and 1903 with the government doing nothing to solve it other than repression with prisoners filling up with political prisoners
The regime now faced growing opposition and some people were turning to ideas of revolution

What were the causes of the 1905 Revolution

Economic discontent in the countryside
Living conditions in the touns
Working conditions in the touns
Political opposition
Russo-Japanese war
Bloody sunday

How did economic discontent in the countryside cause the 1905 Revolution

Redemption payments meant peasants did not have lots of money and some peasants had worse land meaning they did not have enough food or money to live
Policy of high grain export meant that peasants did not have enough food
Nobles were scared of uncontrolled influx into cities so only did partial emancipation and tied peasants to the Mir
The Great Famine between 1891-1892 and a famine in the Central Volga between 1998-9

How did living conditions in the towns cause the 1905 revolution

They lived in poor conditions with disease (cholera and other diseases flourished and syphilis became rampant as their were more prostitutes), overcrowding (up to 10 people in a room in St Petersburg) and starvation with the Zemstvo controlled by central government and were unable to provide adequate transport, drainage and sewage or pure water supplies

How did working conditions in the towns cause the 1905 revolution

Labour conditions were awful with them getting paid more than rural workers but having more expenses, worked for long hours with arbitrary fines and no ways to change their conditions due to Zubatov unions being banned causing lots of unrest

How did political opposition cause the 1905 revolution

Due to the backsliding of reforms under Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II opposition groups became more violent e.g People's will assassinating Alexander II
The increase in modernisation and reform created new social classes and groups that would oppose the Tsar e.g Zemstvo liberals, lawyers created by 1864 judicial reforms, university students who protested for a constitutional monarchy in 1899
Russification angered the population with over 200 disturbances in 1988 because of Russification

How did the Russo-Japanese war cause the 1905 revolution

Russia went to war with Japan which created a large patriotic spirit in Russia but the Tsar and army were incompetent with the Japanese taking Port Arthur and winning the battle of Mukden forcing Russia to sign the treaty of Portsmouth embarrassing them

When was the Russo-Japanese War

1904-1905

When was the Treaty of Portsmouth signed

August 1905

What was the Assembly of Russian Workers of St Petersburg

It was an organisation set up by Father Gapon to improve the conditions of workers

When was the Assembly of Russian Workers of St Petersburg set up

April 1904

Who set up the Assembly of Russian Workers of St Petersburg

Father Gapon

How many members were in the Assembly of Russian Workers of St Petersburg

2000-8000

What caused the march on Bloody Sunday to happen

In December 1904 4 men were sacked from the Putilov Iron Works and Father Gapon tried to negotiate with the Iron Works
When this failed he called a strike and by January 8th 110,000 workers were on strike
Gapon drew up a petition to the Tsar which 150,000 people signed and on the 22nd January 1095 they peacefully marched
to the winter place

What happened on Bloody Sunday

a large procession of people peacefully marched to the winter palace when the Tsar's trooped fired on them officially killing 96 but eye witness saw more than 200 killed

What was in the petition created by Father Gapon

Better working conditions and more pay
A constituent assembly to be elected by universal suffrage Freedom of the press, association and religion
An end to the war with Japan

What was the outcome of Bloody Sunday

On the 23rd January around 150,000 people in the capital went on strike and this spread to other cities like Moskow, Odessa, Warsaw and the Baltic States leading to the 1905 revolution

What happened in February in the 1905 revolution

Grand Duke Sergei Alexanderovich, the Tsar Uncle, was assassinated by the SR

What happened in March in the 1905 revolution

All Russian Union of Railway Workers was established in defiance of the ban on unions and factory workers formed committees

What happened in May in the 1905 revolution

The Union of Unions was formed by professionals to call for liberal civil and political reform like an elected assembly by universal suffrage
Russian Baltic Fleet was sunk in the Tsushima Straits by the Japanese which made the government look incompetent
Peasant congress in Moscow called for the All Russian Union of Peasants

What happened in June in the 1905 revolution

On the 14th of June the crew of the Potemkin minted over harsh conditions and sailed to Odessa which was in a state of turmoil. They were received warmly by war crowds which the troops shot on killing 2,000 citizens and this was an embarrassment for the government and called the loyalty of the armed forces into question

What happened in July in the 1905 revolution

Peasants began seizing land, grain and animals and they refused to pay taxes and rent. They wanted an end of redemption payments, reduction in rent, and land

What happened in August in the 1905 revolution

Treaty of Portsmouth negotiated by Sergei Witte to end the war with Japan

What happened in September in the 1905 revolution

General strike called starting with the print workers and spreading to the railway workers with the central railway grinding to a halt and 2 million workers going on strike
Food and medical supplies were running out, unburied bodies piled up and there was a spread of criminality

What happened in October in the 1905 revolution

The Mensheviks formed the St Petersburg Soviet with Trotsky as deputy chairman to coordinate the workers strike actions, ran a newspaper Izvestia and sorted out the food supply

How did Nicholas II end the 1905 revolution

Appeased the liberals to get them on side through the October Manifesto
Used repressive measures to put down political opposition
Appeased and repressed the peasants

What were the contents of the October Manifesto

Grants civil rights to the population like freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association
Create a Duma which is an elected body of representatives
Participation in the Duma will be given to all people and there will be a universal franchise
All laws must be passed by the State Duma and the Duma will run parts of the government

What repressive measures were used by the Tsar to put down the 1905 revoultion

The new Minister of the Interior, Durnovo, a reactionary was determined to re-establish tsarist control, particularly in St Petersburg Soviet had built up an armed militia of 6000 men
3rd December the leaders and hundreds of the members of the St Petersburg Soviet were arrested which caused an armed uprising in Moscow led by the SD which led to a brutal crackdown of mass arrests, beatings and executions
Summer 1906 - field court marshals were introduced (execution within 24 hours) and peasants were hanged in their hundreds with the noose being nicknamed Stolypin's Necktie after the new interior minister

How many people were executed and deported between October 1905 and April 1906

15,000 people executed and 45,000 deported

When did uprisings in countryside peak during the 1905 revolution and why

November 1905 due to a poor harvest

How did the Tsar appease the peasants in the 1905 revolution

Promised to cut redemption payments in half in Jan 1906 and end them by 1907
Created the Peasant Land Bank to help peasants buy land

When were the Fundamental Laws issued

April 1906

What were the Fundamental Laws

It was a set of laws that gave the Tsar back all his power allowing him to:
Veto legislation and rule by decree in emergency or when the Duma is not in session
Appoint and dismiss government ministers
Dissolve the Duma as he wished
Command the Russian army and control all foreign policy
Control all military and household expenditure
Overturn verdicts given in a court of law
Control the Orthodox Church

How did the Duma work

It was made up of two houses the upper house and the lower house with both houses having equal legislative power. The Tsar had to approve all legislation and both of the houses and the Tsar had the ability to veto legislation

How was the lower house of the Duma elected

Members elected under a system of indirect voting (when the a state elects someone to vote for who they want to vote for) by states - heavily weighted in favour of the nobility and peasants (who were still thought to be the natural allies of the Tsar)
Deputies were to be elected for a five year term

How was the upper house of the Duma elected

Half elected by Zemstva and half appointed by the Tsar
Noble representatives from the major social, religious, educational and financial institutions

Who were the main political parties in Russia

Trudoviks
Kadets (constitutional democrats)
Octobrists
Progressives
National/religious groups
Rightists (The Union of Russian People)
SRs (Social Revolutionaries)
SDs (Social Democratic Workers Party)

Who were the Trudoviks

A moderate liberal group favouring agrarian reform, nationalisation of land, democratic representation, a minimum wage and an 8 hour working day. They were a relatively small party

Who supported the Trudoviks

The peasants and intelligentsia.

Who were the Kadets

It was a centre liberal party who wanted a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary government, full civil rights and compulsory redistribution of large estates, compensation, legal representation for workers (trade unions), end of censorship and universal suffrage for men and women. They were the most successful of the liberal democratic parties

Who supported the Kadets

Support from liberal minded middle and upper class people

Who lead the Kadets

They were led by Pavel Milyukov and academic and historian who was a reformist since the 1870s and had lots of experience working in or with the Zemstva

Who were the Octobrists

Moderate conservatives who accepted the October Manifesto and opposed further reform or concessions to workers or peasants who favoured a limited constitutional monarchy where the Tsar would still have some power but it would be limited slightly. They wanted private farming and the maintaining of the Russian Empire

Who lead the Octobrists

They were led by Guchkov

Who supported the Octobrists

Supported by landowners and in industrialists

Who were the Progressives

Businessmen who favoured moderate reform

Who were the national and religious groups

They represented Ukrainians, Poles, Georgians etc seeking independence

Who were the Rightists

They favoured monarchism, chauvinism, anti semitism, pan-Slavic and orthodoxy and promoted attacks on the left and Jews through the Black Hundreds

Who supported the Rightists

The Orthodox Church

Who were the SRs

SRs (Social Revolutionaries) were explicitly revolutionary and wanted to get rid of the Tsar and they wanted agrarian socialism, favoured populist ideas of redistribution of land and nationalisation. Some on the left of the party favour terrorism to achieve their aims.o

Who led the SRs and when was it formed

It was led by Chernov and founded in 1901

Who supported the SRs

50% of their support came from urban working class (probably most were itinerants who were people who moved around)
They had a large peasant membership but they did get infiltrated by secrete police and 4579 were executed between 1905-1909

Who were the SDs

The party was originally established in 1898, drawing on Marxist ideology of Marx and Engels calling for a workers revolution, was made to combat the Populist movement of the SRs
The party was banned in Russia so its leaders lived in exile
In 1900 started to print the newspaper 'Iskra' or the spark which was printed in europe and smuggled into Russia
The SDs split into the Bolsheviks and Menshevik factions in the second party congress in 1903

Who were the Bolsheviks

The Bolsheviks led by Lenin believed that there should be a dedicated revolutionary leadership that would lead the workers to revolution

Who were the Mensheviks

The Mensheviks led by Martov believed that the party should be less strict in membership and should work within the system with liberals to bring about socialism

When was the First Duma in session

May-July 1906

What was the name of the First Duma

The Duma of National Hope

What was the makeup of the First Duma

Kadets: 182
Trudoviks: 136
National Groups: 60
Progressives: 27
SD (Menshevik): 18
Octobrists: 17
Rightists: 8

What did the First Duma do

The Duma proposed an 'address to the Throne; which requested political amnesty, the transfer of ministerial responsibility to the Duma, the compulsory seizure of land from the gentry without compensation, universal male suffrage, abandonment of the emergency laws, the abolition of the death penalty, and a reform of the civil service

How did the Tsar respond to the 'address to the throne'

The Tsar responded to 'address to the Throne' by saying the demands were 'totally inadmissible' so the Duma called a vote of no confidence in the government and demanded the resignation of the Tsars ministers

What happened to the First Duma

Ten weeks after the 'address to the throne' the Duma was dissolved and Goremykin was replaced as prime minister by Pyotr Stolypin
200 delegates travelled to the Finish town of Vyborg and issued an appeal for citizens to oppose the government by not paying taxes or doing military service however the authorities stepped in and arrested the delegates

What was the name of the Second Duma

Duma of National Anger

When was the Second Duma in session

February - June 1907

What was the makeup of the Second Duma

Trudoviks: 104
National groups: 93
Kadets: 91
Others: 50
SD (Mensheviks): 47
Octobrists: 42
SRs: 37
Progressives: 28
Rightists: 10

What happened during the election of the Second Duma

Stolypin's government tried to influence the election but the number of extreme left wing parties increased massively due to the SDs and SRs not boycotting the elections

What did the Second Duma do

This Duma was more oppositional than the first with Stolypin not being able to get any support for his agrarian reform so he started passing laws under the Tsars emergency powers when the Duma was not in session

What happened to the Second Duma

When the Duma refused to ratify his laws, Stolypin spread a story about people trying to assassinate the Tsar which he used to to dissolve the Duma, exile more radical delegates, and introduce illegal emergency laws which changed the franchise reducing the power of the workers, peasants and national minorities and increasing the power of the gentry

What was the name of the Third Duma

The Duma of Lords and Lackeys

When was the Third Duma in session

November 1907- June 1912

What was the makeup of the Third Duma

Octobrists: 154
Rightists: 147
Kadets: 54
Progressives: 28
National Groups: 26
SD (Bolsheviks): 19
Trudoviks: 13

What did the Third Duma do

This was a more submissive duma which agreed approximately 2200 out of 2500 government proposals however it showed how unpopular the Tsar was that even this Duma was confrontational to the Tsar
The Duma passed Stolypin's Land reforms though there was opposition, an education law in 1908 which laid the foundations for universal education and compulsory primary school for 8-11 year olds, improvement in the army and navy, restoration of the Justices of the Peace, a national health insurance scheme which would pay sickness benefit to workers

What happened to the Third Duma

There were disputes over navel staff, Stoypins proposals to extend primary education, and his local government reform which led to Stolypin losing support
In 1911 the Duma had to be suspended twice whilst the government forced through legislation under emergency powers but it was clear by 1912 that the Duma system was not working

When was the Fourth Duma in session

November 1912 - 1917

What was the makeup of the Fourth Duma

Rightists: 154
Octoborists: 95
Kadets: 53
Others: 42
Progressives: 41
National groups: 22
SD (Bolsheviks): 15
Trudoviks: 10

What did the Fourth Duma do

This was a docile body under the new prime minister Count Vladimir Nikolaevich Kokovtsov who replaced Stolypin after his assassination in 1911 and he remained in post until 1914
He ignored the Duma as its influence declined as it was too divided to fight back
However the Duma still passed some laws like continued support and money for 1908 education reforms with literacy rates rising significantly by 1914, reform of the Orthodox Church and the reduction of state control, talks to reduce the huge consumption of Vodka due to public health impacts but no action was taken due to the government making lots of money from it

What did workers due during the Fourth Duma

Workers seized the initiative with a revival of direct action and strike action in the years before the war

What is Witte's grand plan

He wants industrialise Russia so it has factories to produce armaments for the army and a good train network move goods around the country and into europe and so there will be a larger middle class of factory owners and professionals who will then support the status quo and the Tsar
Then due to all the increased money coming in from industrialisation and from the new middle class, they can tax the peasants less which means that the peasants will like them and there will be less unrest and opposition to the Tsar

When was Witte minister of finance

1892-1903 and then brought back in 1905 to fix the revolution

What were Witte's policies

State sponsored industry
Foreign loans, investment and expertise
High tariffs on foreign industrial goods
Strong ruble, adoption of the gold standard
Raised taxation rates
Exportation of grain

What was Witte's policies around state sponsored industry

He believed that Coal, Iron and Steel industry would be the base of the Russian industrial economy as in Western Europe
He saw Railways as the springboard of this industrialisation thinking that they would link up the vast spaces, people, farms and factories of the empire and that they would carry the raw materials to factories and the produced goods to market
For example there were new markets in Europe of Textiles found in Asia, open up the oil fields of the caucasus, more distant areas could be opened up for the supply of food and grain to the cites

What was Witte's policies around foreign loans, investment and expertise

The state did not have the money to pay for this outright so he negotiated loans, particularly from the French, and drew foreign investors in to put money in joint-stock companies and by 1900 1/3 of the capital in these companies and been invested by foreigners and in industry this rises to 45%
Witte also engorged foreign companies, engineers and experts (Like the Hughes family) from France, Britain, Germany and others to contribute their commercial and technological expertise with there being 16 foreign companies in 1888 and 269 in 1900

What was Witte's policy around high tariffs on foreign goods

Witte continued to put high tariffs on foreign goods to protect domestic industries from foreign competition
This meant that companies in Russia bought home produced iron, steel and other products which meant less money flowed out of Russia

What was Witte's policy around a strong Rouble and adoption of the gold standard

A stable currency was essential to attract foreign investment and with Russia building up its gold reserves, it adopted the gold standard for the Rouble
This meant that exchange rates for the rouble were fixed against other gold backed currencies which provided added security for foreign investors

What was Witte's policy around raising taxation rates

Witte raised indirect taxes on everyday items like kerosene, matches and vodka to get more money for the state
This hit the peasants hard who had to sell more grain to pay the taxes which allowed Witte to increase grain exports abroad
Workers wages were kept low so money went back into industrial development rather than into wage bills

What was Witte's policy around increasing grain exports

Grain was important as grain exports were the main means for Russia to earn more foreign currency to pay the high interest rates charged on foreign loans and for foreign imports so the more grain sold the better

How was increased production rates successful under Witte

The increase in railways also stimulated the metallurgical, engineering and coal industries and by 1890 60% of all iron and steel was consumed by the railways and 4/5 locomotives were built in Russia
Great spurt 1890s 9% growth, iron and steel production went up 800%, coal output tripled, cotton cloth by 66%, Donbass coal and Caucuses oil, 4th largest industrial economy by 1897

How was increased production rates a failure under Witte

1899 deep depression which causes growth to decrease to 1.4% per annum
1903 only 23/35 blast furnaces in Donbas working
Heavy industry prioritised over light industry which would have reduced the need for foreign imports
Metalworking industry in St Petersburg suffered due to falling government orders due to depression making lots of small firm shut down
Output of coal, oil and iron fell
Only a small increase in the number of factories 1908 they had 22,500 factories but by 1914 almost 25,000