history vocab

Tsar

The title for the absolute monarch of the Russian Empire who claimed divine authority and held complete control over the state, church, and military; Taken from the word “Caesar.”

Russification

A policy aimed at enforcing Russian language, culture, and Orthodox religion across the empire to suppress local identities and strengthen loyalty to central rule.

Nicholas II

The final autocratic ruler of the Russian Empire who resisted political reform, oversaw national unrest and war, and whose weak leadership contributed to revolutionary movements before 1917.

Rasputin

- A mystic and faith healer who gained influence within the royal family by claiming to cure the heir’s illness, symbolizing corruption and moral decay within the monarchy.

Georgy Gapon

An orthodox priest who organized industrial workers to petition the monarch for reforms, leading a peaceful demonstration that ended in a massacre in 1905.

Bloody Sunday

A massacre in January 1905 when imperial soldiers fired on peaceful demonstrators seeking reforms, sparking nationwide strikes and revolutionary uprisings.

October Manifesto

A decree issued during the 1905 Revolution promising civil liberties and the creation of an elected parliament, intended to calm unrest while preserving monarchical power.

Duma

The elected legislative body established after the 1905 Revolution, limited by the monarch’s retained power to dissolve it and control electoral outcomes.

Fundamental Laws

A constitutional document of 1906 that reaffirmed autocratic authority, declaring that the monarch retained supreme power despite promises of representative government.

Pyotr Stolypin

The prime minister who combined harsh repression of revolutionary movements with the limited land reforms meant to stabilize rural society and strengthen loyalty to the regime.

Leon Trotsky

A revolutionary Marxist active in the 1905 Revolution, and was one of the prominent members of the St. Petersburg Soviet.

Vladimir Lenin

A Marxist theorist and revolutionary who lived in exile in Switzerland during the 1905 Revolution. Would return to lead the Bolsheviks against the Tsarist regime in 1917.