What problems did Nicholas II face in 1894?

What problems did Nicholas II face in 1894?

Russia’s geography and peoples

• In 1894 Imperial Russia covered a large part of two continents – it covered over 8 million square miles (an equivalent to 2½ times the size of the USA today)
• Between 1815 and 1914 its population quadrupled from 40 million to 165 million – this was concentrated in European Russia
• Do not be misled that Russia’s sheer size meant that she had great strength
• The population contained a wide variety of peoples of different race, language, religion and culture – it was very difficult to control such a varied population over such a vast territory

The tsar

• The peoples of the Russian Empire were governed by one person – the tsar (emperor)
• The tsar was an absolute ruler – meaning there was no restrictions to his power – this was clearly expressed by the ‘Fundamental Laws of the Empire’ issued by Nicholas I in 1832
• The tsar’s absolute rule was exercised through 3 official bodies:

1.    The Imperial Council – a group of honorary advisers directly responsible to the tsar

2.    The Cabinet of Ministers – ran the various government departments

3.    The Senate – supervised the operation of the law

• These bodies were much less powerful than their titles suggested – they were appointed, not elected, and they did not govern; their role was merely to give advice
• The tsar had the final word in all governmental and legal matters

Russia’s political backwardness

• By the beginning of the C20^th had not much advancement compared to other European nations – they still had no form of democratic or representative government
• Although previous tsars, such as Peter I, had tried to modernise the country (e.g. by re-building Moscow and St Petersburg) their achievements had not extended to political rights
• In Russia in 1881 it was still a criminal offence to oppose the tsar and his government
• There had never been free press in Imperial Russia – government controlled books and journals through censorship

Repression

• Such restrictions had not prevented liberal ideas seeping into Russia – however they could not be easily expressed and supporters of change / reform had to go underground
• There were a number of secret societies dedicated to reform or revolution
• These groups were frequently infiltrated by agents of the Okhrama (secret police) – raids, arrests, imprisonments and general harassment were common

Extremism

• The denial of free speech tended to drive political activists towards extremism
• Example of this – in 1881 when Tsar Alexander II was blown to bits by a bomb thrown by a terrorist group ‘The People’s Will’

The Russian Orthodox Church

• The Orthodox Church supported the tsars in their claims for absolute authority
• Since the C15^th the Orthodox Church had been independent – outsider the authority of others e.g. the papacy
• However, by the late C19^th it…