Topic 1 – The rule of Nicholas II, 1894-1905

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  • Created by: Mia
  • Created on: 14-06-21 15:21
Why did the Russo-Japanese War start?
The Tsar wanted to expand the Russian Empire by invading China. This brought Russia into conflict with the Japanese Empire.
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Give 2 Examples of humiliating military defeats suffered by the Russians
The Russians were forced to surrender Port Arthur in January 1905.

The Russian Baltic fleet was defeated by the Japanese navy at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905.
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What was Japan's economy like?
What was Russia's economy like?
Japan had a highly advanced industrial economy and a well organised government

Russia's economy was backward, with incompetent leaders.
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What happened to food prices in Russia? Why?
Food prices rose, while wages stayed the same. This is because the economic strain of fighting the war meant that the economy could no longer meet the needs of the Russian population.
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When food prices rose, what happened as a consequence?
Workers began to organise strikes ad protests.
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Describe how the War highlighted the Tsar's incompetence.
The Tsar...
1. appointed generals with little experience of modern warfare.
2. had little understanding of economics or modern warfare
3. rejected advice from those with an understanding like Sergei Wittte, who knew Russia cold not cope with war.
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When was Bloody Sunday?
In January 1905
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Who led Bloody Sunday
Father Gapon. He wrote the petition and organised the march. He was a radical orthodox priest, concerned with improving the lives of the poor.
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How many protestors were there?
150,000
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What did the Bloody Sunday protestors want?
To present a petition asking for better pay and conditions of work to the Tsar.
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Did the Bloody Sunday protestors want to get rid of the Tsar?
No.
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What was the government's reaction to the protest?
Local officials called in the army, the soldiers opened fire on the crowd leaving 200 killed and 800 wounded.
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How did the different political groups in Russia react to Bloody Sunday?
- It helped unite different groups.
-There were waves of protests, by February 400,000 workers were on strike .
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How did Bloody Sunday affect the Tsar's image?
It ended the myth that the Tsar was a caring 'little father' to the Russian people. Radical propaganda argued the massacre probed the Tsar cared nothing for the suffering of his people.
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Did unrest end with Bloody Sunday?
No, waves of protest followed. By February 400,000 workers were on strike.
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Was the 1905 revolution a coordinated attack on the Tsars government?
No, it was a series of spontaneous uprisings, not a co-ordinated attack on the Tsar's government.
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How much of rural Russia was not under the government's control by the summer of 1905?
15%. it was the worst in the Black Earth region of western Russia.
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Give examples of Russia's national minorities who rebelled in 1905
Finns and Poles.
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What happened in Finland in 1905?
By early November the Tsar had been forced to end the policy of Russification and restore Finland's traditional rights.
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Name a famous example of military unrest in 1905 and briefly outline the events.
The mutiny of the Battleship Potemkin. Sailors rebelled against their officers and took control of the ship. They sailed to Odessa and fired on government forces.
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What did Russia's workers do to show their unhappiness with the government in 1905?
Strikes broke out on a massive scale.
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Which ethnic minority group suffered in 1905?
Urban violence often focussed on Jews, the worst in Odessa were ever 1,600 Jewish homes were destroyed.
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Which adviser urged the Tsar to accept compromise? What did he hope would happen if the Tsar did?
Witte, he hoped the compromise would divide opposition.
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What did the August Manifesto promise?
- It promised to establish an elected consultative assembly or Duma
- Set out a complex electoral system which gave all Russian men the right to vote, but the votes of the rich were worth more that the votes of the poor.
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Why did the Liberals not like the August Manifesto?
- The Duma was consultative not legislative.
- The electoral system was unequal and excluded national minorities
- The Manifesto did not guarantee of individual rights, or press freedom.
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Why did workers and peasants not like the August Manifesto?
It contained nothing to appease them as Witte had no intention of compromising with them.
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Did the August Manifesto end the Revolution?
No, it did not offer what the protestors demanded.
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Why did the Tsar agree to the October Manifesto?
He was in a very weak position:
- Opposition to autocracy had grown over the summer
- The August Manifesto alienated middle classes
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What did the October Manifesto promise?
- Greater freedom, the government would allow greater freedom of expression and assembly.

- Political parties and trade unions were now legal.

- Elected representations, universal suffrage for Russian men, with equal voting rights for rich and poor

- E
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Who like the October Manifesto?
Liberals supported it as a step towards constitutional monarchy.
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Who didn't like the October Manifesto?
- Radical liberals thought it did not giver enough power to the Duma.

- And socialists thought the reforms failed to address the peasant's desire for land or the workers need for better conditions. The St Petersburg Soviet called a general strike to show
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Who were the Black Hundreds?
They began pogroms against the jews and street fights with striking workers.
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What's a pogrom?
A violent riot aimed at the expulsion of Jews
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How did increased violence help the Tsar?
This appeal to racist nationalism helped turn the tide of the Revolution, as patriotism was one of the main supports of Tsarism.
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What broke out in Sep/Oct 1905
A general strike
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By the end of 1905, how many workers were on strike?
2.7 million
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What is a soviet?
An elected committee comprising around 500 delegates, representing 200,000 workers.
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What was the initial purpose of the soviet?
to co-ordinate a strike
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Was there only one Soviet in Russia?
The St Petersburg Soviet was the first of many. By the end of October 50 towns had their own Soviets.
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What did the soviets campaign for?
An eight hour working day, and encouraged workers not to pay tax.
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Name a leading member of the soviets.
Leon Trotsky, he helped the Soviet avoid confrontations with the government and employers by urging the Soviet to abandon some of its more radical demands.
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When was the St Petersburg soviet forced to close?
Early December 1905, Tsarist troops stormed a meeting of the Soviet while Trotsky was speaking.
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What was the response to its closure?
A Bolshevik-led armed uprising took place in Moscow, but it was crushed by loyal Tsarist soldiers leaving over a thousand dead.
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What was the Tsar's position at the end of 1905?
The Tsar was in a stronger position. The October Manifesto won over the majority of the middle-class liberals. Crushing the Soviet effectively brought the Revolution to an end.
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Why did the army begin to support the Tsar again?
The end of the Russo-Japanese War allowed the Tsar's government to send the Russian army to crush the workers'.They remained loyal because:
1)They had bot been exposed to radical propaganda
2) They were given double pay with new clothing, better rations
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List the reasons why the Tsar survived the 1905 revolution
1) The October Manifesto successfully divide opposition to the Tsar
2) Concessions to soldiers won loyalty of the returning army.
3) The workers of St Petersburg and Moscow were overwhelmed by the force of the returning troops
4) the Tsar had polar suppo
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List four limits on the Tsar's powers which suggest that Autocracy was not fully restored after 1905.
1) Political parties and trade unions were legalised which allowed the formation of groups who opposed the Tsar
2) The new Duma could veto laws proposed by the Tsar
3) Peasant protest continued in 1906
4) The Tsar had been forced to end his policy of Russ
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ignore
ignore
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What does Autocracy mean?
Nicholas II had total power within Russia. He was assisted by the cabinet, Senate and State Council, but these were advisory bodies only.
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How were the Tsar's power's constrained?
They weren't limited by law or any constitutional checks. Russian subjects had no freedom of speech or trial, as these would limit his power.
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What were the consequences of autocracy?
Corruption - government officials claimed to be representatives of the tsar
Limited society - Trade unions and religious groups were outlawed
Tsar's isolation - The tsar refused to recognise Russia's problems, he had very little understanding of the pover
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Describe the policy of Russification
It was a response to the growth of nationalism in various parts of the empire, such as Finland, Georgia and Poland.
It involved the imposition of the Russian language in government, the justice system and universities. The promotion of Russian culture an
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What were the consequences of Russification?
- Backlash among loyal groups such as the Finns and Armenians
- In Finland it resulted in widespread unrest, the governor general was assassinated in 1904.
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What measure were introduced to promote Orthodoxy between 1984-1902?
- Parish clergy increased by 60%
- Tenfold increase in church schools
- Orthodox missionaries were sent to establish new churches in the Baltic States were Protestantism was popular.
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What was the result of the promotion of Orthodoxy?
- Orthodoxy doubles in the period 1881-1902.
- But in urban areas there was a decline in Orthodox Church attendance.
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Describe the Anti-Semitic policies introduced and the effects it had.
- Jews couldn't make up more than 3% at universities in Russia's major cities
- The May Laws banned Jews from living in Russia's rural areas

As a result...
- Pogroms increased, 49 in 1903-1904
- Large numbers emigrated to the US.
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What was the Okhrana?
Its goal was to destroy subversive organisations, by 1905 it had infiltrated the leadership of the SDs and SRs.

It was engaged in widespread surveillance, by 1900 they had records on 55,000 people and 20,000 photographs on suspected radicals.
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Why were the peasants opposed to the Tsar?
- They made up 80% of the population in 1894.
- They had hard lives large debt and high taxes.
- Nicholas introduced counter-reforms for example, Land Captains replaced zemstvos to manage their work.
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Why were the working class opposed to the Tsar?
- 4% of the population
- factories were dangerous, living conditions were poor especially in the slums of Vyborg for example.
- Mortality rates was higher than that of the peasants.
- 12 hour working days
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What was the League of Liberation?
- Formed in 1903 by middle-class opponents
- led by Milyukov
- they wanted to end autocracy,
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Who were the Social Democrats?
-established in 1898, inspired by Marx
- wanted a proletarian revolution against capitalism
- Bolsheviks wanted the professional revolutionaries to lead a revolution on behalf of the workers who were too weak to lead it themselves.
- Mensheviks thought it
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Who were the Socialist Revolutionaries?
- believed that peasant communes could become the basis of a new socialist society
- They used violence and were responsible for the assassination of the Minister of the Interior in 1904.
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How did the Okhrana deal with the opposition?
They exiled leading radicals, Lenin was exiled to Siberia. They also kept parties under surveillance and used under cover agents to stir up divisions. Strikes were broken up using extreme violence, almost 800 times between 1900 and 1902.
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How many members of the SRs and SDs were there in 1905?
They remained small with no more than 100,000 members between them.
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What internal problems prevented the opposition from being successful?
They were divided. Liberals wanted reforms, socialists wanted revolution.

The parties relied on newspapers to spread their message, but the majority of Russian peasants were illiterate.
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Card 2

Front

Give 2 Examples of humiliating military defeats suffered by the Russians

Back

The Russians were forced to surrender Port Arthur in January 1905.

The Russian Baltic fleet was defeated by the Japanese navy at the Battle of Tsushima in May 1905.

Card 3

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What was Japan's economy like?
What was Russia's economy like?

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What happened to food prices in Russia? Why?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

When food prices rose, what happened as a consequence?

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