X+-+TSARIST+RUSSIA

__**TSARIST RUSSIA 1905-1917 **__

__**THE BIG QUESTION**__ **Why did the Tsarist regime collapse in 1917?** __**HEADLINE QUESTIONS **__How did the Tsar survive the 1905 revolution? How well did the Tsarist regime deal with the difficulties of ruling Russia up to 1918? How far was the Tsar weakened by the First World War? Why was the revolution of March 1917 successful? __**CONTENT THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW **__The main features of Russian society and Tsarist rule in the early twentieth century; The 1905 Revolution and its aftermath;  <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">Attempts at reform;  <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">The First World War and its impact on the Russian people;  <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">The Tsar’s running of the war;  <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">The role of Rasputin;  <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;"><span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;">The March Revolution of 1917.

<span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">__**BACKGROUND - RUSSIA IN 1900**__ <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Russia at the turn of the twentieth century was a very different place from what it is today - about 85% of the population lived and worked on the land, as farming labourers. The technology available to these people was so behind the rest of the modern world that they were only able to grow enough food to feed themselves and a very small population who lived in the towns and cities. In all, a population of some 128 million people, made up of over 200 different nationalities (diverse ethnic and religious groups) made the Russian Empire a very diverse and difficult place to control. Especially when the leader of Russia - The Tsar (King / Emperor), ruled over his people in a very medieval fashion - Autocratically. This meant that he was in charge on his own, without a government or committee of people to help him. He believed that God had chosen him to be the peoples leader, and so they should look up to him like a god. Most other European nations had done away with this idea a few centuries earlier.His name was Nicholas II, his ancestors had been strong leaders who effectively managed Russia - people like Peter the Great, Ivan the Terrible and Catherine the Great. Nicholas however was not up to the job - like a critic of the time, Leon Trotsky said of him - "he was unable to manage a village post office" - let alone a country of this size.

<span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: justify;">Many of the problems facing Russia were because it believed that it could continue to be behind the times, other nations had gradually "evolved" into the modern world - in order for Russia to catch up they would have to make these changes a lot more quickly - in the form of "Revolutions".



The Nature of Tsarist rule
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Autocracy meant that the Tsar had absolute power. He could make laws, appoint ministers and decide on all polices completely on his own.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Even after the setting up of the Duma in 1906, Nicholas II was very reluctant to allow it any real power. This meant that it was impossible to bring about any changes in Russia without Nicholas agreeing to them.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Nicholas II was weak and easily influenced by others. Even when he took the right decision, e.g. after the 1905 Revolution, he changed his mind later on.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">He did not want to be Tsar and was not capable of acting sensibly. But he felt he had to keep going to pass the throne on to his son.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Tsars had traditionally relied on repression to deal with opposition. The secret police, the Okhrana, were very efficient and street disturbances were broken up by the Cossacks.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This had always worked in the past and he had no other alternatives. This meant that opposition groups also tended to be violent. Nicholas’s grandfather, Alexander II, was killed by a bomb in 1881.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In Russia there were extremes of wealth and poverty, far greater than in any other European country. These were made worse by big increases in the populations of the two main cities, St Petersburg and Moscow.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The number of people living in these cities nearly doubled between 1880 and 1914. This led to overcrowding, shortages of food and unrest. The opposition groups in Russia took advantage of this situation. In 1917 events in Petrograd were all important.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Russia was a very backward country. Only 2% of the population worked in industry, 80% worked in agriculture, which was often very primitive, and there was 80% illiteracy.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Many Russians distrusted Western ideas and preferred to use old-fashioned methods. This included the army commanders who thought the bayonet was the most important weapon.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">There were many opposition groups in Russia. The most powerful and the biggest was the Socialist-Revolutionaries. They were strongest in the countryside, where they were supported by many peasants.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">But the Bolsheviks, part of the Social Democrats (the other part was the Mensheviks) were to be the most significant. All of these groups used violence.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Industrialisation was proceeding rapidly in the big cities of St Petersburg and Moscow. Their populations increased by more than 50% in the twenty years leading up to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This meant that Russia became an important industrial power, but also that tens of thousands of workers were squashed into overcrowded districts in the centres of the cities.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In 1904 and 1905 Russia was defeated by Japan in the Russo-Japanese War. This was humiliating. It led to protests, like ‘Bloody Sunday’, which helped bring about the 1905 Revolution.



//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 90%;">Protesters led on a peaceful demonstration to the Winter Palace in January 1905 by Father George Gappon, the demonstration had intended to give a petition to the Tsar requesting reform to improve the lives of the people. Before reaching the palace the Tsars troops, the Cossacks, opened fire killing many. The attitude of the average person towards Nicholas was looking more bleek than previously. This event, now known as "Bloody Sunday" was the starting point of the Revolution of 1905. Combined with the outdated nature of Tsarism and the ongoing disaster of the Russo-Japanese War, led the people to lead a revolution which Nicholas was lucky to survive. //


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">There were protests throughout the year and Nicholas was only saved because the army remained loyal. But he did not learn his lesson.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The October Manifesto was granted by Nicholas II in October 1905, after the revolution of that year had threatened his overthrow. In the Manifesto Nicholas II promised
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Civil liberties for all people, including freedom from arrest and freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The creation of a State Duma, which would have to agree to all laws
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Universal suffrage for the election of the Duma.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Why was the October Manifesto ineffective? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Nicholas soon changed his mind; the Duma met in 1906 but was closed by Nicholas after seventy-two days. Three more Dumas met in the next ten years, but each had fewer powers and was elected on a narrower franchise.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Nicholas retained the title of Autocrat and continued to appoint and dismiss ministers. Laws continued to be promulgated by the government without reference to the Duma. There was no apparent relaxation in the power of the Tsar's secret police the Okhrana.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In fact Nicholas had probably never intended to honour his promises. He had been forced to agree to the Manifesto under threat of force. He deliberately omitted any reference to the word 'constitution' and retained the word 'Autocrat'.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Why did Tsar Nicholas become unpopular in the years leading up to 1914? **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Rasputin's influence grew from 1905, but became very important after the Tsar made himself Commander-in-Chief of the Army in 1915. Nicholas left Petrograd and never returned.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Alexandra, Nicholas’s wife was stupid and short-sighted. She was unpopular in Russia because she was German and was suspected of being a German spy after the outbreak of war. She gave Nicholas a very misleading picture of events in Petrograd in 1916 and 1917.

media type="youtube" key="1rcdIu8VEtE" height="432" width="768" align="center"


 * __<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The impact of the First World War __**
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The First World War was by far the most important factor in Nicholas's unpopularity.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Army **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Russian Government believed that they could win the war against Germany easily. It did not realise how powerful the German Army was. The Russian Army was poorly equipped and old-fashioned.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In August all messages were sent by radio. The Germans were able to listen in and find out just what the Russians were doing.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The Russians suffered a series of disastrous defeats at the hands of the German army. The Russians relied on the bayonet. They had few machine-guns and most of their soldiers were untrained.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Russian industry was not able to keep the army supplied. There were 6,000,000 men in the army, but only 4,500,000 rifles.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Soldiers went into action with no rifles. They were told to take them from soldiers who had been killed.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">There were inadequate medical supplies. Thousands of casualties were left unattended. 18,000 were left on a Petrograd station for a week.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Nicholas II **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">To try to put things right, Nicholas appointed himself Commander-in-Chief in 1915. This meant that he was now directly responsible, before he was able to blame his generals.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">As he had no military experience, he was no use as a commander. He also left Petrograd never to return. He had to rely on Alexandra for information.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">As law and order in Petrograd broke down, Nicholas was out of touch with events.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Inflation and shortages **
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The railway network was inadequate and soon broke down. There was plenty of food, but not enough locomotives to pull the trains.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">What trains were available were diverted to carry food and munitions to the army.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">This led to severe shortages of food. The worst affected places were Petrograd and Moscow. Food shortages led to inflation.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">In Petrograd prices rose by 300%, because the war meant that more and more people flocked into the city to work in the munitions factories.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Rasputin began to influence the Tsar through the Tsarina. He persuaded her to ask her husband to dismiss ministers and change military tactics.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">Rumours spread about the influence of Rasputin and his relationship with the Tsarina. Eventually he was murdered in December 1916 by a group of Russian nobles.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The unpopularity of the Royal family and Rasputin was strongest in Petrograd. There were many rumours that Rasputin was having an affair with the Tsarina.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The reputation of the royal family fell to an all time low. The Tsarina was accused of being a German spy
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">During the war more and more people had crowded into Petrograd to find work in the munitions factories. They lived squashed together in working class districts near the city centre.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">The effects of inflation and shortages of food were most severe in Petrograd because the population had grown very quickly and the city was relatively isolated.

media type="youtube" key="MbN8lqWQo5E?list=PL3A1D572CF0DCF172" height="504" width="896" align="center"

<span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The fall of the Tsar and the establishment of the Provisional Government <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The February Revolution
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">By January 1917 there was increasing unrest in Petrograd; then on 22 February the temperature improved by 20 degrees celcius.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">International Women’s Day was held on 23 February; there were parades and demonstrations. This led to strikes and by 25 February half the workers were on strike.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The Tsar was kept informed by his wife and Rodzianko, the Chairman of the Duma. The Tsarina told him that all was well and that there were only minor disturbances.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Rodzianko said that there was a serious crisis and that a new government must be formed. The Tsar believed his wife. He thought that Rodzianko was just trying to use the situation to become prime minister.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">By 27th and 28th February there were many demonstrations by workers and when troops were sent to stop the unrest, the Garrison of Petrograd supported the strikers. There were 340,000 troops in the city but they were mostly recruits.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">When the Tsar tried to return on 1 March it was too late. He was forced to abdicate on 2 March in favour of his brother, Michael. His brother abdicated on 3 March.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">In March 1917 a Provisional Government was formed by members of the Duma. The first prime minister was Prince Lvov.

<span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The problems facing the Provisional Government
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The Provisional Government was a temporary government created by members of the Duma until a general election could be held. The first prime minister was Prince Lvov. It had no authority whatsoever.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The members believed that they could take no major decisions until a proper government had been elected, so they continued the war against Germany.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The Provisional Government had little authority outside of Petrograd and even inside the city it had to contend with the Petrograd Soviet

<span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">What was the Petrograd Soviet?
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The Petrograd Soviet was elected by the soldiers and workers of Petrograd, so it had far more authority than the Provisional Government. It governed Petrograd and was controlled at first by the Socialists-Revolutionaries.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">It issued Military Order Number One; this stated that orders from the Provisional Government were only to be obeyed if they were approved by the Soviet.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">For the next eight months the Provisional Government always had to gain the approval of the Soviet. This created chaos in Petrograd.

<span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Why did the Provisional Government become unpopular?
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The Provisional Government became more and more unpopular because it did not end the war. The members did not believe that they had the authority to make peace and did not want to let down the western Allies.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The Provisional Government made no attempt to introduce land reform, which many peasants wanted. The Provisional Government did try to tackle the problems of shortages and inflation, but, during the summer of 1917, rations in Petrograd fell.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The main problem facing the Provisional Government was Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, which was the smallest of the revolutionary parties in Russia in 1914.

<span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Lenin and the Bolsheviks
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">In March 1917 Lenin was living in Switzerland. He was sent back to Russia by the Germans, who hoped that he would create as much trouble as possible, which would undermine the Russian war effort.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Lenin returned to Petrograd in April 1917 and immediately published the ‘April Theses’, an end to the war with Germany, Lenin believed that he could take advantage of the chaos caused by the February Revolution to seize power in Russia.
 * the abolition of the Provisional Government and all power to the Soviets, all property and land to be taken over by the state,
 * all banks united into National Bank and put under the control of the Soviets, all factories to come under the control of the Soviets,
 * the army to be transformed into a national militia.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 16px;">He was determined to stir up as much trouble as possible and to attract as much support by making extravagant promises, which he had no intention of keeping, e.g. allowing peasants to take land.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The Bolsheviks first tried to seize power in Petrograd in May, but failed. In July they tried again, the ‘July Days', but failed.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The Provisional Government was saved by the army. The Bolshevik leaders were all either arrested and put in jail, or they fled to Finland.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">After the July Days, Prince Lvov resigned and Alexander Kerensky became prime minister. He had been a Socialist-Revolutionary before becoming Minister for War in the Provisional Government.

<span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">The Kornilov Revolt
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">In August the army commander-in-chief, General Kornilov believed that Kerensky was about to make himself dictator. He ordered his arrest.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">As the army marched on Petrograd, Kerensky asked the Bolsheviks to save him. Lenin agreed if they were let out of jail and given weapons.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Lenin now realised that the Provisional Government had very few supporters and that the Bolsheviks had a real chance of seizing power.