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Russian and its rulers 1855 - 1917

Russian and its rulers 1855 - 1917. Russia c.1855. Ruled autocratically by Romanov Tsars since 1613 Ruled since 1825 by Tsar Nicholas I (‘Thirty wasted years’) Supported by Russian Orthodox Church; the ‘divine right’ to rule (the ‘little father’ of the Russian people’)

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Russian and its rulers 1855 - 1917

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  1. Russian and its rulers 1855 - 1917

  2. Russia c.1855 • Ruled autocratically by Romanov Tsars since 1613 • Ruled since 1825 by Tsar Nicholas I (‘Thirty wasted years’) • Supported by Russian Orthodox Church; the ‘divine right’ to rule (the ‘little father’ of the Russian people’) • Landowning nobility were the elite (though not necessarily very rich) • Opposition exiled / imprisoned; secret police - The Third Section • Economically backwards; little industry and few railways whilst Western Europe was industrialising rapidly • Primitive agricultural methods and low outputs / yields • 90% of the people were peasants and most were serfs (slaves) • Working and living conditions were harsh • Between 1853 and 1856 defeat in the Crimean War exposed just how backward the Russian Empire had become • See OXLEY Chapter 1 pages 8 - 21 for detail

  3. Russia 1855 - 1881The reign of Tsar Alexander II • Introduced ‘reform from above’, to modernise Russia • Key Reform - The Emancipation of the Serfs 1861 • Several other reforms including the introduction of some local government (zemstva) and trial by jury • Most of these reforms had significant flaws and were met by mounting opposition - the intelligentsia (‘westernisers’ and ‘slavophiles’) • Key Opponents include • The Narodniks in the early 1870s • Land and Liberty • The People’s Will • Alexander was unwilling to give up his own autocratic power; re-considering this when assassinated in March 1881 • An ‘ineffective liberal’ and an ‘inefficient autocrat’ • See OXLEY Chapter 2 pages 22 - 41 for detail

  4. Russia 1894 - 1917The reign of Tsar Nicholas II • Attempted to rule like his father - stern autocracy and repression -but his character and changing circumstances made this impossible • Condemned liberal demands for a constitution as ‘senseless dreams’ • Faced rising opposition from groups like the Social Democrats (Bolsheviks & Mensheviks) and the Social Revolutionaries • Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (04/05) and events on Bloody Sunday (Jan 05) sparked off the 1905 Revolution • Nicholas survived 1905 by reform (The October Manifesto - granted a Duma or parliament) • From 1906 Nicholas ignored demands from Duma for reform and rigged elections in 1907 to ensure the election of supporters • Stolypin 1906 - 1911 repressed severely but introduced reform in countryside • By 1906 Nicholas II was increasingly under influence of Rasputin • See OXLEY Chapter 3 pages 50 - 63 & Chapter 4 64 - 89 for detail Nicholas II - Page 1

  5. Russia 1894 - 1917The reign of Tsar Nicholas II • Stolypin assassinated in 1911 • Massacre of striking miners in Lena goldfields in 1912 suggests regime in trouble • Entry into the First World War in 1914 probably doomed Nicholas II • Disastrous defeats on Eastern Front as troops lacked modern weapons • Nicholas II appointed himself supreme army commander in 1915 (which left no-one else to blame) • Government increasingly in hands of his unpopular German wife, Alexandra, and Rasputin (until his murder in December 1916) • War led to rapid inflation, food shortages and starvation • Bread riots in February 1917 spiralled into revolution and led to the abdication of Nicholas II and the end of the Romanov dynasty • See OXLEY Chapter 3 pages 50 - 63 & Chapter 4 64 - 89 for detail Nicholas II - Page 2

  6. 1917 The Russian Revolutions • Two revolutions • February (March) • October (November) • October (November) • The February Revolution • Tsar Nicholas II abdicated • Two groups claimed power: • The Provisional Government (former members of the Duma) • The Petrograd Soviet (Workers’ Council) • The Provisional Government failed to reform and lost popularity • Continued fighting (and losing) in the First World War • Failed to re-distribute the nobles’ land to the peasants • Lenin and the Bolsheviks (Communists) gained support with their demand for ‘Peace, Bread and Land’. • In October 1917 the Provisional Government was overthrown and the Bolsheviks, who by then dominated the Petrograd Soviet, seized power. • See OXLEY Chapter 5, pages 90 - 109, for details

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