How
Strong was the Tsar’s Government in 1913?
Summary
The
strengths of the Tsar's government were those usually found in
an autocratic regime - Church, army, a repressive secret
police and the unthinking love of the peasantry.
The
weaknesses of the
government lay in its incompetence, in the huge size and
economic poverty of Russia, and in the pressures coming from a modernising world - i.e., from a middle class which had already
in 1905 forced the Tsar to set up a parliament (the Duma), and
from extreme political groups which wanted even more radical
changes.
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Links
Photos
of Russia c.1900
Reed
Brett on Russian autocracy
The 'social pyramid'
-an anti-government cartoon
The
1905 Revolution
Explanation of political parties in Russia by Louise Bryant, an American journalist
Nicholas II
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A
Summary of Events
1914–1941
1914–17
Russia is ruined by entering World War I.
March
1917
February Revolution; Nicholas abdicates.
Mar–Nov
1917
Provisional Government (Kerensky)
November
1917
October Revolution (Bolsheviks)
1917–1924
Lenin in power
Civil War and War Communism
Kronstadt mutiny and the New Economic Policy
1924–1941
Stalin comes to power
Five Year Plans, Collectivisation and
Purges.
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Source A
The
coronation of Nicholas, 1896.
It was a bad omen when the Cross of St Andrew fell from his
cloak.
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1. The
Peasants loved the Tsar as ‘their father’, and revered him
as empowered from God – though this was shattered in St Petersburg in
1905, when the Cossacks
attacked a peaceful demonstration
(Bloody
Sunday).
2. The Romanov dynasty had ruled since 1613 – the
300th
celebrations saw a wave of popularity for the Tsar.
In 1905, there had been a revolution and
Nicholas was forced to accept a Duma
(parliament), but it had no power and the Tsar dismissed it
if it disagreed with him.
3. The church was powerful and supported
the Romanov government.
4. Government and the army were controlled by the nobles and supported
the government, which used the Cossacks to put down protests (eg Bloody
Sunday 1905)
5.
The secret police (Okhrana) and press censorship.
6. There were two parties in the Duma which supported
the Tsar:
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the 'Rights' (called by
Lenin 'the Black Hundreds') - deputies who so supported the Tsar that they
wanted to abolish the Duma and restore autocracy.
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the 'Octobrists'
- during the troubles of 1905, the Tsar and his chief minister Witte had
published the October Manifesto, which promised freedom of speech, no
imprisonment without trial, and a Duma to approve all laws.
The Octobrists were supporters of the Tsar who did not want to go so far
as to restore autocracy, but wanted him to keep to the October manifesto.
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Did
you Know?
The
head-quarters of the Okrana were in the St. Petersburg Ecclesiastical Academy, and
it was thus linked
with the Russian Orthodox Church.
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1. Russia had been humiliated in a
war with
Japan, 1904 (why?).
2. There were many nationalities, languages and religions (the only
unity was the Romanov dynasty).
3. Russia was vast – 125 million people spread across Europe and
Asia.
This made
government difficult, especially because of poor communications – bad
roads and few railways.
4. An out-of-date farming economy.
Most of the population were peasants who lived in the country and
are under the control of the nobles.
5. Russia was beginning to industrialise
(eg Trans-Siberian
railway, 1904).
Towns/
factories were starting to grow up.
But there was worker poverty and poor living conditions – which
created a large workforce, disaffected and concentrated in Petrograd, the
capital.
Also a small
wealthier middle class were beginning to want a say in the government.
6. Tsar
Nicholas was an autocrat –
Nicholas
carried out all the business of government alone, without even a
secretary, an impossible load
He
was a weak Tsar.
At
first he refused to compromise then, in the crisis of 1917, failed to act.
7. There was opposition to the government from:
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Did
you Know?
There were FOUR Dumas, 1905-17:
The first Duma
(May 1905) was dominated by the Kadets - Nicholas dismissed it in July
1905.
The second Duma
(February 1907) was dominated by the Social Revolutionaries - Nicholas
dismissed it in June 1907.
The third Duma
(November 1907) was dominated by the Octobrists and Rights
- it lasted its full term to 1912.
The fourth Duma
was also full of the
Tsar's supporters, although many turned against him during the First
World War - it lasted until 1917.
Source D
The workers have nothing to lose but their
chains. Workers of
the world, unite!
Karl
Marx, The Communist Manifesto
(1848).
Karl
Marx was the founder of Communism.
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Source B
The Russian monarchy before the First World
War was out-of-date. It ruled a huge area which - even with
all our modern technology and communications -
we would find virtually ungovernable even today.
Its Tsar was weak and indecisive. But it was underpinned by
the massive authority of the Church and of the nobles, and by 300 years
of unquestioning obedience by the Russian peasants.
These forces
were weakening as Russia moved into the modern world, but the proof that
they were still potent in 1913 is simply this: the Tsar was still
unchallenged on his throne.
Written by the modern historian John
D Clare (2005)
John D Clare is a teacher in a
secondary school in England.
Source C
[In 1905] Russia got a new constitution... A new, elected
parliament, the Duma, was established, and political
parties (such as the Octobrists) and trade unions
were legalized. Although the government was still not
responsible to the Duma, this reform seemed only a
matter of time, and the foundation seemed to have been
laid for a responsible and liberal opposition. Industry was booming, and the
government of Petr Stolypin (prime minister 1906-11)
made some reforms to remove the causes
of peasant discontent.
Hutchinson
Encyclopaedia (2000)
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Extra:
1. Find out
more
about:
a.
the war with Japan, 1904
b.
Bloody Sunday 1905
c. the 1905 revolution
d.
Karl Marx
e.
the Octobrists
2.
What do you think was the greatest
strength,
and what the greatest
weakness,
of the Russian monarchy before 1914?
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