Hylton Harvey
Tsarist rule in 1905: Reasons for discontent
Peasants, 85% of population, lived in poverty. Famine was banned from newspapers after 1901.
Nationalities, 56% of population, wanted independence from Russian oppression.
Proletariat had terrible living and working conditions, low pay and high unemployment.
Middle classes were mainly moderate liberals who wanted a constitution without bloody revolution.
Radicals of SRs assassinated Alexander II in 1881. RSDP, 1898, contained Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
Police State prevented freedom of speech. Many exiled to Siberia. Lenin’s brother was executed.
Russia had been humiliated by Japan in the Russo-Japanese war, 1904-05, people blame Tsarism.
Bloody Sunday, 9th January 1905, killed 100 protestors. Protestors peacefully marched with a petition
from 150,000 workers for an 8-hour working day. Cossacks attacked with whips and swords.
The Potemkin Mutiny took place on 14th June 1905. The quartermaster was socialist Matyushenko.
Officers threatened to shoot sailors who refused to eat maggot-filled meat. The executive officer was
thrown overboard and shot. They sailed to Odessa, where riots were put down, killing 1,000.
Many peasants killed landlords and their families. 3000 manor houses were burned down, 1905-07.
400,000 workers on strike in January 1905. General strike, 20 th September – 2nd October 1905.
St Petersburg Soviet, Sep – Dec 1905, shut down by government but gave idea of workers revolution.
October Manifesto promised civil liberties, a Duma, and all new laws must be approved by Duma.
This appeased the middle classes but did little to help workers and peasants.
Most of the army stayed loyal so the Tsar could use them to repress strikes, unrest and mutinies.
Stolypin gave total control of law and order to army. Thousands were executed, 1906-07.
The fundamental laws of April 1906, returned full autocracy to the Tsar.
The first Duma was strongly anti-government. It was too radical and was dissolved after 10 weeks.
The second Duma was 222/443 socialist. Stolypin realised the threat and dissolved it after 4 months.
Election rules were changed in June 1907. Third Duma was 287/443 conservatives.
The Fourth Duma was highly conservative. Third Duma lasted full five years. Fourth until Feb 1917.
Stolypin’s land reform was a ‘wager on the strong’. It allowed peasants to leave communes to have
their own land. He encouraged migration to Siberia. 1905-07, 3.5 million peasants migrated. Only
14% of peasants took this opportunity and it failed to prevent unrest. This exploded in 1917.
A year after Stolypin’s assassination, in 1912, there was a massacre of strikers at the Lena Goldfields
in Siberia. 200-500 workers were killed with hundreds more being wounded. This caused more than
2,000 strikes in 1912 compared to a few hundred in 1911, due to obsessive cruelty from the Tsar.
, Hylton Harvey
Opposition to Tsarist Rule, 1914-17
Upon joining WW1, due to their alliance with Serbia, Tsarism initially felt a great patriotic boost.
This died in August 1914; the German railways defeated Russia at Tannenburg, losing 122,000 men.
By the end of 1915, Russia was in retreat, having lost 2 million men and three provinces.
1/3 of the army had no rifle. There were shortages on food, artillery and ammunition.
The government spent 17 billion roubles on WW1. 15 times more than the Japanese war.
A prohibition cut tax receipts by 25%, meaning they had to take loans.
Germany captured some of the most important industrial zones including modern-day Poland.
Over 15 million men were sent to war. 1915, 500 factories closed down without enough workers.
The government printed money, causing inflation, meaning prices went up and savings vanished.
Working classes couldn’t pay rising food prices and middle classes lost life savings.
By 1916, there were double the women than men in the countryside due to conscription.
In the first three months of the war, 150,000 workers lost their jobs due to lack of resources.
When Nicholas left to command the army in August 1915, he left the Tsarina as his regent.
She was obsessed with a Siberian peasant-monk, called Rasputin, who helped with Alexis’
haemophilia. She was also German and overly dedicated to autocracy, refusing to deal with Dumas.
When Rasputin was killed in December 1916, Alexandra mourned but there was public joy.
On 23rd February, there was an international women’s day march, with thousands of women.
From 23rd-25th February, a quarter of a million people marched in Petrograd due to mild weather.
On 26th February, police fired on protestors, killing 50 in a second Bloody Sunday.
Soldiers of the Pavlovsky regiment revolted. They seized Petrograd’s weapon store of 40,000 rifles
and 30,000 revolvers. 150,000 soldiers joined the 250,000 workers in protest.
Nicholas had no chance of fighting a force of 400,000 with police and couldn’t bring in more army.
On 2nd March, Nicholas abdicated for his brother, who declined. Spring 1917, Russia was a republic.
This created a power vacuum and lots of soviets, including the Petrograd soviet were re-formed.
12 Duma representatives set up a provisional government with the like Prince Lvov as leader, this
was a temporary measure until elections could be held in 6 months.
They struggled to rule the country due to the collapse of police and countryside authorities.
Tsarist rule in 1905: Reasons for discontent
Peasants, 85% of population, lived in poverty. Famine was banned from newspapers after 1901.
Nationalities, 56% of population, wanted independence from Russian oppression.
Proletariat had terrible living and working conditions, low pay and high unemployment.
Middle classes were mainly moderate liberals who wanted a constitution without bloody revolution.
Radicals of SRs assassinated Alexander II in 1881. RSDP, 1898, contained Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.
Police State prevented freedom of speech. Many exiled to Siberia. Lenin’s brother was executed.
Russia had been humiliated by Japan in the Russo-Japanese war, 1904-05, people blame Tsarism.
Bloody Sunday, 9th January 1905, killed 100 protestors. Protestors peacefully marched with a petition
from 150,000 workers for an 8-hour working day. Cossacks attacked with whips and swords.
The Potemkin Mutiny took place on 14th June 1905. The quartermaster was socialist Matyushenko.
Officers threatened to shoot sailors who refused to eat maggot-filled meat. The executive officer was
thrown overboard and shot. They sailed to Odessa, where riots were put down, killing 1,000.
Many peasants killed landlords and their families. 3000 manor houses were burned down, 1905-07.
400,000 workers on strike in January 1905. General strike, 20 th September – 2nd October 1905.
St Petersburg Soviet, Sep – Dec 1905, shut down by government but gave idea of workers revolution.
October Manifesto promised civil liberties, a Duma, and all new laws must be approved by Duma.
This appeased the middle classes but did little to help workers and peasants.
Most of the army stayed loyal so the Tsar could use them to repress strikes, unrest and mutinies.
Stolypin gave total control of law and order to army. Thousands were executed, 1906-07.
The fundamental laws of April 1906, returned full autocracy to the Tsar.
The first Duma was strongly anti-government. It was too radical and was dissolved after 10 weeks.
The second Duma was 222/443 socialist. Stolypin realised the threat and dissolved it after 4 months.
Election rules were changed in June 1907. Third Duma was 287/443 conservatives.
The Fourth Duma was highly conservative. Third Duma lasted full five years. Fourth until Feb 1917.
Stolypin’s land reform was a ‘wager on the strong’. It allowed peasants to leave communes to have
their own land. He encouraged migration to Siberia. 1905-07, 3.5 million peasants migrated. Only
14% of peasants took this opportunity and it failed to prevent unrest. This exploded in 1917.
A year after Stolypin’s assassination, in 1912, there was a massacre of strikers at the Lena Goldfields
in Siberia. 200-500 workers were killed with hundreds more being wounded. This caused more than
2,000 strikes in 1912 compared to a few hundred in 1911, due to obsessive cruelty from the Tsar.
, Hylton Harvey
Opposition to Tsarist Rule, 1914-17
Upon joining WW1, due to their alliance with Serbia, Tsarism initially felt a great patriotic boost.
This died in August 1914; the German railways defeated Russia at Tannenburg, losing 122,000 men.
By the end of 1915, Russia was in retreat, having lost 2 million men and three provinces.
1/3 of the army had no rifle. There were shortages on food, artillery and ammunition.
The government spent 17 billion roubles on WW1. 15 times more than the Japanese war.
A prohibition cut tax receipts by 25%, meaning they had to take loans.
Germany captured some of the most important industrial zones including modern-day Poland.
Over 15 million men were sent to war. 1915, 500 factories closed down without enough workers.
The government printed money, causing inflation, meaning prices went up and savings vanished.
Working classes couldn’t pay rising food prices and middle classes lost life savings.
By 1916, there were double the women than men in the countryside due to conscription.
In the first three months of the war, 150,000 workers lost their jobs due to lack of resources.
When Nicholas left to command the army in August 1915, he left the Tsarina as his regent.
She was obsessed with a Siberian peasant-monk, called Rasputin, who helped with Alexis’
haemophilia. She was also German and overly dedicated to autocracy, refusing to deal with Dumas.
When Rasputin was killed in December 1916, Alexandra mourned but there was public joy.
On 23rd February, there was an international women’s day march, with thousands of women.
From 23rd-25th February, a quarter of a million people marched in Petrograd due to mild weather.
On 26th February, police fired on protestors, killing 50 in a second Bloody Sunday.
Soldiers of the Pavlovsky regiment revolted. They seized Petrograd’s weapon store of 40,000 rifles
and 30,000 revolvers. 150,000 soldiers joined the 250,000 workers in protest.
Nicholas had no chance of fighting a force of 400,000 with police and couldn’t bring in more army.
On 2nd March, Nicholas abdicated for his brother, who declined. Spring 1917, Russia was a republic.
This created a power vacuum and lots of soviets, including the Petrograd soviet were re-formed.
12 Duma representatives set up a provisional government with the like Prince Lvov as leader, this
was a temporary measure until elections could be held in 6 months.
They struggled to rule the country due to the collapse of police and countryside authorities.
