3. Nicholas II, 1894-1917

• When did Nicholas II reign from and to?

  1894-1917
• How did the railway network increase under Nicholas II?

  In 1881, there was 21,000km of track, compared to 31,000 in 1891, 53,000km in 1900, and 70,000 in 1913.
• What was the impact of the Trans-Siberian railway?

  It provided easier access to raw materials, opened up sparsely populated areas, linked together the people of the empire more closely, and allowed the rapid deployment of troops.
• What percentage of government expenditure was directed to the economy under Witte?

  70%
• How did industry develop under Nicholas II?

  Answers:

  • The textile industry developed rapidly around St Petersburg.
  • Essential raw materials (such as coal and iron) were mined.
  • The oilfields around Baku were expanded.
  • Banks and financial institutions grew.
  • Specialist schools and polytechnics were formed to provide the skilled personnel required.
• What foreign agreement took place in 1894?

  France and Russia formed an agreement which provided Russia with French loans, capital, and expertise.
• What were the social impacts of Witte's economic policies?

  Answers:

  • Workers were denied the right to insurance and only got a few roubles' compensation. Inspectorates, charged with ensuring that the factories complied with the regulations, lacked effective powers, and employers ignored them.
• What were the social impacts of Witte's economic policies (card two)?

  Answers:

  • Russia depended on cheap labourers from the countryside and was reluctant to better workers through factory legislation.
  • 90% of Russia's industrial workers were peasants who returned to their villages. In 1910, 10% of St Petersburg's population deserted the city at harvest time to return to the villages.
• What were the social impacts of Witte's economic policies (card three)?

  Answers:

  • Russia exported more than it imported so that enough money could be accumulated to pay for the foreign loans which were so essential to the programme of industrialisation. One key commodity was grain, which was exported massively from Odessa. In 1897, famine returned and stayed until 1899, yet exports of grain continued.
  • Shopfloors were full of dangerous machinery.
• What were the social impacts of Witte's economic policies (card four)?

  Answers:

  • The domestic water supply in St Petersburg was a breeding ground for typhus and cholera. The death rate in St Petersburg was the highest of any European capital. In the workers' districts, fewer than one in three apartments had a toilet or running water.
• What were features of the Russian economic depression in the early 1900s?

  Answers:

  • Wages fell and unemployment rose.
  • In the Donbass region, only 23 out of 35 blast furnaces were working and mines were closing.
  • There was a slump in the oil industry.
  • The railway industry was hit and the metal working industry suffered from a decline in government orders.
  • There was a poor harvest in 1901.
• When were the Social Revolutionaries founded?

  1901
• When was the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party founded?

  1898
• When did the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party split?

  1903
• What divisions did the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party split into?

  The Mensheviks and Bolsheviks.
• When was the Russo-Japanese War?

  1904-1905
• When was the Battle of Yalu?

  April 1904
• How many casualties did Russia suffer in the Battle of Yalu?

  2000
• When did Port Arthur fall to the Japanese?

  2nd January 1905
• How many casualties did Russia suffer in the Japanese takeover of Port Arthur?

  17,000
• How many casualties did Russia suffer when they were driven out of Mukden?

  90,000
• What took place at the defeat of Russia's Baltic Fleet?

  Answers:

  • Took place in Tsushima in May 1905.
  • They had previously sailed for 7 months around Europe, Africa, and Asia.
  • 20 Russian ships were sunk and 5 were captured.
  • Only 4 Russian ships made it to the safety of Vladivostok.
• When was the Treaty of Portsmouth signed?

  August 1905
• Who negotiated the Treaty of Portsmouth for Russia?

  Sergei Witte
• What did the Treaty of Portsmouth state?

  Answers:

  • Russia had to withdraw all troops from Manchuria.
  • Russia had to cede Port Arthur and control of Korea to Japan.
  • Russia were allowed to keep control of the Chinese Eastern Railway, but the South Manchurian Railway went to Japan.
• What were the domestic consequences of the Russo-Japanese War?

  Answers:

  • The Tsarist government was discredited and so gave an impetus to those who opposed him. Even the aristocracy joined in the criticism, as did leading industrialists such as Guchkov, who argued the army had not been properly equipped.
  • The war intensified the economic slump that had led to the strikes of 1902/1903, and strikes increased in 1904.
  • In July 1904, the Minister of the Interior, Plehve, was assassinated, amongst public indifference.
• What were the domestic consequences of the Russo-Japanese War (card two)?

  Opponents organised a conference in Paris condemning the Tsar, with the intelligentsia supporting political change. From the 6th November 1905- 9th November 1905, there was a meeting of zemstvo representatives, which was the first national representative assembly. They passed a series of resolutions calling for political reform and presented it to the new Minister of Interior, Mirsky. The Tsar rejected these demands on the 14th December 1905 when he stated 'I will never agree to the representative form of government'.
• When did strikes take place at the Putilov Iron Works?

  December 1904
• How did the number of workers on strike change in December 1904?

  Increased from 12,000 to over 100,000 after the defeat at Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War.
• When was Bloody Sunday?

  9th January 1905
• What took place on Bloody Sunday?

  Answers:

  • There was a procession of workers on the Tsar's Winter Palace in St Petersburg led by Father Gapon.
  • Despite it being a peaceful march, they are greeted by armed Cossacks.
  • By the end of the day, 200 people had been killed and 800 injured.
• How many workers went on strike in January 1905?

  40,000, with peasants organising rent strikes and trespassing on gentry lands by destroying trees and crops.
• When was Grand Duke Sergei assassinated?

  February 1905
• What took place in regards to the zemstvas in April-May 1905?

  Answers:

  • They held a second national congress and called for a Constituent Assembly to decide on a new form of government.
  • Professional unions were dominated by middle class liberals formed themselves into the 'Union of Unions', which was a call for an alliance of all groups who opposed the Tsar to unite and fight for a new constitution.
• When did the Potemkin mutiny take place?

  June 1905
• What took place in the Potemkin mutiny?

  Answers:

  • The crew mutinied against their officers after a crew member who protested about rotten meat was shot.
  • Several officers were murdered.
  • The ship set anchor at Odessa.
  • Huge crowds attended to show their support.
  • Troops were sent to quell supporters of the mutiny, with 2000 being killed and 3000 injured.
  • The ship sailed to Romania where its sailors sought sanctuary.
• When did peasant revolts take place during 1905?

  July 1905
• What took place during the peasants revolts during July 1905?

  Answers:

  • Peasants attacked gentry manors, set fire to houses and crops, deliberately destroy works of art, and antique furniture.
  • 3000 manors were destroyed.
  • Peasant unions formed and demanded political change, land to the landless, universal suffrage, and education.
  • Some groups set up their own 'republics' and ignore Tsarist rule.
• When did Russia begin its general strike?

  October 1905
• What took place in Moscow and St Petersburg in October 1905?

  Workers formed selves into elected councils (Soviets) to demand better working conditions. St Petersburg Soviet, led by Trotsky, influential in organising working protest and in publishing its own newspaper 'Izvestiia'.