russia

• In 1905 Russia was a vast but backward country, with underdeveloped industry, poor and uneducated people, ruled by a Tsar with complete power, but over 40 years it transformed into a modern superpower
• New Tsar


  When Nicholas II was crowned in 1894, crowds flocked to St. Petersburg to cheer, many even crushed to death because people wanted to see him up close, he was called the "little father of Russia"
• 23 years later, Nicholas II was removed from power and his entire family imprisoned and held under armed guard in a lonely house in Ekaterinburg
• Many commentators predicted the collapse of the Tsar's rule way before 1917
• The Tsar's Empire


  Russia was a vast empire rather than a single country, the Tsar was the supreme Ruler, which was not an easy job
• Nationalities in the Tsar's Empire

  • Only 40% of the Tsar's subjects spoke Russian as their first language
  • Some subjects, like the Cossacks, were very loyal to the Tsar
  • Others, like the Finns and Poles, hated Russian rule
  • Jews often suffered racial prejudice and even attacks sponsored by the government
• Peasants on countryside


  • Around 80% of R. population peasant who lived in communes
  • Some prosperous farmers called kulaks, but living and working conditions for most peasants dreadful
  • Famine and starvation common, some regions life expectancy only 40
  • Much of Russia land unsuitable for farming -> land was in short supply cus by early 19000s population grew rapidly (50% increase 1860-1897)
  • Peasants still using ancient farming techniques
  • Most villages, land divided into large fields, each family was allotted a strip of land in one of the fields, subdivision organized by peasant councils called mir, when peasant had sons, family plot subdivided and shared between them
• No basic education, only few could read and write
• Many peasants still loyal to Tsar

  Partly because religious, priest would say how wonderful he was and ppl should be loyal to him
• Not all loyal or religious, many supported opposition; the Social revolutionaries
• Main discontent was over land- resented amount land owned by aristocracy, church, tsar
• What made ruling empire a constant challenge for the Tsar?

  • Diff nationalities
  • Big country
  • Weak infrastructure
  • Many borders with other countries
  • Tensions within country
  • Discontent as ppl wanted independence
  • Food and land shortages
• Peasants living conditions


  • Small wooden houses
  • Bad hygiene
  • Underdeveloped
  • Uneducated
  • Many fled to cities in hope for better conditions
• The aristocracy


  • Had vast estates, town and country houses, elegant lifestyle
  • Around 1,5% of society but owned 25% of land
  • Key part of Tsars government, often acting as local officials, in countryside they dominated local assemblies or zemstvo, loyal to Tsar and wanted to keep society as it was
  • Many of the richer aristocrats lived not in their estates but in glamorous cities, some landlords were in financial trouble and had to sell their lands
  • Their greatest fear: Peasants would rise up and take their land
• From later 19th Century, Tsars keen to see Russia become industrial power
• Senior Minister Sergei Witte introduced policies that led to rapid industrial growth
• Oil and coal production trebled, ion production quadrupled
• Some peasants left land to work in newly developing industries, but living conditions hardly improved
• Greatest concentrations of workers in capital St. Petersburg and Moscow


  • Population growing fast as peasants arrived looking for new way of life or earn extra cash before returning to harvest
  • Only short walk away from Tsars palace his subjects lived in filth and squalor
  • Overcrowding, terrible food, disease, alcoholism everyday facts, atrocious working conditions -> no government regulations on child labor, hours, safety, education, trade unions illegal
  • Low pay, 12–15-hour days, unguarded machinery, and brutal discipline
• Life in town equally as bad as countryside plus political oppression
• Middle class


  • Capitalists
  • Landowners
  • Industrialists
  • Bankers
  • Traders
  • Businessmen
• Until this time Russia only had small middle class that included ppl like shopkeepers, lawyers and uni lecturers
• Capitalists increased size of middle class, particularly in towns
• Main concerns management of economy, although capitalists also concerned about controlling their workforce, clashes btw workers and capitalists play important role in R. history in years up to 1917
• Tsar


  Huge empire ruled by autocracy, Tsar believed God had placed him in that position, Russian church supported that
• Tsar


  • Could appoint or sack ministers, make any decision without consulting anyone else
  • By early 20th Century most of great powers given ppl at least some say in how they were run, but Nicholas committed to idea of autocracy and obsessed with great past of his family, the Romanovs
• Tsar had many good qualities like loyalty to family, willingness working hard, attention to detail
• Tsar not as an able, forceful imaginative monarch like predecessors
• Tsar tended to avoid decision making, didn't delegate day to day tasks; in country as vast where tasks needed to be delegated to officials huge problem
• Tsar insisted on getting involved in tiniest detail of government
• Tsar managed his officials poorly, felt threatened by able and talented ministers such as Count Witte and Peter Stolypin, dismissed Witte and wanted to sack Stolypin but was murdered
• Tsar refused to chair Council of Ministers cus he disliked confrontation
• Tsar insisted seeing ministers in one to one meetings, encouraged rivalry between them -> caused chaos as diff governing departments refused to cooperate with each other
• Tsar also appointed family members and friends from the court to important positions, many incompetent and even corrupt, making fortunes from bribes
• Tsar wasn't honest (was nice to witte for two hours but then also sent him dismissal letters) and unpredictable, his actions and words don't match up, micromanager
• Subservient ones were v loyal tho, almost worshipping him
• Control


  • At local level most peasants controlled by mir, mir could be overrules by land captains (usually minor landlords appointed by Tsar as his officials in local areas)
  • Zemstvo or local assemblies also helped control R., were dominated by landlords in countryside and professional ppl in town
  • Also local governors appointed by Tsar from ranks of aristocracy
  • Some areas R. was police state controlled by local governors
  • Special emergency laws that allowed local governors: order police to arrest suspected opponents of regime, ban individuals from serving in zemstva, courts or any gov. organizations, make suspects pay heavy fines, introduce censorship
• Control (continued)


  • Local governors controlled police, police had special force with 10k officers that concentrate on political opponents of regime
  • Also Okhrana, Tsars secret police
  • If rebellion erupted army, particularly loyal to Tsar and terrifying Cossack regiments
• "third Russia under emergency legislation, number police and secret police growing, prisons overcrowded with convicts and political prisoners, religious persecutions of jews cruel, all cities have armed soldiers, autocracy outdated form of gov. that doesn't suit Russian ppl, that become increasingly aware of other cultures" -> shows weakness of regime, if it were strong it wouldn't need all this oppression and control, overfilled prisons always a bad sign, more awareness (foreshadowing)
• Opposition to the Tsar

  • Liberals/ "Cadets": middle class ppl wanted greater democracy, pointed to BG that had kind and powerful parliament
  • Socialist revolutionaries (SR's) were a radical movement, main aim: carve up huge estates of nobility and hand em to peasants, believed in violent struggle and responsible for assassination of two gov. officials, as well as murder or many Okhrana agents and spies, had wide support in towns and countryside
  • Social Democratic Party: smaller, more disciplines, followed ideas of Karl Marx, in 1903 party split into Bolsheviks (led by Lenin) and Mensheviks, Bolsheviks believed job of the t party to create revolution, Mensh. Believed Russia not ready for revolution, both organizations illegal, many exiled, murdered, leaders forced to live abroad