Russia GCSE 🪆

• Subject nationalities


  More than 20 different peoples or ethnic groups that made up the Russian Empire, for whom Russian was a foreign language
• Russian Empire


  • Difficult to rule
  • Made up of more than 20 different peoples or ethnic groups
  • For six people out of every ten, Russian was a foreign language
• Russification


  Policy of making non-Russians speak Russian, wear Russian clothes and follow Russian customs
• In the area of present-day Poland, it was forbidden to teach children in Polish
• Russians were often given the important jobs in non-Russian areas
• Autocracy


  All the power in the hands of the tsar
• The tsar believed he had a divine right to rule, as God had chosen him
• The tsar could do whatever he liked without having to consult his people
• The only parliament was the Duma, which had very little power
• Orthodox Church


  Closely linked to the tsar and supported his way of ruling, teaching that the tsar was God's chosen representative on earth
• Tsar's council of ministers


  • Could not make important decisions
  • Thousands of civil servants who carried out the day-to-day work of government, often poorly paid which encouraged bribery and corruption
• Russian people


  • Had little freedom
  • All unions of workers and strikes were forbidden
  • Newspapers and books were censored by the government
• Okhrana


  The tsar's secret police, used spies and agents to root out anyone against the tsar and his system of government
• Leo Tolstoy: 'A third of the whole of Russia lives under police surveillance. The army of the police, both regular and secret, is continually growing in numbers. The prisons are overcrowded with thousands of convicts and political prisoners. Censorship has reached its highest level since the 1860s. In all cities soldiers are equipped with live ammunition to be sent out against the people.'
• Nicholas II


  • Reluctant to become tsar
  • Ignorant of the nature and extent of opposition to tsarist rule
  • Refused to share power
  • Devoted husband and father, but not particularly happy
  • His son Alexis suffered from an incurable blood disease
• Nicholas II: 'What is going to happen to me? I am not prepared to be tsar, never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling. I have no idea of even how to talk to ministers.'
• Nicholas II insisted on governing as an autocrat, believing he and his wife had been chosen by God to rule and that no one had the right to challenge them
• Grand Duchess Olga: 'He had intelligence but lacked courage and was ignorant about governmental affairs. He had not been taught statesmanship and was not a statesman.'
• Most of the population-85 per cent-lived in the countryside. Russian agriculture, however, was poor.
• Extensive tundra, forest and desert meant only about five per cent of the land, mainly in the south-west, was used for farming.
• In most villages the land was divided into three large fields. Each household had strips in each of these fields. This scattered strip farming system encouraged subsistence farming using primitive hand tools.
• These old-fashioned farming methods resulted in low food production and frequent famines, such as the one in 1892.
• Even though Russia was rich in oil and minerals, industrialisation did not happen until the end of the nineteenth century (much later than some other European countries, such as Britain and Germany).
• Considering Russia's size and resources, its manufacturing output was still very low at the beginning of the twentieth century.
• Its size and undeveloped system of roads and railways, together with the absence of an effective banking system, all restricted the growth of industry.
• By the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Russia had experienced a rapid growth in industry due to an increase in the output of coal in the Ukraine, an increase in the output of oil in the Caucasus, and deliberate government policy.
• One of the tsar's ministers, Count Sergei Witte (Minister of Finance, 1893-1903), set himself the huge task of modernising the Russian economy. He invited foreign experts and workers to advise on industrial planning and techniques. His reforms did stimulate industrial growth.
• Rapid industrial growth would in turn lead to poor living and working conditions for workers, causing discontent.
• Russian society was divided into various classes or groups. The vast majority of the people were poor peasants, while at the other end of the scale, at the top, were the tsar, the aristocracy and the higher clergy (the Church leaders who owned large amounts of land).
• The aristocracy made up just over one per cent of the population and yet they owned almost one-quarter of all the land. Some were extremely rich, with lavish homes in the countryside, a second home in a town or city, and many servants.
• By 1914, Russia had a growing middle class due to the development of industry. This included bankers, merchants and factory owners. Many made fortunes from government contracts and loans and had a very pleasure lifestyle, eating out at expensive restaurants and frequently going to the theatre or ballet.
• The biggest, and possibly poorest group were the peasants. They made up nearly four of every five Russian people in the years before 1917. Far east, life was very hard. They lived in very poor conditions and subsisted on a simple diet of rye bread, porridge and cabbage soup. When the harvests were poor, there was starvation and disease.
• The peasants had a life expectancy of less than 40 years, with many dying from typhus and diphtheria.
• The final and most rapidly increasing group were the town workers. Many were former peasants who had fled the countryside. Their conditions were described as appalling. They lived in overcrowded slums next to the factories and slept in filthy, cramped dormitories. They earned low wages, worked long hours and were forbidden to form trade unions.
• On Sunday 22 January 1905, Father Gapen led a peaceful march of around 200,000 people to the tsar's Winter Palace in St Petersburg. The marchers were petitioning for better working conditions. However, the tsar was safe in his palace and the soldiers panicked. They fired on the crowd, killing hundreds and wounding thousands. This event became known as 'Bloody Sunday'.
• Bloody Sunday, together with discontent over the defeat of Russia in the war with Japan (1904-05), sparked revolution in Russia in February 1905. There were strikes and a mutiny in the navy.
• In order to avoid further chaos, Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto, which promised freedom of speech, an end to censorship and a national parliament.
• After the 1905 Revolution, Nicholas appointed Peter Stolypin as prime minister. Stolypin did introduce certain reforms, especially of agriculture and education. However, those who openly opposed the tsar were dealt with severely. There were more than 3,000 executions during Stolypin's time as prime minister-and the gallows became known as Stolypin's necktie.
• In the years after 1905, Nicholas ensured that the duma he had been forced to create had little power. After the election of the first duma in 1906, he declared that he had the power to dissolve it, and to change the rules by which it was elected, whenever he liked. There were four different dumas in the years 1906-14. Nicholas had gone against the promises made in his October Manifesto, refusing to share power and continuing to rule like an autocrat.
• After 1907, Nicholas and his wife, Alexandra, came to rely on the help and guidance of a holy man named Gregory Rasputin. Rasputin had the ability to control the life-threatening illness of the tsar's son Alexei, who suffered from haemophilia. Alexandra and Nicholas called Rasputin 'Our Friend' and his position and power at court grew so much that he eventually helped to choose government ministers.