Nicholas II

• 1891-92 famine killing 1/2 million people across 17 provinces with typhoid and cholera
• zemstva viewed as only group that provided relief from the famine
• zemstva calls for greater autonomy
• prince Lvov calls for a National Assembly
• people want a greater involvement in the government
• Nicholas calls them senseless dreams and pledges to continue with his fathers policies
• threats to the regime:

  • industrialisation and moderation while maintaining Russification and repression
  • increased urban population with high concentration in factories creating tensions and strikes
  • 57.8% literacy in 1897 greater capacity for politicisation
  • growth of middle class pressuring government exerting power beyond their size
• 1899 peak for strikes involving 100 000 people
• 1899 factory police force established stationed permanently outside the Putilov Industrial Works
• NII response to strikes is repression , arrests , imprisonment , exile conscription and execution
• Zubatov Trade Unions were a new initiative proposed by Sergei Zubatov , Head of Okhrana to convince striking work force things could improve in the current system. The unions were supervised and partially funded by the police and in 1901 there were three in Moscow. spread rapidly across the urban areas however came to an abrupt end in 1903 when a large strike was organised by the Trade Union
• 1891 student demonstrations were met with brutal reaction in the form of arrests and recruitment into the army which radicalised students
• 1900 recession caused falling wages and unemployment triggering industrial action. peasants returned to the rural areas with their new political ideas causing discontent in 1903-04 in the Years of the Red Cockerel where there were protests over exploitative rates on land and land withdrawal
• 18th May 1896 events at Khodyka Field set a bad omen for NII reign where 1400 were killed at a coronation celebration. The Tsar ignored the crush causing disillusion
• 9th Jan 1905 Bloody Sunday

  peaceful protest of 20 000 led by Father Gapon with economic demands. crowds held icons of the Tsar but troops fired in the Tsar's name who was not at the Winter Palace damaging his relationship with the population

  no longer regarded as Little Father
• 1904-05 Russo -Japanese War declared after damage caused in Port Arthur. Humiliating defeat despite thoughts that it would be a quick conflict. exposed decrepit state the Tsarist regime
• heavy losses 8 battleships, 4 crusaders, 4000 dead , 7000 captured
• by Sept 1905 with the Treaty of Portsmouth the masses are ready for reform
• October Manifesto promised civil liberties including freedom of speech, assembly and association. establishment of elected councils (Duma) which could propose laws and veto them if they didnt agree with the government. This gave people hope that change was possible
• Nicholas had to give way because he realised that without reform there would be revolution. He also wanted to avoid foreign intervention