Russia, 1905 to 1914

1. How did Tsar Nicholas II survive the 1905 Revolution?

Tsar Nicholas II survived the 1905 Revolution because his opponents were not united, there was no central leadership, he had been willing to compromis at the critical moment by issuing the October Maifesto, and most of the army remained loyal to him. Since his opponents were not united and the revolution occurred spontaneaously it was not organized enough to keep the revolution moving and powerful enough to overthrow the Tsar. Also, the October Manifesto was a quick way to stop the revolution because it promised to make concessions and the revolutionaries believed that Nicholas II would do this, even though in the end it didn't work out.

2. What was the Tsar's general attitude about the Dumas?

The general attitude of the Tsar about the Dumas was one of negligent. He didn't want the Dumas and didn't care if they didn't work or not. It took four times for a Duma to finally work. Each previous time he stopped their action because he thought that the peasants and others were getting too many rights, such as voting. Also, the Tsar purposefully made the landowners and middle class the majority when there was voting. Finally with the Fourth Duma it was able to last longer because it was more conservative and the Tsar had power of the ministers and the secret police.

3. What specific improvements occcured following the 1905 Revolution?

Some specific improvements that occurred following the 1905 Revolution were the speedy recovery of the government, redemption payments were abolished, and peasants were encouraged to buy their own land. The goverment was able to recover quickly and was still intact, which made it easier to govern and make faster changes. The redemption payments were abolished and peasants were encouraged to buy their own land, which helped to feed the country and the peasants were then against revolutions. There was a sense of comfortability for the peasants, which made them happy and not want to have a revolution.

4. Summarize the 5 major weaknesses of the Tsar's regime.

The first major weakness of the Tsar's regime was the failure of land reforms. Stolypin's, who abolished the redemptions, plan went terribly wrong because the peasants didn't have adequate equipment to sustain the country's living and they were running out of land. Second, there was industrial unrest because there was goldminers riot where 270 of the strikers were killed. This event set off thousands of other strikes for many years. Third, there was government repression, where the secret police would seek out revolutionaries, and the revolutionaries that were caught such as Hebrews were part of the majority of the nation. Therefore, the majority turned against the Tsar and wanted a revolution. Fourth, the revival of the revolutionary parties was a major weakness of the Tsar's regime. This is true because the new revolutionary groups were much more organized and united, which made it easier to start a revolution. Lastly, the royal family was discredited. Tsar Nicholas II was suspected of belonging to the same party that killed Stolypin, and his wife's association and relationship with Rasputin. The public greatly disliked Rasputin because he was always drunk and was known to be with a lot of ladies of the court, basically a bad reputation.