The Difficulties of Ruling Russia up to 1914 (Cambridge (CIE) IGCSE History)
Revision Note
What was Nicholas II Like as a Tsar? - Summary
Nicholas II became Tsar of Russia in 1897. His father, Alexander III, was the traditional Russian tsar. Alexander III was 6 foot 4 inches tall, patriotic and ruled Russia through violence and fear. Nicholas II never achieved his father’s approval. When his father became ill in 1897, Nicholas feared to succeed him. He stated:
"I am not prepared to be a tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling."
This statement summarises Nicholas II’s reign well. He attempted to copy his father’s style of autocratic rule without having Alexander’s natural abilities. Nicholas ignored his advisers yet showed indecision in key moments. He was a devout Russian Orthodox but resorted to repression to maintain control. Overall, Nicholas assumed that the divine right of kings would make his subjects obey him. His resistance to reform and the changing political environment of Russia weakened his position.
People close to Nicholas took advantage of his personality. Unlike many royal marriages, Nicholas and his wife, Alexandra, truly loved each other. Nicholas listened to Alexandra on key decisions rather than his trained advisers. Nicholas’ trust in Alexandra would contribute to his downfall. The couple’s relationship with Rasputin made this worse.
Geographical Difficulties
Tsar Nicholas ruled a vast empire 5,000 km wide
The Ural Mountains divided the empire
To the west of the Urals was the majority of Russia’s industry and population. Nicholas lived there in St Petersburg, the country’s capital city
To the east of the Urals was Siberia and disputed territory that bordered China. This was far away from Nicholas and had limited transport to West Russia
The empire contained a mixture of nationalities, languages and religion
Only 40% of the population was ethnic Russian
Communication and legal enforcement were challenging
Many nationalities like the Poles wanted their independence from the empire
The Russian Empire forced Jewish people to live in the Pale of Settlement
The Largest Nationalities in the Russian Empire
Nationality | Amount of people in millions in 1897 |
Russian | 55.6 |
Ukrainian | 22.4 |
Polish | 7.9 |
Jewish (defined by faith) | 5.0 |
Kirgiz/Kaisats | 4.0 |
Tartar | 3.4 |
Examiner Tip
Many other nationalities made up the Russian Empire. The exam is not testing you on knowing all of these. However, try to remember the core nationalities in the Russian Empire and how this would cause difficulties for the tsar.
Social Difficulties
Russia had a very challenging social structure
How Did Each Social Group Challenge the Stability of the Empire?
Social group | Challenges to the Russian Empire |
|---|---|
Peasants | Around 80% of the population were peasants. They were poorly educated. After the Emancipation Edict of 1861, peasants could buy land through the Peasant Land Bank. However, only a small number of peasants could do this. These were called kulaks. Many peasants hated kulaks. The empire relied on peasants as soldiers for the army |
Industrial workers | Less than 5% of the population worked in towns and cities. Russian cities had terrible living conditions. Workers lived in substandard housing with poor sanitation. Diseases spread rapidly, such as cholera. There was little that workers could do. The government had no laws for working hours, pay or conditions. Trade unions were illegal |
The bourgeoisie | Less than 2% of the population but a growing class in Russia. The bourgeoise consisted of industrialists and business owners. They had a lot of money but very little power |
Examiner Tip
Students often struggle to understand the hierarchy in Russian society. Students find it useful to compare it to medieval England, where a king ruled and many people were peasants. This is exactly the same as Russia in 1905.
Economic Difficulties
Russia experienced some development of their economy
Russia’s Finance Minister Sergei Witte caused the ‘Great Spurt’ of the 1890s
Russia began the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway
Production in heavy industry increased
The rouble became a gold-standard currency, which increased foreign trading
Witte increased foreign investment in Russian industry
Witte developed Russian infrastructure through building roads and telegraph lines
Russia’s new industrialisation had some impact on the economy
The economy continued to be backward
Russia’s economy relied on its agricultural output
Peasant farmers used medieval growing techniques that were not productive
Only parts of Russia had suitable conditions for arable farming, for example, European Russia
These places could experience famine, which would affect the economy and the empire’s food supply
Russia’s industry relied on ‘quantity over quality’
Despite investment, Russia’s industry was outdated and needed modernisation
What Did Russia Produce?
Annual production (in millions of tons) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Year | Coal | Pig iron | Grain |
1880 | 3.2 | 0.42 | 34 |
1890 | 5.9 | 0.89 | 36 |
1900 | 16.1 | 2.66 | 56 |
The table shows that Russia relied on its agriculture
Worked Example
Describe Russia’s economic problems at the beginning of the twentieth century
4 marks
Answer:
Russia relied on its agricultural output (1). Its industries were old-fashioned and needed modernisation (1). Peasants who grew crops used outdated methods of production, which were not efficient (1). Russia could experience economic issues if a part of the empire suffered from famine (1).
Examiner Tip
For a ‘Describe’ question, you should aim to complete the question in four minutes, one minute per point. This will give you one minute to read through your answer.
Political Difficulties
The Fundamental Laws of the Empire stated that:
The Emperor of all the Russias is an autocratic and unlimited monarch
In theory, the tsar had a government underneath him
The government had many weaknesses:
No government bodies had any real power
The tsar elected people to work in these bodies
Their role was only to advise or do administrative tasks
There was no elected parliament or duma
The tsar did not believe his people should have the right to vote
The upper classes believed that the majority of Russians were uneducated and uncivilised
Tsarina Alexandra stated that the Russian people should be :
Under the whip
Political parties existed but were not recognised by the tsar
Political Parties before 1905
Left | Centre | Right |
|---|---|---|
Narodniks (‘Populists’) - Wanted peasants to lead the way in reforming Russia. Their policy to ‘go to the people’ by visiting peasants had little success. The terrorist section known as ‘The People’s Will’ assassinated Tsar Alexander II in 1881 | The growing middle classes of businessmen and industrialists developed liberal ideas. They wanted reform but did not want to destroy tsarism. Political groups developed after 1905 | There was a variety of right-wing nationalist parties in the Russian Empire. An example of this is the Union of the Russian People. They were strongly nationalist and supported the tsar |
The Social Revolutionaries (SRs) - Developed from the Populist Movement in 1901 by Victor Chernov. They wanted to give the urban working classes more power. The SR split into Left and Right, with the Left committing terrorist attacks | ||
The Social Democrats (SDs) - Formed in 1898 as a Marxist group. They wanted the people to overthrow the tsar. In 1903, the SD split into two. The Mensheviks (‘Minority’) were led by Martov and the Bolsheviks (‘Majority’) were led by Lenin |
Many mirs had a zemstvo (or zemstva in plural)
They were rural councils
The people elected their representatives
This was not democratic as a landowner’s vote was worth more than a peasant’s
The zemstvo had responsibilities for:
Education
Medical services
Public welfare
Food supplies
Maintaining roads
Government officials initially liked the idea of zemstva as they believed that:
It would control the rural population in mirs
It could collect taxes
By 1905, zemstva began to demand constitutional reform
Many members of the zemstva were middle and upper classes who wanted the right to vote
Examiner Tip
The zemstva and the mir are two different institutions. An important, usually religious, leader would oversee the mir. They would settle land disputes and decide if a peasant could leave the mir. However, when more places developed zemstva, the mir’s power declined. The zemstva were more organised and held power and wealth from its middle class representatives.
Rise in Extremism
What is Marxism?
Karl Marx was a German philosopher
He and Friedrich Engels developed the theory of Communism through the books
The Communist Manifesto (1848)
The political and social viewpoint of Communism
Das Kapital (1867)
The economic viewpoint of Communism
Marxism believed that all countries moved through five ‘stages of history’
Examiner Tip
Don’t confuse Communism with socialism. They share similar features and are both leftist beliefs. However, socialism has established classes, permits belief in religion and allows individuals to own their own property. True Communism has no government, no religion and no classes.
Growth of Marxism in the Russian Empire
Plekhanov translated Marx’s books into Russian in 1883
By the 1890s, the growth of industrialisation led to the development of:
Workers’ organisations
Illegal trade unions
Marxist discussion circles - like the Tchaikovsky Circle
These spread Marxist ideas more widely around the Russian Empire
The two key Marxist political parties in Russia were
The Mensheviks
The Bolsheviks
How did the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks differ in their view of Marxism?
Mensheviks | Bolsheviks |
Russia was not ready for a proletariat revolution. According to Marx, a revolution from the bourgeoisie had to occur first | Both the proletariat and bourgeoisie revolutions could happen together to ‘fast-forward’ to Communism |
How did the tsar fight against extremism?
Censorship
The government censored all forms of the arts, including Marx’s works
The Okhrana
The secret police in Tsarist Russia
The Okhrana had powers to:
Investigate Communists, socialists and trade unionists
Watch members of the government
Arrest and torture suspects
Exile political prisoners to Siberia
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