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Book No. – 52 (History)
Book Name – Modern World History (Norman Lowe)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. RUSSIA UNDER TSAR NICHOLAS II
1.1. Economic Growth
1.2. Life in the countryside
1.3. Political unrest
1.4. War with Japan – 1904-5
2. BLOODY SUNDAY AND THE 1905 REVOLUTION
3. HISTORIOGRAPHY OF NICHOLAS II
4. THE TSAR’S MINISTERS
4.1. Sergei Witte (1849-1915)
4.2. Peter Arkadyevich Stolypin (1862-1911)
5. THE DUMA: 1906-17
5.1. The first Duma: April-July 1906
5.2. Stolypin and the dissolution of the first Duma
5.3. The second Duma: February 1907-June 1907
5.4. The third Duma: 1907-12
5.5. The fourth Duma: 1912-17
6. RASPUTIN
7. RUSSIA AT WAR: 1914-17
8. THE FEBRUARY REVOLUTION
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LANGUAGE
Russia and the Revolutions, 1900-24
Russian Revolution
Chapter – 16
Table of Contents
- Nicholas II became tsar in 1894, continuing the Romanov family tradition since 1613.
- Centuries of continuity soon disintegrated into years of war, revolution, and ultimately abdication.
- The first major sign of trouble was the military reverse against Japan (1904–5).
- This military failure was followed by the domestic revolution of 1905–6.
- Nicholas II survived these setbacks but opposed genuine political reform.
- Great War (August 1914) seen by the tsar as an opportunity to unite the nation against external enemies.
- Initially, it appeared to unite the people, but by 1916, the costs of war became apparent.
- Beyond sacrifices at the front line, there were food shortages and demonstrations on the home front.
- Tsar’s instinct was to preserve the autocracy through repression.
- By early 1917, even Nicholas realized he had lost the support of the ruling elite, army leadership, and the rank and file.
- Nicholas agreed to abdicate in February/March 1917, initially feeling relief from the responsibilities.
- The provisional government that replaced the Romanovs was overthrown by Lenin’s Bolshevik Party in October/November 1917.
- The tsar and his family were in mortal danger after the Bolshevik revolution.
RUSSIA UNDER TSAR NICHOLAS II
- As the 20th century began, the Romanov banner of the Double-Headed Eagle flew across one-sixth of the earth’s land surface.
- The population of Russia in 1917 was 163 million, covering territories from the Baltic to the Black Sea, from Polandto the Pacific.
- The empire was diverse, spanning Siberia, Armenia, Central Asia, the Ukraine, Caucasus, Poland, Riga, and Samarkand.
- The empire had 104 nationalities and 146 languages, with only 40% of the population being ethnic Russian.
- Nicholas II ruled over this vast empire as tsar of all the Russias, Grand Duke of Poland and Finland.
- Orlando Figes described the Romanov dynasty as presenting a brilliant image of monarchical power and opulence.
- The vastness and diversity of the empire also posed a weakness rather than a strength.
- Nicholas II became tsar in 1894, and his personal authority seemed secure, with a standing army of 1 million men and a repressive secret police network.
- The tsar ruled over a highly authoritarian and centralized police state.
- Political parties were outlawed, and radical opponents faced arrest, imprisonment, or exile.
- Peasant loyalty to the tsar, or “Little Father,” was intense.
- The tsar wielded absolute autocratic authority but combined it with a degree of paternalism.
- Early legislation could be overruled by an oral instruction from the tsar.
- In March 1881, Tsar Alexander II, Nicholas’s grandfather, was assassinated by political revolutionaries despite showing a capacity for reform.
- Alexander III, Nicholas’s father, responded with increased repression and was influenced by Konstantin Pobedonostev, who advocated for autocracy, religious orthodoxy, and anti-Semitism.
- In 1894, Alexander III died of kidney disease, passing the throne to Nicholas II at the age of 26.
- Nicholas II was ill-equipped for the role, lacking the temperament and intellectual capacity to handle the demands of the throne.
- One observer noted that Nicholas changed his mind with terrifying speed.
- Nicholas’s own reflection: “When my father died, I was simply the commander of the escort squadron of the Hussars.”
- His coronation in 1896 at Khodynka Field attracted a crowd of half a million, but the poorly chosen venue led to a stampede that killed hundreds.
- Regional governors held significant authority but could be dismissed by the tsar.
- In 1895, when provincial councils suggested extending representative institutions, Nicholas dismissed this as “senseless dreams.”
- Nicholas II declared his commitment to upholding the principle of autocracy.
- Figes’ analysis: Nicholas’s failure was not due to a weakness of will, but a determination to rule despite lacking the necessary qualities.
- Robert Service described Nicholas’s personality as modest, inadequate, and rigid.
- Nicholas had an ascetic lifestyle, preferring simple Russian food and disdaining luxury.
- Despite his simple nature, Nicholas was often outspoken in his anti-Semitism and neglected important state matters.
- He did not have a private secretary and often became absorbed in trivial matters.
Economic Growth
- By the end of the 19th century, Nicholas II appeared to oppose political reform, while the Russian economy seemed initially more progressive.
- Alexander III’s economic legacy seemed strong, with relative domestic stability supported by economic growth, partly due to French investment.
- The Trans-Siberian railway, begun in the early 1890s, symbolized Russia’s ambition and growth capacity.
- Modern production methods emerged in industries like rail, iron, steel, silk, and chemicals, with Moscow and St. Petersburg growing as industrial centers.
- However, the overall economic situation was more complicated: massive investment was needed in the countryside, and the state’s finances were in disarray.
- Urban poverty was widespread, and for the average Russian citizen, the costs of industrial growth were more visible than the benefits.
- In St. Petersburg, rapidly expanding textile factories prioritized profit over worker welfare.
- Factory conditions were harsh: dangerous machinery, noxious fumes, poor ventilation, and a constant risk of fire.
- Textile workers in the 1890s worked 12-14 hours daily for low pay (around 12 roubles a month) and endured brutal discipline and fines.
- Larger factories offered company housing in grim barracks.
- The contrast between factory conditions and the opulence of the tsar’s palaces was stark.
- Strike action became more widespread, peaking in 1899 with 97,000 participants.
- Despite illegal trade unions and intense police scrutiny, industrial action was on the rise, reflecting growing grievances among the people.
- In 1896, a series of strikes in St. Petersburg textile mills saw increased militancy from female factory workers, a sign of things to come in 1917.
Life in the countryside
- By the end of the 19th century, about 80% of Russia’s population were peasant farmers.
- Peasants lived in as many as three-quarters of a million rural settlements and rarely moved from their villages.
- Nearly 70% of the peasants were illiterate, though this was improving.
- The average life expectancy was under 40, and the peasants had primitive equipment, harsh weather, and limited investment.
- Subsistence farming had changed little over hundreds of years.
- Peasants rarely owned land; instead, land was controlled by communes (obschina), which allocated strips and levied taxes.
- Land Captains, locally appointed officials, were responsible for discipline and used corporal punishment until 1904.
- Serious breaches of communal law could result in exile to Siberia.
- A famine hit the Volga region, causing an estimated 400,000 deaths.
- 64% of peasants called up for military service in 1890 were judged unfit due to poor health.
- The peasants’ demand for more food and land went largely unheard.
- Despite hardships, many peasants still held a religious faith in the tsar, viewing him as a god on earth.
- When the tsar visited peasant villages, he was traditionally welcomed with bread and salt.
- Beneath these traditions, fundamental pressure for social change was building.
Political unrest
- In 1902, troops were deployed to quell significant street demonstrations in Rostov-on-Don.
- In the early 20th century, arson attacks targeting aristocratic manor houses became more common.
- Violence towards the rich was accompanied by a sustained programme of assassinations targeting the ruling elite.
- In March 1898, nine revolutionaries formed the Russian Social-Democratic Worker’s Party in Minsk, a development that would ultimately challenge the tsarist regime.
- By 1900, 100 political murders had been committed in imperial Russia.
- A high-profile example was the assassination of education minister Sipyagin by members of the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs) in April 1902.
- The tsar’s response to these radical developments was repression.
- After Sipyagin’s assassination, Tsar Nicholas II told his interior minister, Vyacheslav von Plehve, “it’s time to crack down.”
- Plehve turned the Okhrana into the world’s most sophisticated secret police.
- The Okhrana used advanced techniques of surveillance, fingerprinting, and compiling suspect dossiers.
- However, the tsar seldom met with his police chief and treated the Okhrana with disdain.
- Both Nicholas II and the Okhrana shared a fondness for anti-Semitism and pogroms.
- Plehve’s repressive actions made him many enemies, and in summer 1904, he was assassinated by a member of the Socialist Revolutionary Party.
- This assassination highlighted that repression alone could not eliminate violent dissent and underscored the perilous position of even high-ranking government officials.