InNo+tinapx2013+18.10.10.

EPIC.AWESOMENNEESSS....

This is a photograph of former Russian Prime Minister Stolypin. He spent most of his career trying to fight terrorism, but sadly, he died in the hands of one. He was famous for killing 1008 suspected terrorist, without real proof. He was very famous, or infamous, due to all of this.

This is a Family Tree type flow-chart thing. It shows the family tree of the Tsar Family. I'm not very good with all the widget stuff, so it's uploaded as a image. That's why its kinda funky.

Russian Revolution

Part 1 Russia Under the Tsar


 * The Russian Empire in 1900**

· Russia is very big. Russia is so big that the sun rises in the far east of the country at the same time as it sets in the west. · Although Russia is vast, much of the land is quite useless. o The high mountains ton the southern border are a good defense against foreign invaders, but they also keep out warm air trying to spread from the south. o This leaves Russia open to cold air sweeping down from the Arctic Ocean. o For this reason Russia is mostly useless for farming. o In the Arctic Circle the land is “tundra” where nothing grows except moss and small shrubs. · For more than 1000 kilometers south of the tundra stretches the “taiga”, cold land covered in forests of pine trees. · It is only in the warmer regions of the southwest that the sill can be used for farming. · In 1900 only 5 percent of all Russian land was used for farming: the rest laid waste. · The cold climate affected Russia’s industry and commerce as well as her farming. · Must of Russia’s land is inside the Arctic circle and is therefore frozen over with thick ice for much of the year. o So too are the great rivers of Siberia-the Ob, the Yenisey and the Lena. o Today, massive ice-breaking ships smash channels through the ice for other ships to use, but in 2900 the ice-breakers were not so powerful. o The coast and the rivers stayed locked in ice throughout the long winter, so sea and river trade were impossible until spring arrived. o A new railway, the Trans-Siberian, was being built to allow trade between the east and west all year round, but in 2900 it was still only half-built.

An Empire of Many People

· In 1900 Russia was a great empire ruled by a Tsar, or Emperor, Nicholas II. · About 125 million people lived in Tsar Nicolas’s empire. · The Majority were peoples such as the Poles and the Ukrainians who had been conquered by the ancestors of Tsar Nicholas II. o These peoples each had their own languages, their own customs and their own way of life. o So for six out of tem of the Tsar’s subjects Russian was a foreign and Russian people were foreigners. · The many people of the Russian Empire were not spread evenly throughout the country. · Most lived on the 5 percent of land that was good for farming. · The cold lands of Siberia, east of the Ural mountains, were therefore thinly populated, while the fertile land of the south-west and the streets of the cities were often overcrowded. Chapter2 – The Government of Russia


 * The Autocracy**

· Tsar Nicholas II, the Emperor of Russia was an **Autocrat** – a monarch who does not have to share power. o Nicholas could make new laws, increases taxes, do exactly what he liked, without consulting anyone. o There was no parliament to limit his power, and he could fire any minister or adviser who disagreed with him. · In practice Nicholas could not govern 125 million Russian all by himself. · To run the affairs of his vast empire the Tsar employed many thousands of civil servants. · They were organized like an army into fourteen ranks. o At the top of the “Table of Ranks were ministers in charge of government departments. o At the bottom were minor officials, such as post office clerks and customs inspectors. o The Tsar’s civil service collected taxes from the Russian people and made sure that his decisions were carried out. o And because they were underpaid for their work, many civil servants make ends meet by taking bribes. · The Tsar did not allow people to questions his authority or challenge his power. · To make sure that nobody opposed him, Nicholas had a secret police force, the **Okhrana**, or Protective Section. o The Okhrana censored all sorts of books and newspapers. o Its agents spied on political groups and arrested people to criticized the government. o Political prisoners were tried by special courts without juries, and usually ended up in exile. § This means that being sent to live in the cold lands of Siberia to punish them. o Sometimes, especially when there were famine, the Okharana could not cope with all the opponents of Tar, and riots broke out. o Workers in factories wnet on strike and peasants in the country attacked their landlords or the tax collectors. · The people that came to the Tsar’s rescue was the **Cossacks**. o They were fierce mounted soldiers armed with sabers who specialized in breaking up mobs by butchering anyone not able to run away fat enough. · In a different way the church in Russia also helped to maintain the authority of the Tsar. o The priests of the **Russian Orthodox Church** taught people to respect the autocracy and to be loyal to the Tsar. o The head of the church was a government minister. o Bishops took their orders from him and priests took their orders from the bishops. o In this way the government had control over the minds and souls of many Russian churchgoers.

Nicholas and Alexandra

· Nicholas’s German wife, Alexandra, was a confident and strong willed women. · From the start of his reign she encouraged Nicholas to rule as an autocrat and to ignore new ideas about sharing power with the people. · Nicholas and Alexandra were very happily married, and had five children during the first ten years of their marriage. o The first four were girls and the fifth was a boy, Alexis, and the heir to the throne. o But the happiness of Nicholas and Alexandra was ruined when they found out shortly after he was born that Alexis had a blood disease, **hemophilia,** which prevented his blood from clotting. o There as no cure for hemophilia, and even a small cut could cause Alexis to bleed to death. o A slight bump could lead to massive internal swelling and agonizing pain. o Both Nicholas and Alexandra were deeply religious. o Alexandra had a chapel specially built in the grounds of the royal palace and every day she prayed there for hours, begging for the recovery of their son. o In the meantime, she ordered her daughters never to talk about Alexis’s illness and made everyone else who knew about it sweat an oath of secrecy.

Chapter 3 – Russian Society

The Peasants

· In 1900 four out of five citizens of the Russian Empire were peasants - country people who made their living by farming. · These people had no rights until 1861. o In 1861 the peasants were freed from **serfdom** and allowed them to own the land on which they grew their food. o But there were strings attached to this deal. § First the land on which the peasants grew their food was not given to them as individuals: it was given to the village commune, or **mir**, in which they lived. § Second, the peasants had to pay for the land given to the commune in yearly installments, called **redemption payments**, over the next forty-nine years. § Only when a peasant had paid all forty-nine installments would the land become his or her persona property. · Being freed from **serfdom** on these conditions did not improve the lives of the peasants. o Each year the mirs divided up the land in the communes and gave it out to each family according to its needs that year: the bigger the family, the bigger the plot of land it was given. o But as each year went by, and as the population grew, the plots of land grew smaller and smaller. o And at the same time they had to keep up with the yearly redemption payments for the land they did not yet own. o For all these reasons life for Russian peasants was hard. o Average life expectancy of those who lived past five was 50. o Diseases and malnutrition were very common. o The best that they could hope for was a good harvest. o Then they would have enough to eat, and a little extra to sell to pay taxes.

The town workers

· Many people tried to improve their lives by working in town or city. · They would work in factories or mines until harvest time, when they returned to their communes. · Workers were unable to improve their conditions. · Law did not allow trade unions.

The Rich

· However, not all Russians were poor. o Russian nobles were fabulously rich. o Tsar Nicholas, owned eight different palaces and employed 50000 servants. o Although the nobles were only 1 percent of the Russian population, they owned around 25 percent of all the land. o Those who could be bothered to farm their land efficiently made handsome profits at market. o Those who were not bothered could always sell off their land. · By 1900 a new class of Russians was also becoming rich, the **capitalist**s who made money from banking, industry and trade. · The minister of finance have them government contracts, particularly for building railways, which made it easier for **capitalists** to make big profits. · With easy profits to be made the capitalists did little to improve the conditions of their workers. · Hatred of the capitalists steadily grew in the slums and boarding houses of Russia’s cities.

Chapter 4 – Opponents of the Tsar

· Most Russians did not question the Tsar’s autocratic system of government. · They believed that God had appointed the Tsar to rule over them and that everyone else had their rightful place in society. · However, some people refused to accept this. · They wanted to get rid of the Tsar and make big changes to Russian government and society. · Terrorism o March 1881, a bomb went off beneath the carriage of Tsar Alexnder II, the Tsar who had freed the peasants from serfdom 20 years earlier. o He wasn’t hurt, but when he set off, a young man assassinated him with a “snow ball”. o While his son Alexander and his grandson Nicholas stood watching. o The assassination was carried out by a terrorist group called the “People’s will”. o Even though they wished to stop autocracy, they did not succeed. o His successors were determined not to let the same happen to them. o Both used Okhrana to arrest critics and opponents. o However, neither succeeded completely. o In 1900 there were still three important groups of opponents in existent. · The Socialist Revolutionary Party o The first of these terrorist groups was the Socialist Revolutionary party. o They wanted all land in Russia to be given to the mirs, the village communes, so that peasants could have a bigger share of the land. o Which would mean taking away from the people who owned most of Russia, the nobles. o To help achieve their aims, SRs had a “fighting organization” whose job was to organize terrorist campaigns. o In the span of 5 years, they managed to kill three government ministers and dozens of other government officials. o STs gained support from millions of peasants who wanted their own land but who had fallen behind with their yearly redemption payments. · The Social Democratic Party o The SD followed the ideas of **Karl Marx**. o Marx supported **socialism** versus capitalism o He said in this society people would learn to work together for the good for everyone, not just for themselves. o At this stage, a system of communism would come into existence, a society In which people work k according to their abilities and are paid according to their needs. o The SD party was set up in 1898. o Due to leadership disagreements, they were split into **Bolsheviks** and the **Mensheviks**. § The Bolsheviks believed that the revolution should be organized by a small group of dedicated ad skilled revolutionaries. And they should lead the party. § The Mensheviks believed that the Party should be a mass party with as many working class members as possible. · It should be run democratically with the members electing the leader s and deciding on its policies. o The leader of the B, **Vladimir Ilyich Lenin**, argued that if the Mensheviks had their way, it would take years to start the revolution, they would waste time on useless discussion and argument. o **Julius Martov**, leader of the Mensheviks, replied that the revolution would fail if it did not have the support of the whole working class. o The SD remained split on thei issue. o Lenin and his supporters failed to reach agreement with Martov and his supporters. o So from 1903 onwards there were three important revolutionary groups in Russia: the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks and the SR.  · Liberals o Many law-abiding Russians were also opponents of the Tsar, but they were not violent. o Particularly those who owned property, were liberals. o They supported the Tsar but wanted him to share power. o They wanted a democratic system of government, like the on e in Britain where an elected parliament shared power with the monarch. o Sadly, Alexander II had made plans for a Russian parliament the day before he was blown by the “people’s will”. o The first thing his son Alexander II did when he became Tsar was to tear up those plans.

Chapter 5- the 1905 Revolution

· War against Japan o In 1904 Russia went to war with Japan. o Nicholas thought a quick win would make him popular, and would stop criticism. o But Russian army suffered one terrible defeat after another from the very start. o In the **battle of Tsushima**, the Japanese fleet destroyed all but three of the Russian ships. o Not only was Nicholas not popular, but the Japanese also weakened his position. o The war also made conditions for working people worse: § Not enough food § Not enough jobs. · Bloody Sunday o On Sunday 22 January, 1905, a crowd of 200,000 workers and their families marched through the streets of St Petersburg toward the Tsar’s Winter Palace. § Their aim was to present Nicholas with a petition asking for better working and living conditions, and end to the war with Japan, a shorter working day, and many other reform. § **Father Gapon**, a priest who sympathized with poor workers, led the marchers. o When the marchers reached the center of the city, soldiers and police tried to stop them. o Scuffles broke out and then the soldiers opened fires, aiming low. o Around 500 marchers died and thousands more were wounded. o This dreadful massacre quickly came to be known as Bloody Sunday. o Riots ensued as news spread. · The 1905 Revolution o June 1905 the crew of the battle ship **Potemkin** threw their officers overboard and took over the ship. o This was mutiny o Although they gave themselves up because they had no plan, this still worried Nicholas. o He couldn’t trust anymore. o At the same time, many non-Russian groups tried to declare their independence from Russia. o In September 1905, a general strike began. § All over Russia factories, offices, shops, railways, hospitals and schools closed down. o In many towns and cities and strikers set up councils called Soviets to run the town. § They quickly became the alternative form of government. o In October, Nicholas issued a document called the **October Manifesto**. o This said that Russia could have a **Duma**, an elected parliament, to help run the country. o It also allowed the Russian people basic rights, such as the right to form political parties. o The liberals were delighted but the revolutionary did not trust nick. § They were proven correct when the soldiers arrested 5 soviets and send them to Siberia. § More than a thousand people died in street fighting between revolutionaries and soldiers. o In early 1906, the Tsar crushed other areas of revolution. o Worse, thugs known as Black Hundreds decided to take the law into their own hands. § They organized massacres of revolutionaries. § In over 100 cities people who had joined in the revolution were put to death in blood-baths which the police and army did nothing to stop. o By march 1906 the revolution was over. o But at least Russia had got a parliament out of it – the Duma. o Elections for the Duma were held in March 1906 and a majority of anti-government candidates gained office. o But when the Duma met for the first time in may, Nicholas issued a set of **Fundamental Laws**. o The first one said To the Emperor of all the Russia belongs supreme autocratic power”. o In other words, as far as Nicholas was concerned, nothing had changed. o Duma or no Duma, Russia was still and autocracy.

Chapter 6 – The Aftermath of the 1905 Revolution

· Duma o Tsar Nicholas made it perfectly clear in his Fundamental Laws that he would not allow the Duma, Russia’s new parliament, any real power. § Sure enough, when it demanded a share in the government, Nicholas sent troops and broke up the meeting. § Russia’s first Duma had lasted for precisely seventy-five days. o A second Duma was elected in 1907, but it appealed even less to Nicholas’s. § It contained not only liberal but also SR and SD who aimed to destroy the autocracy. § Nicholas broke up the second Duma after three months. o The third Duma, which met in 1907, did better than its two predecessors, lasting a full five years. § This was because Nicholas changed the voting laws to make sure that revolutionaries were not elected to it. § The third Duma was mostly made up of conservative politicians who behaved themselves and did what Nicholas wanted. o With the powerless third Duma providing a show of democracy, Nicholas got on with the business of autocracy. o In 1906 he appointed a new, rough Prime Minister to make sure there were no more outbreaks of revolution. o His name was Peter **Stolypin**. · The **Stolypin** Reforms. o **Stolypin** believed in strict government. § His first action was to clamp down on terrorism. § In 1906, 1008 terrorists were arrested, tried by special military courts, and executed. (stolypin’s necktie) § In the same year, 21000 people were exiled to Siberia. o Stolypin realized that brute force alone would not solved every problem. § He feared that there would be further outbreaks of violence in the countryside if the peasants remained poor. § Therefore, he helped the peasants to become the owners of their own land. § The redemption payments that peasants had been paying since 1861 were abolished. § So too was the law which said that the village communes, the irs, controlled the land. o He hoped that hardworking peasants would now leave the communes and set up their own farms. § These farms were bigger and more productive that the communal farms. § Conditions in Russia began to improve. o In 1911, however, one of Stolypin’s police agents who had been investigating terrorist groups turned out to be a terrorist himself: he shot Stolypin dead. · **Rasputin** o As the 5th kid of Nicholas, Alexis had hemophilia, Alexandra prayed at his bedside day and night. o In 1905 two ladies of the court introduced a man whom they said had special powers of prophecy and healing. § Shortly after this, Alexis had a fall which started off internal bleeding. § Gregory prayed at Alexis’s bedside and the next morning Alexis had fully recovered. § Nick and Alexandra was delighted and thought that was a miracle. o However, Greg was not a great person. § Years before, people in his native Siberia had given him the nickname Rasputin, the disreputable one, because he drank heavily and had affairs with many women. § In St Petersburg, he took part in wild orgies, he spends much of his time drunk, and he once raped a nun. o Whenever Nick and Alex were told about Rasputin’s wild behavior, ethey refused to listen. o After the death of Stolypin, Raspitin’s influence over the royal family increased. § He began to give political advice to Alexandra, which she passed on to Nick. § Ambitious politicians now found it easier to gain promotion if they were friendly with Rasputin. § Businessmen who entertained Rasputin seemed to get government contracts more easily than those who didn’t. o Rumors began to go around that he was having an affair with Alexandra. § It seemed as if all Russia knew about Rasputin’s corruption except for Nick and Alex.

Summary: Russian is a very big place and is ruled by a Tsar under autocracy. However, not many people were happy about it and they wished to start a revolution. In 1905, revolution broke out after the people were angered by events such as the Bloody Sunday. As the Tsar realized that he needed to satisfy the people in order to keep peace, he formed a Duma, meanwhile still maintaining his unlimited power as an Autocrat.

Questions:

1. How did the society that Nicholas and Alexandra lived in lead them to trust Rasputin so easily, despite him saving Alexis’ life? 2. Was the Duma effective? Why or why not? 3. What was the Cossacks? 4. Why was Alexis in fatal danger, due to his hemophilia? 5. What were some of the factors that led Nicholas to go into war with Japan?