InNo-Russia+in+War+and+Revolution+marcol2013+October+17,+2010

Awesome Stuff

Population of Russian Empire This is a table I made that shows from greatest to smallest, the amount of people of different groups in the Russian Empire in 1897.
 * Russians || 55,650,000 ||
 * Ukrainians || 22,400,000 ||
 * Poles || 7,900,000 ||
 * Byelorussians || 5,900,000 ||
 * Jews || 5,000,000 ||
 * Kirghiz || 4,000,000 ||
 * Tartars || 3,700,000 ||
 * Finns || 2,500,000 ||
 * Germans || 1,800,000 ||
 * Lithuanians || 1,650,000 ||
 * Letts || 1,400,000 ||
 * Georgians || 1,350,000 ||
 * Armenians || 1,150,000 ||
 * Romanians || 1,110,000 ||
 * Caucasians || 1,000,000 ||
 * Estonians || 1,000,000 ||
 * Iranians || 1,000,000 ||
 * Other Asiatic peoples || 5,750,000 ||
 * Mongols || 500,000 ||
 * Others || 200,000 ||



This is a pretty interesting comic that I found, illustrating how Rasputin helped Czar Nicholas save his son's life and the "magical" factor in it. Link: http://cowshell.com/uploads/drawergeeks/rasputin.jpg

Notes

Chapter 1-The Russian Empire in 1900

The land and the climate -a lot of land -most of it cold -only about 5% is good for farming

An empire of many peoples -the population of the Russian Empire has about 125 million people -ranges from Russians to Ukrainians to Jews -all different groups had their own language, culture, etc. -people did not live all over Russia, instead they are bunched up in the 5% that is good for farming

Chapter 2-The Government of Russia

The autocracy -Tsar Nicholas II was an autocrat -autocrat is a monarch who has all power, not shared -employed civil servants to help him manage the 125 million people -Okhrana is the secret police who make sure his authority is not questioned -in times of famine, Okhrana were not enough, Cossacks would come to the rescue -Cossacks are soldiers mounted on horses -the Russian Orthodox Church helped the Tsar because they taught the followers to respect the emperor

Nicholas and Alexandra -wanted absolute power, not sharing with others -lived and married happily together -had 5 children, one son -the son was going to be next Czar, but has haemophilia which is a blood disease that prevents blood clots -all very religious

Chapter 3

The peasants -before the year 1861, all peasants were serfs, which are slaves that work for no benefit -Tsar Alexander, Nicholas II's grandfather served justice and allowed the serfs to become peasants -the peasants' farming products were not only for themselves but also shared for the village commune -although no longer serfs, they still lived horrible lives, land got smaller for population grew -peasants were extremely poor

The town workers -the peasants who tried to improve their lives went to nearby towns to work -they work at factories or mines to get more money until harvest season when they go home -Father Georgei Gapon writes down how the peasant workers at the factories get paid at a really low price

The rich -nobles were extremely rich -Nicholas owned up to eight palaces and had 15,000 servants working for him -a new group becoming rich were the capitalists who made money from trade and industry

Chapter 4-Opponents of the Tsar

Terrorism -a bombing occurred where it was exploded at Alexander II -when Alexander got out of the carriage to inspect the situation, a man threw a "snowball" which exploded ripping off his foot and belly, making him bleed to death -his son, Alexander and Nicholas were careful not to let the same happen to them, having secret police get rid of the opponents

The Socialist Revolutionary Party -wanted land given to mirs -peasants have bigger share of land -take away land from Tsar, nobles and church -had much support from millions of peasants

The Social Democratic Party -followed ideas of Karl Marx, German writer of Communist Manifesto -equality was key, not letting capitalists own everything but spread it among the people -called hit idea socialism -communism was where people would learn to work for the good of everyone and not be selfish -there was conflict within the group, splitting it into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks -Bolsheviks wanted the changes immediately while the Mensheviks wanted to gather more power and then strike -Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was art of Bolsheviks who opposed Mensheviks' stalling and wanted to strike as soon as possible

Liberals -these people supported the idea of the Tsar but wanted the power to be shared among a few more people instead of total monarchy

Chapter 5-The 1905 Revolution

War against Japan -Russia went to war against Japan -lost terribly at the battle of Tsushima, three Russian ships were destroyed -Nicholas did this to try to make his name better, however suffers a great defeat and makes him look worse in public

Bloody Sunday -this is a violent event in which Father Gapon led many workers to protest and started riots on a sunday -this was not a good idea, the Tsar sent the soldiers and police to shoot many people -killed around 500 marchers, thousands wounded

The 1905 revolution -a battleship named Potemkin had their own crew members throw their officers overboard to take control themselves -due to this, Tsar Nicholas no longer trusted his armed forces -peasants were rebellious in the countryside too -Nicholas wrote the October Manifesto introducing the Duma which is an elected parliament giving right of free speech and many other rights along with it -however, Nicholas still had the full power therefore the people were still angry -in the Fundamental Laws, it was stated the Emperor has power over all of Russia

Chapter 6-The Aftermath of the 1905 Revolution

The Dumas -Tsar Nicholas did not allow the powers of the Duma to come in action, it was only there to look more equal -second Duma was elected, even worse for Nicholas and broke it up after three months -the next Duma lasted 5 years because changing the voting laws changed where it was mainly in his favor and support -he hired a new, tough prime minister, Peter Stolypin

The Stolypin reforms -he killed many people during his time in power, he was a violent person -however he was able to achieve his objectives, breaking up riots, stopping revolutions, etc. he is both a good and bad person since he did half of both, he was later shot by one of the police agents

Rasputin -Rasputin is well known for saving Nicholas' son -he gains much support from Nicholas and Alexandra because of this -his heal of the son was almost magical, nobody knew what truly happened -he is a bad person who has affairs with other women and drinks a lot of alcohol

Summary These six chapters basically give us a background of Russia. First, we see the climate and land of Russia, the vast and cold land, where only 5% is good for farming and where everyone lives. Russia is an autocracy where the Czar Nicholas has all power and not sharing. The classes in Russia include the peasants, the poor; and the noble and nobility the rich. We can see how there is lots of inequality in this society. The Czar has to face problems such as enemies, the three parties who want to overthrow or share power with him. He sends secret police to suppress them. Nicholas tries to win a war with Japan to make his name better, however loses and is worse. Then, the Bloody Sunday occurs, hundreds killed, thousands injured. The October Manifesto and Duma elected, then when things go back to normal, Stolypin becomes prime minister, killing many people but is able to prevent revolutions. Rasputin then saves Nicholas' son and gains power from the Czar and his wife.

Questions

Why is the land and climate of Russia important? Big but only 5% good for farming What is the way of rule before the revolution? Autocracy What are the three opponents of the Tsar? Socialist Revolutionary Party, Social Democratic Party and Liberals What is the significance of the October Manifesto? Drawn by Nicholas to try to calm the people, however does not change much and causes more trouble Who is Rasputin, why is he important? Rasputin is known for "magically" healing Nicholas II's son and gets support from Nicholas II and Alexandra