Long term problems in Tsarist Russia
Size and diversity:
125 million people – 100 ethnicities – social, cultural and religious differences
Backwards empire:
Mid 1800s Alexander II initiated a programme of change – political and social liberalisations
– then blown to pieces by anarchist group
Social classes:
Very hierarchical – aristocratic at the top 12.5% - Tsar sitting at the top – owned a lot of
arable land – very conservative
o Most of Tsars ministers and close advisors directly from aristocracy
o Tsar held 10% of arable land
Professional middle classes tiny compared to Western Europe 1.5% - worked for the state –
prominent in political groups eg the Kadets (constitutional democrats) and later the Duma
Peasantry and working class made up 85% of society
o Workers = life very hard, factories 24 hours a day, same bed occupied by 2 workers,
one day one night, susceptible to grievances and rev ideas
o Peasantry = largest class, strip farming, easier in ‘breadbasket’ southern regions,
harder north, subsistence agriculture, lack of surplus = not enough to support fast
industrialisation and urbanisation
o 1891 famine: 400,000 died – crop failure
o Emancipation of serfs 1861 Alexander II – free movement but land distribution left
1000s worse off that before
o Small communes: 200-500 people, very religious, many illiterate, no formal
education, loyal to Tsar, military service, hated bureaucracy
Ethnic diversity: Slavic Russian descent 45%, lots of different languages and dialects,
religions differ
Tsarist system:
One of few remaining autocracies at the time – tsar = all powerful
o Adherence to Orthodox Church and the laws of succession – everything else =
supreme
o No constitution, democratic processes, elected assembly, no national gov., high
court or court to examine and restrain Tsar’s laws = gov. by decree
o High level political bodies/council = function limited to providing advice (Senate,
Holy Synod, Imperial Council of Ministers (chief minister and others, different
portfolios eg finance or justice - tell tsar what he wanted to hear > what he needed
to know)
Huge size of country = masses of officials and administrators - guberniya – 1864, each
guberniya also contained a zestva – local council – collect taxes and provide services eg
public health and transport – continued reps from all classes, but mostly nobles
o Decisions to be endorsed by the governor
, Bureaucracy = public face of gov. – wore distinctive uniform, implementing taxes, enforce
regulations etc.
o Not well educated or well paid = corruption and bribery
o Lower classes viewed bureaucracy as greedy and corrupt
Okhrana = protection of the Tsar – censorship, counter-revolutionary espionage, police
activity
o 1911 > 60 security stations around Russia and European cities where Russian
revolutionaries active
o Paid informants, torture, interrogation, extra-legal killing etc
o 1910 > 20,000 paid informants and double agents – paid 100 roubles/ month - > 2x
monthly wage of average industrial worker
Black hundreds = informal – loyalist groups – formed turn of the C20th
o Religious conservatives very loyal to Tsar – Christian cross and Romanov double
eagle
o Devotion to Tsar and acts of violence against gov. opponents
o Sep 1905 killed and expelled Jews wherever they could (easy scapegoats), > 21,000
murdered in Ukraine alone
Orthodox Church = integral to tsarist author acts
o Holy Synod = de facto gov. dept.
o Tsar Nicholas II = deeply religious consulted it regularly
o Church encouraged support for tsarism – catechisms taught worshippers to love
God’s will and obey the Tsar
Church = mouthpiece of Russian autocracy, military = iron fist
o Technologically backwards but largest standing force in the world
o 1.5 million men
o Soldiers in lower ranks = conscripts from peasant communes
Alienation of russian society from gov.
o Revolution = radical
o Reform = gradually changes
Nicholas II
Challenges faced:
o Very large country and huge disparity is society = wealth gaps, religious differences,
different political groups
o Very large population of illiterate, uneducated peasants
o Upper classes + peasants don’t want political change – stubborn peasants, tradition
o Lagging behind rest of Europe so need to modernise economy but doesn’t want to
give up social structure
o Russian orthodox church = driving force, but many other religions = clashes
o Tsarist gov. entirely run by Tsar = autocratic – needs to change but doesn’t want to
Character:
o Not willing to accept reform
o Nicholas didn’t feel up to the task of receiving the throne when father died of
kidney disease 1894
, o Family man – suburbs of St Petersburg – rare visits to capital
o Long awaited son as heir – Alexei 1904 (tsarevich)– haemophilia
o Rasputin = peasant mystic and healer who Alexandra believed could heal Alexei
(dangerous relationship)
o Paternalistic model – ‘owner of Russia’ in 1 st Russian Census 1897
o Mystical reverence to power entrusted in him = stopped him from following and
listening to advice of strong, pragmatic, bold and independently minded politicians
and professionals
o Surrounded himself with people he ‘liked’ or ‘trusted’
o Easily influenced and poor at decision making
1904-5 Russo-Japanese War
Tsarist advisers felt Russia could do with a ‘short and victorious war’ – fleet sent around the
world on 9 month voyage and then humiliatingly annihilated
Colonial right in Manchuria and Korea
Japan sought negotiated settlement bu Nicholas grossly underestimated Japanese and
industrial and military development
Humiliation – war worsened Russia’s already recessed economy and dire created tsar and his
advisors, fanning flames of revolution
1905 ‘Bloody Sunday’
Serious unrest (long term socio-economic discontent and disastrous Russo-Japanese war) –
3000 people marched to Winter Palace in St Petersburg to ask Tsar ‘little father’ for hell of
o Began as protest by industrial workers – poor conditions, low wages and bad
treatment from employers
o Conditions worsened due to war
o Workers at Putilov plant led by priest George gap on drafted petition intended for
tsar
o Palace guard fired on the crown killing 400
o Eroded respect for tsarism and contributed to wave of general strikes, political
demands and violence = 1905 Rev
1905 Revolution = 100s of 1000s of workers and peasants all over Russia began to riot,
demonstrate and strike, not coordinated with 1 leader
o Tsarism challenged like never before
o To quell discontent Nicholas promised ‘meaningful political change’
o October Manifesto = promised creation of a duma/elected parliament (massive
change – no law to be passed unless approved by Duma) and free speech/free press
and better rights for workers
o Reaction from political groups verified = liberals largely support and disengage from
protest, socialists reject – divide and rule = Nicholas put down rev.
o Revolution died down
o New gov and promise of constitutional monarchy – tsar = head of gov. by 3
permanent political bodies = Council of Ministers most powerful, created law only
, answerable to tsar, State council = chosen by Tsar and zemstva, approved laws,
Duma = voted by male electorate and approve laws created
1906: Nicholas went back on a lot he promised – raised Fundamental Laws, stating Russia =
still autocracy
o Tsar still has power to rule independently of Duma when not in session, right to
dissolve at any point, power to change electoral system, appoint ministers he
wanted in Council, sole command of army and navy
World War 1
Despite correspondence with cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II seeking peace, Nicholas reluctantly
mobilised the unprepared Russian army at start of WW1 1914
o Wave of anti-german feeling – St Petersburg renamed Petrograd
o 5.3 million soldiers mobilised 1914 by 1918 >15 million mobilised
o Tsarina and daughters into hospital work (German suspicion)
o Support for Tsar, country growing in strength, galvanised people behind the tsar
1914 decisive victory against Russians at Battle of Tannenburg (Hindenburg and Ludendorff)
More successful Carpathian mountains but by spring 1915 brought to halt by shortages
o Lac of supplies = russia unable to deal with Gorlice-Tanow Offensive May 1915
o 500km german advance, 1915 2 million casualties, 1 million prisoners, 600 miles of
mud and horror and the front
o Russian army = demoralised and on point of collapse
1915: WW1 going very badly for Russia – Nicholas decided to assume supreme command of
Russian forces at front = German Tsarina Alexandra influenced by holy man Rasputin in
charge of home front
o Replaced Grand Due Nikolai as supreme commander in Sep 1915 – well intended but
now responsible for any failures
o Limited control of home front – Alexandra and Rasputin in charge – incompetent
and promoted people on loyalty to Nicholas – Rasputin disliked
o Rumours of affair between the two
June 1916 = Brusilov Offensive – one of most lethal offensives in history
o Target weak points in Austrian lines – break through
o Planned backup never arrived for Russians but steady stream of German soldiers
came to aid of Austria
o By end 1.4 million Russian soldiers killed/injured compared to 780,000 Austrians and
Germans
o Russia no longer had strength to attack on large scale
o Exhaustion and disillusionment drove many soldier to desertion and mutiny
o Russians humiliated
Home front = poor socio-economic conditions
o Inflation: before war 98% of Russian notes backed by gold, during war = gold
standard abandoned, gov. put more notes into circulation = inflation and money
worthless
o 1914-16 earning doubled, food prices and fuel prices x4
