What Were The Biggest Challenges Facing Nicholas II On His Accession To The Throne, C1894?

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Nick Dewey

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What Were The Biggest Challenges Facing Nicholas II On His Accession To The Throne, C1894?

Russia’s problems were vast. They stretched from pore agriculture output to the lack of industrialisation in Russia before 1894. The westerners suggested that the best way for Russia to reform was to adopt the best features of the political and economic systems that were being used in Western Europe. The slavophiles, perceived this as invading Russia’s purity, and they regarded the western values as corrupting and they urged that the nation stay preserved as ‘holy Russia’. This led to political, social and economic unrest crippling the country. However the western solutions were not necessarily plausible for the reform of Russia, they needed a new structure of reform. Nicholas II faced all of these problems and more during his accession to the throne in 1894, I will study these to discover the main challenges that he faced in obtaining the throne.

Agriculture was a large problem for Nicholas II. Russia’s agriculture was inefficient and unsystematically patterned. The land of Russia could be better described as national weakness rather than strength. Even though four fifths of the population were peasants a thriving agricultural economy had failed to develop. Also only 6 % of the land could be farmed on so the lack of land and increasing population did not help as more peasants needed work and there was a severe case of land hunger. However in 1861 the peasants were allowed to buy land under the emancipation decree. This caused more problems too as now families had debts to pay back the loans for the land that would take generations to pay back. The high price of land meant that families were unable to increase their land size and this caused problems, because as their family size increased the amount of land available decreased. However grain exports increased as did the crop yields (By 50% between 1860 and 1910), this is good for the economy and finally shows some forwardness from Russian agriculture. Also now that the emancipation decree had been passed meant that more people and peasants will turn to farming leading to greater prosperity and also to less civil unrest if more peasants have money and jobs. Only 4 months of the Russian year could be farmed on and the weather was usually extreme, very hot or very cold. This meant that farming suffered, as only a small period of the year could be farmed on during the summer as in the winter the weather was too extreme. Also communication and transportation was difficult, as Russia had not met an industrial revolution yet, this affects farming because transportation of goods, exports and imports would be difficult, and cost more money to travel them. Finally strip farming was still being used and this is not economically forward, this method was used in England many years before and more productive forms of farming had be found. Nicholas clearly faced vast problems with agriculture and I believe that this is his most important issue to tackle because farming also affects economical and social standards.

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Industrially Nicholas II seemed to be quite lucky in the timing of his accession. In 1893 Russia entered a stage known as ‘the great spurt’. This led to the country growing rapidly in a short time, changing from an agricultural country to an industrial country. This obviously led to industrial expansion. Russia excelled on the world stage industrially; they had a growth rate of 8% per annum, the highest in the world. This was good for the country as it led to a stable economy and more jobs, whilst also showing a forwardness and modernisation. However a large problem ...

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