Russia took victory for granted as the conviction of having more and better resources and men power was very popular, instead, Russia got defeated, thus making Japan look like one of the superpowers of the world and diminishing the Russian confidence towards the government and eliminating any patriotism in the country. The social breakdown together with the unexpected defeat caused a heavy inflation which led to the 1905 revolution. Obviously, the Russo- Japanese war was marked as a failure.
As the middle class and the workers were protesting for rights and freedom, the October manifesto marked a victory for Russians as it granted civil liberties and created a parliament (Duma). This was only a temporary victory for the people as once the Fundamental Laws were created all of these achievements were eliminated by taking power away from the Duma and giving it to the Tsar. Even though the October Manifesto
might seem like a success at first, it was quickly shattered causing this to result in a failure to enhance the Russian situation.
Although many failures were shown to have taken place, some positive changes had been made, such as Stolypin’s reforms which, although being aggressive, brought encouraging changes for peasants. In fact, such reforms included the development of individual farming, an introduction of agricultural cooperative, development of agricultural education and the publicizing of new methods to improve the lands. However, such reforms gave too little to the people which were still expressing huge discontent towards the government, furthermore, these reforms were made in a bad time frame as the revolution was already too close.
The industrial situation during the early 1900s was on the verge of collapsing given the inflation and the social discontent, peasants and the main opposition parties began a wave of strikes, demonstrations and protests which led the ministers of the Tsar to fear an upcoming revolution, while Nicholas II had no initiative to prevent such event from occurring.
Russia’s involvement in WWI resulted in the opposite of what the Tsar expected; by going to fight on the front, Nicholas II hoped to enhance the people’s support towards him and create a sense of patriotism which was with no doubt lacking from the Russian people. He hoped that such predicted support and trust towards himself would be enough to motivate Russian soldiers and win the war, but given his military inexperience his strategy resulted in a complete failure on all fronts. While the main ruler of the country had set off to war, Russia was ruled by the Tsarina who was heavily influenced by Rasputin. Thus resulting in some changes which further deteriorated the Russian crisis.
Fighting in the war resulted in a shortage of funds and resources which had to be solved in some way; the Tsar attempt of doing so consisted in borrowing funds and increase the printing of money, such attempt resulted in the development of an inflation. Furthermore, the involvement in the war caused the loss of a precious corn provider, Ukraine.
Rasputin’s influence on the ruling of Russia is definitely viewed as a great failure of the Tsar, this close friend of the Tsar’s was badly seen by the population as he was thought
of being a heavy drinker and womanizer, such belief also put the Tsar in bad light causing loss of trust and confidence of the people. He also caused a number of issues which affected the population, whom then blamed the Tsar for trusting him. Rasputin involvement in the ruling of Russia profited him heavily, resulting in the abuse of his influence. Overall, Rasputin’s influence on the Tsar was definitely negative and, once again, caused the Tsar to loose credibility and commit avoidable mistakes.
A reformist which showed to be more successful than Stolypin finally was able to improve Russia’s conditions: Sergei Witte. He believed that the only way to modernize the Russian empire was to control the economy through the government. To do so, he brought money into the country by loaning money from foreign countries and increased the taxes to provide the government with more funds. Witte also protected the small Russian industries by limiting the imports hoping that these industries would flourish making Russia less dependent on foreign import. He was also able to create a financial stability by putting Russian currency on gold standard. Along with other points, his reforms were able to satisfy the needs of the country, making it less dependent on agriculture and modernizing it through industrialization.
Another individual who played a relevant role in the ruling of Russia was the Tsarina, she believed in the ideologies of autocracy, she in fact pushed the Tsar to refuse political reforms like Witte’s. The period which best demonstrates her incapability to rule a country is WWI, during which she was put in charge of domestic policy. The Tsarina didn’t handle her task well: she dismissed ministers and supported Rasputin as her advisor who, as I previously stated, was even less capable of making the right decisions.
Based on the results of Nichoas II’s actions towards the Russian empire, it is safe to say that, overall, he failed as a ruler. He showed no capacity of understanding what his people wanted, and even once he did understand, he decided to refrain from assessing the situations and from improving the quality of the people’s life, showing interest only for his own prosperity. The few successful changes made to Russian Empire have to be appointed to reformers like Witte, who were able to put the country back on track by putting aside the communist ideologies and acquiring the functioning capitalist attitude which was required to advance socially, economically and industrially.
Bibliography:
GCSE modern world history second edition- Book
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Japan_defeated_Russia_in_the_Russo-Japanese_War