How well equipped was Tsar Nicholas II to deal with the problems that faced him in 1900?

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Paul Marie

How well equipped was Tsar Nicholas II to deal with the problems that faced him in 1900?

The Tsar faced many problems in 1900. These problems were mainly brought on by the economic and social changes occurring worldwide in the 19th century. With industrialisation came the need for change, something which the Tsars had been unwilling to do for years which merely built up the problems. In 1900 these problems were widespread and difficult for the Tsar to deal with. Many of these issues such as the need for agricultural development and an improvement in social conditions were issues which would take a lot of time to improve and would often be expensive. There were however other short term problems which Nicholas II faced, particularly the opposition to the Tsar from political groups. There was growing calls for reform amongst these groups, and Nicholas II would have felt he had to deal with them.

Opposition groups were a problem in 1900 for Tsar Nicholas II. There were 3 main groups of opposition; the liberals, the socialist revolutionaries and the social democrats. The liberals were a non-militant or extremist group who challenged the absolute power of the Tsar, wanting a constitutional monarchy, but perhaps not total democracy. This was because the liberals were mainly made up of upper and middle classes so would have little interest in the peasants, who were angered by the lack of democracy in Russia. They were influenced by foreign ideas especially European liberal ideas where democratic governments were in place in many countries. They didn’t want the Tsar to be removed, instead they wanted him to surrender some power and run a constitutional monarchy. The main danger of the Liberals was that if reform was granted then this may start the ‘ball of change rolling’ and the people wanting more and more reform and change and the Tsar would find it hard to resist this demand. Also despite their demands not being extreme or too radical when compared to the other opposition groups they opposed the system of Tsarism and the tsar would be averse to granting any change since it went against hundreds of years of tradition.

The socialist revolutionaries were the party with the most potential support since their support base was the peasants. They wanted the removal of the Tsar and for it to be replaced by ‘peasant socialism’. This was the idea that peasants would own the land and work it collectively. For this idea to work the Tsar and Tsarism would need to be completely removed. They were willing to use violence to achieve this aim which made them a danger to the safety of the Tsar. Despite their large potential support they were limited by the fact that the party itself was divided. Also the party had high class intellectual leaders, however the peasants, their support base were very weak as a political force because of their lack of education and their general insignificance in the grand scheme of Russia were a feudal system was in place and peasants were on the bottom rung of this ‘social ladder’.

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The social democrats were the next large political opposition. Their support base was the industrial workers of which there were not that many in Tsarist Russia because many of the population worked the land and were not industrial workers. However the advantage of their support being workers is that they were located in cities which is a good strategic position for them to be in. Their support was however more theoretical than practical since there was no way of mobilising support, and in 1900 many workers wouldn’t have actively supported them. The party was run by intellectual men such ...

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