Was Nicholas II responsible for his own downfall?
Was Nicholas II responsible for his own downfall? Nicholas II acted as an autocratic monarch rather than a constitutional leader, and this was a factor in his eventual downfall and abdication. Other factors included, him leaving Russia in the incapable hand of his wife, Alexandra, who herself was greatly influenced by Rasputin. The 'Holy Man' Rasputin was becoming more and more popular with Alexandra for helping their only son, Alexis's with his haemophilia, and his strange but powerful brand of spirituality certainly affected both Alexandra and Nicholas. It could be argued that Nicholas was himself responsible for allowing the power of Rasputin to extend so far and to influence his political decisions. Historians are in agreement that Nicholas lacked the necessary skills and qualities to rule a rapidly changing country. There were however factors outside of Nicholas' control, including his son's illness, that he could not be held directly responsible for. Indeed Russia was a huge country which was very hard to govern even for the most competent Tsar. One of the first factors which Nicholas was responsible for was his weak character and the fact that he allowed Alexandra to be so dominant. She encouraged him to hold on to his absolute power when a change in his style of leadership may have been a more politically useful tactic. A very significant contributing
Why did Alexander II Emancipate the Serfs in 1861?
Why did Alexander II Emancipate the Serfs in 1861? The emancipation of the serfs by Alexander II in 1861 was the inevitable result of a rising tide of liberalism in Russia, supported by the realisation that Russia's economic needs were incompatible with the system, and driven by the fear that that without reform the state itself could be shattered by revolution. Russia's defeat in the Crimean war was also a major influencing factor as "Defeat in the Crimean war laid bare Russia's weakness, so well conceived reforms were set in train and permitted the birth of politics... Russian tsars had learned little during the century: at its end, they were still claiming to be absolute rulers."[1][1] Alexander II came into power in 1855, as the successor of Nicholas I. He started his reign in a difficult position, as the defeat of the Crimean war in 1854 cast a shadow over the beginning of his reign. The peace treaty of Paris finally drew a conclusion to the war in 1856, Russia ultimately being defeated by Britain and France, leaving the Russian state feeling weak and vulnerable. The Russian war effort had been characterised by the bravery of the soldiers, but poor military performance and incompetence in the military leadership "The Crimean war with its record of official incompetence and the heroism of the serf army... put a seal on the matter."[2][2] However, "the
What problem did Russia face after the1905 Revolution? How effective was Nicholas II in dealing with these problems?
What problem did Russia face after the1905 Revolution? How effective was Nicholas II in dealing with these problems? In January 1905, there was a revolutionary tide in Russia. We called this revolution as 1905 Revolution mainly caused by the defeat of Russo-Japanese War in September and the Bloody Sunday Incident in January. In the country, workers, peasants and merchants were holding demonstrations in order to express their discontent to the Czarist government. Although Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto to pacify the discontent of people temporarily, he still had to face some problems after the 1905 Revolution. To regain the support from people, he needed to carry out the reforms in the October Manifesto. His reform included different aspect, such as political aspect, social aspect and economic aspect. He also appointed Peter Stolypin as the prime minister to stabilize the country. Nicholas II had tried his best to regain people's support and stop the revolution tide through the reforms after the 905 Revolution. Poor livelihood, no franchise of general Russians and the insult of Russo-Japanese War all these were reasons to cause the 1905 Revolution. The Bloody Sunday Incident was an immediately cause to lead the outbreak of 1905 Revo lution. After the 1905 Revolution, the Czar still had to face the above problems. IN order to prolong his rule, he was
Was Nicholas II Responsible for His Own Downfall? What can you learn from Source A about the situation in February 1917?
James Taylor 11MA Was Nicholas II Responsible for His Own Downfall? a) What can you learn from Source A about the situation in February 1917? Source A is an extract from Tsaritsa Alexandra's diary from the 25th February 1917. After reading through the source I believe it to be inaccurate and not very reliable. This for a number of reasons, the first sentence reads: 'Young people run and shout that there is no bread, simply to create excitement'. This is very incorrect, the workers weren't demonstrating just to create excitement; the workers wanted the price of bread lowered. Also the source says: 'But all this will pass and become calm if only the Duma will behave itself' The truth is the Duma was behaving itself, and although they wanted to take over the Empire, the Duma in fact had nothing to do with the demonstrations led by the peasants. The Duma was the Russian parliament, which Tsar Nicholas II created in an effort to make himself popular, but he later ignored the Duma and led the country using the army. Source A is inaccurate, although I believe there is a simple explanation. Tsaritsa Alexandra has written in her diary what she believes to be true. As the Tsar's palace is far outside Petrograd, I think the information from the centre of the city must have been altered slightly by the time it reached Tsaritsa Alexandra. As source A is quite inaccurate you
Assess The Impact Of Stalin On Russia And The Russian People.
Assess The Impact Of Stalin On Russia And The Russian People? Now that Stalin was in power, he was determined to modernise the USSR so that it could meet the challenges which were to come. He took over a country in which almost all the industry was concentrated in just a few cities and whose workers were unskilled and poorly educated. Many regions of the USSR were in the same state as they had been a hundred years earlier. So, Stalin wanted to make a few changes and believed that: "Throughout history Russia has been beaten again and again because she was backward" and that the USSR was "50 to 100 years behind the advanced countries. Either we make good the difference in ten years or they crush us" so in order to do this Stalin ended Lenin's NEP because he believed is was such a slow process and needed a dramatic change for Russia to become a world power. So Stalin set about achieving modernisation through a series of Five-Year Plans which was for towns and industrial workers and also made a modernisation plan for peasants and countryside's throughout Russia. This was called collectivisation. The Five-Year Plans were originally drawn up by the GOSPLAN, the state planning organisation that Lenin set up in 1921. They set ambitious targets for production in the vital heavy industries (coal, iron, oil, electricity). The plans were very complicated but they were set out in such a
Both The Bolshevik Revolution and the subsequent society created by the Bolshevik
Both The Bolshevik Revolution and the subsequent society created by the Bolshevik, were communist. Asses the validation of this view. The Bolshevik revolution and the society made by it, were not communist. Yes there Revolution was communist, but the society that was created was not communist, This is due to the fact that a civil war started after Russia pulled out of the war, and had to change to War Communism. War communism is when the Bolshevik had to implement new laws in order to keep the country afloat, But on the other hand, the Bolshevik did try, as they gave more power to the people. Bolshevik was not communist due to the Laws that were changed, and the way that the country changed. Because the of War Communism, people became pushed aside again. Grain requisitioning, this is when the Bolshevik were sending units of the Red guard into the country side to find grain for the hard-pressed cities. The banning of private, All private trade were banned, but the state trading was very chaotic and was not producing enough products, so the black market started in order for people to survive, But on the other hand after the Civil war had ended all the War communism laws were either abolished or changed, and the Banning of private trade was abolished and trade restarted and the black marked closed and trade went back to normal. On the other hand they did try to be communist,
What were the causes of the 1905 Revolution in Russia?
What were the causes of the 1905 Revolution in Russia The causes of the Russian revolution of 1905 can be divided into three areas: Long term causes, short term causes and immediate causes. The problems that caused the revolution began years before it actually happened. Many of the national groups that lived within Russia resented the government's policy of 'Russification' as they saw it was trying to attack their way of life. Most children were forced to learn Russian in school and many Russian officials were chosen to fill non-Russian positions in local government. Most of the traditional customs were banned and the people had to obey Russian customs. The peasants also had been caused much suffering by the government. They had been released from Serfdom in 1861 and had been allocated land with which to farm and earn money. They could get loans from the government. However most of the peasants had to pay these loans off over a long period of time. As a result most of the peasants got into heavy debt. This was made worse by the fact that after 1861 the landowners had large estates. Many of the peasants were forced to work on the estates of nobles so they could earn extra money. However more and more people were becoming peasants as the population of Russia increased by 50% between 1860 and 1897 with more and more peasants competing with each other for the
There were many causes of the Bolshevik Revolution
Rosie Owen 11H There were many causes of the Bolshevik Revolution. Which do you consider to be the most important? The under lying causes of the Bolshevik Revolution are rooted deep in Russia's history. For a long-time, autocratic and repressive Tsarist regimes ruled the country and most of the population lived under severe economic and social conditions. During the 19th century and early 20th century various movements aimed at overthrowing the oppressive government were staged at different times by workers, peasants, and members of the nobility. Two of these unsuccessful movements were the 1825 revolt against Nicholas 1 and the revolution of 1905, both of which were to establish a constitutional monarchy. Russia's badly organised and unsuccessful involvement in World War 1 (1914-1918) added to popular discontent with the government's corruption and inefficiency. In 1917 these events resulted in the fall of the Tsarist government and established the Bolshevik Party, a radical overshoot of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, as the ruling power. There were many effects of the war on the people back home in Russia, food was getting short and many of the male peasants had been conscripted in to the army. This meant that there was a shortage of farm workers and less food was produced. The Russian railway system was being used to carry supplies to the war front and
What triggered the Tsars fall?
What triggered the Tsars fall? Many in Russia would argue that it was the catastrophic impact of war coupled with the failure or the Tsar/Tsarina to embark upon the problems created by involvement in World War One that triggered the Tsar's fall. Nevertheless it is fair to say that discontent among the Russian people had been growing for several years. This dissatisfaction destabilized the position of the Tsar and undermined his authority. Was it a series of mitigating circumstances and bad luck that brought on the Tsar's downfall? Or was the Tsar's own incompetence the key to his failure? There were many causes for the growing discontent in Russia before 1914. There were various politically related issues linked to power, control and government. Nicholas was a deeply religious man and believed he had been chosen to rule Russia by God and felt that he did not have to consult others about his decisions. In the period of late 19th and early 20th century there was an age of modernisation spreading through Western Europe. Everything had advanced, both technologically and socially. But the Tsar's refusal to adapt to his rapidly changing country created serious social and political grievances. A huge civil service was employed to carry out decisions about the country (the Tsar always having the final say) but getting decisions carried out in such a vast country with poor
The March Revolution 1917
The March Revolution 1917 a) The conditions are so bad in Petrograd because peasants who used to work on the farms were forced to move into the towns to work in the factories to help in the producing of guns and uniforms for the soldiers. This caused several problems; because all the people who worked on the farms were forced to move into the city there was a food shortage because there weren't enough people to tend the land and the food that was being made was being sent off to the army so there was a near on famine. The second problem was that there were not enough housing for all the people that had suddenly moved into the towns so they often slept in the streets. Another problem was that the workers tended not to be all to good at working in the factories so they made little difference to the Russian army. Also their wages had gone up by 100%, which at first sights is good. However, the prices of food had gone up by 500%. Basically real wages declined. Transportation of food was also another reason for food shortage. These again were used to carry the Russian army and supplies to their home front. These are all reasons why conditions were so bad in Petrograd. b) This could lead to a revolution because people were getting grumpy due to the lack of food and the way they had to work harder. The war effort was going badly and people were upset that they were