Topic II: The Decline and Fall of the

Romanovs Notes
Historical Context
Nature of Russian Empire
There are 5 clearly identifiable groups that comprised Russian society

The Tsar and the ruling class

 At the apex of the social system was the tsar who wielded his absolute, autocratic power
 Tsar was surrounded by a small, elite group
o The royal family
o Nation’s decision makers
 These people lived in great luxury
 Maintained the autocracy and resisted any diminution of the tsar’s autocratic rule
 Made up of no more than 0.5% of the population

The gentry class (upper class)

 Comprised of noble landowners, leading figures in the church/military, senior figures in the
imperial landowners
 Lived well and in comfort but were given virtually no political power
 Made up of about 10% of the total population

The bourgeoisie (middle class)

 Group is small in RUSSIA

 Engage in commerce, banking, manufacturing, professionals in areas such as law and
medicine
 Had little influence
 Made up of about 2% of the population

The proletariat (working class)

 This group worked in factories and mines  hard labour in poor conditions with low pay
 Tended to be concentrated in cities and large urban centres
 Russia’s limited industrial development and lack of major industrial cities meant this group
was small
 Made up of about 6% of the population

The peasantry

 By far the biggest social group in Russia

 Until 1861, the majority of peasants had been serfs
o The land was owned by their landlord or by the state
 Made up of 80-85% of the population
The Government of Russia

The autocracy

 Tsar Nicholas II was an autocrat: a monarch who does not have to share power
o No limitations to his power
 Could make new laws, increase taxes, do exactly what we wanted without consulting
anyone
 To run the affairs of his vast empire the Tsar employed thousands of civil servants
 The tsar did not allow people to question his authority or challenge his power

To make sure nobody opposed him, the tsar employed a secret police force – the Okhrana

 A.K.A. ‘Protective Section’

 They:
o Censored all books/newspapers
o Spied on political groups
o Arrested people who criticised the gov’t
 Political prisoners usually ended up in exile
o Usually sent to the cold lands of Siberia

Cossacks were also used to control riots

 Specialised in breaking up mobs by butchering anyone who was unable to run away fast
enough

Nature of the decline and fall of the Romanov dynasty

The role of Nicholas II as an autocrat
Accession

 Was ill-prepared for becoming a tsar – not formally groomed for life of a statesman
o Did not inherit his father’s commanding personality nor the prompt decision
making which were so essential to an autocratic ruler
 His traits were not ideal for leadership
o Even admitted to his brother in law: ‘I am not prepared to be a Tsar…I know
nothing of the business of ruling’

Children

 One son – Alexis who had a haemophilic condition which influenced the leadership and
decisions of the Tsar/Tsarina
o His illness was a sworn secret

Style of leadership

 Determined to keep Russia as an autocracy

 Thought that a democracy would lead to a political collapse
 He knew very little about the reality of life in Russia
 Relied on poor advisers  Rasputin? Wife?
  His belief in autocracy resulted in a willingness to use violence to suppress opposition to his
regime

Romanov empire at the time of Nicholas II

 Russia had not advanced politically compared to other nations in Western Europe
o Many of these Western nations had developed forms of representative gov’t

Social, political and economic grievances of Russia

Inequality

 During the early years of the 20th century, Russia was a country that was on the brink of
revolution
 Disastrous war with Japan would prove to be the catalyst to revolution
 Life was dire for most Russians at the turn of the century
 Life expectancy for workers and peasants was far below ‘their betters’
 Majority of the country (peasants and workers) experienced squalor while the minority lived
in varying degrees of great comfort and luxury

The countryside

 The Emancipation Proclamation did NOT lead to an improvement of the peasants’ living
conds.

Peasant revolts were suppressed with the upmost severity by authorities.

 First, the opposition was the result of desperation (19th century)

 But later this would turn into a full-scale, systematic effort to challenge the regime
 The Russian peasants remained loyal to the tsar – church sustained them
o Referred to as ‘the little father’

The army…

 Went through brutal, strict, and harsh disciplinary methods to make them suck up to the
king and protect the nation

Peasant life

 Life for peasants and workers in the early 1900s was miserable, brutal, and often short
 The Industrial Revolution had NOT started in Russia until the 1880s (but by 1900 Russia had
the 5th largest economy in the world!)
 But in certain aspects Russia was still living in the past…
o The peasants were farming using out of date methods such as wooden ploughs
o Until 1861 peasants had not even been free
o Low agricultural productivity
o The increasing sub-division of their lands meant that the huge number of peasants
had little space for farming
o When crops failed they faced starvation
At home…

 Disgusting, filthy, crowded homes

o Wooden houses that could fall over easily with windows so small barely any light
was let in
 Not enough space for everyone – usually only one room houses!
o Everyone slept in one room – entire families, even cattle
 It was very hard for the peasants to clothe or feed themselves
 It was freezing in the winter; there was poor shelter or protection from the cold or rain
because the roofs leaked and there was no heating

Life in the cities for workers

 Workers in the overcrowded slums of the cities earned wages so low few could afford
decent housing
o Long hours (11½ hrs of hard labour) for such small pay
 Many workers + their families lived in shared accommodation or…
 Cold, unhealthy, overcrowded barracks provided by their employers
 Strikes were common…
 But these we unsuccessful because there were ALWAYS workers so poor they would work
any condition to stay alive and support their families…
 And workers couldn’t complain, or they would just be replaced by people from a long
waiting line who desperately needed work

The Development of Opposition to the Romanovs

 Russia EVENTUALLY (C19th) began to modernise
o Improved transport and communication caused revolutionary and reformist ideas
to filter into Russia

The Russo Japanese War

 In 1904 Russia went to war with Japan

o Fighting for control of Korea + Manchuria (territory) in the Far East
 Tsar Nicholas thought that a quick victory would make him popular and would stop people
criticising the gov’t

But right from the start of the war, Russia suffered defeat after defeat…

 The war was far from making Nicholas popular. Instead the war with Japan weakened his
position further… =====> HUMILIATION
 Became a crucial spark for the revolutionary uprisings in 1905

1905 Revolution and Bloody Sunday

 The 1905 Revolution was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through
vast areas of the Russian Empire
  On the morning of 22 Jan 1905, a group of workers gathered together in different parts of
the working-class districts of St Petersburg
 Processions were peaceful march
 It was HOPED that the Tsar would understand and use his power to improve their lives
 Nicholas had no desire to meet the protestors
o Instead he (and his family) left the palace to do an errand on the outskirts of the city
 Soldiers misunderstood crowed and fired upon the marchers…

The tsar’s positive image was shattered. Instead of ‘Little Father’ he was ‘Nicholas the Bloody’. All
workers and peasants lost respect for him.

Aftermath of 1905 Revolution and the October Manifesto

 After Bloody Sunday there was a huge increase in revolutionary activity

o Strikes, peasant revolts, mutiny of sailors
 Nicholas was forced to start granting major concessions
 Began creating the Duma
o But their power was severely limited
 Ultimately, he was forced to grant the people a constitution in the form of the October
Manifesto (influenced by PM Witte)
o This did NOT satisfy all parties but was enough for the middle and upper class
for the moment
o Workers gained nothing and continued to revolt

REVOLUTIONARY GROUPS IN 1900

Group name(s) Date formed Membership Aims Method

Social Democrats 1898 Followers of Karl Marx Start revolution and Could not agree on
– working class overthrow gov’t best ways to achieve
aims
Social 1900 Peasants Kill tsar Small section used
Revolutionaries Some urban socialists Return land to peasants violence
(SRs) Rule Russia through a
series of communes
Mensheviks 1903 Workers Work with middle class to overthrow tsar for
Some middle class socialism
Open to all supporters
– all members have a
say
Bolsheviks 1903 Workers Ally with workers and peasants to rapidly
Soldiers in the army in overthrow the tsar AND MIDDLE CLASS to attain
WW1 socialism

THE DUMAS
  Tsar did NOT allow the Duma, Russia’s new parliament, any real power
 Three Dumas were formed, and all three were broken up by the tsar
 Dumas all wanted a better say and democracy in the gov’t, but all were rejected
 In 1906, the tsar appointed a new, tough PM to make sure there were no more outbreaks
of revolution
o Peter Stolypin

STOLYPIN REFORMS

 Stolypin believed in strict gov’t

 First action was to clamp down on terrorism
 In 1906, more than 1000 terrorists were hung
 Stolypin knew that brute force alone would not solve every problem
 So, he helped peasants to become the owners of their own land
o Redemption payments abolished
 Conditions improved – industry grew, wages increased, peasants worked efficiently
 But in 1911, he was assassinated by one of his own police agents

A new PM was needed

RASPUTIN

 Nicholas and his wife became involved with a strange Siberian peasant who claimed to be a
Starets – a holy man or God
 Supposedly had special powers of prophecy and healing – healed Alexis’ blood disease
 Not all regarded him with such favour
o Rasputin = disreputable one
o Corrupt, deplorable actions (e.g. drinking, raping, affairing)
 Trust of Rasputin in the family increased, and Rasputin’s influence increased  political
impact
 Hatred of him grew – even gov’t and nobles sought need for drastic change ---- murdered
 Even after Rasputin’s death, confidence could not be restored – Russia in turmoil

The role of World War I in the collapse of the Romanov dynasty

 After WW1 began, Russia rallied around the tsar and the people were seemingly united
 However, as Russia started to suffer defeat after defeat the people became disillusioned
 War placed a huge burden on the economy and infrastructure  civilians suffered
 War drained resources – starving, poor, etc.
o Agriculture, industry, transport, and finance fell
 Lack of workers also drained economy  workers were at war
 Armies wiped out  started to mutiny
 Rumours began to spread – Alexandra was German by birth – she was a German agent
along with Rasputin, willing to destroy Russia from within!
 Nicholas went to the front to take charge and boost morale, but this made him seem
directly responsible for the defeats

Transfer of power from the Romanov regime to the Provisional Government

 Tsar finally abdicated from pressure and dogging from even his own generals!
 o Russia was now a republic!
o The Romanov dynasty had ended after 300 years of rule
 The Provisional Gov’t was now in power
o Did not last long
o Soon replaced by the Bolsheviks and Lenin in Nov 1917
 Provisional Gov’t was a 12-man committee that the Duma had set up in March 1917
 Lenin was in exile but disagreed with the Provisional Gov’t
 Managed to reach Petrograd and speak to Bolsheviks
o Decided they had to end the war with Germany … (February Revolution)
o No support would be given to Prov. Gov’t
o Second revolution
o Peace, Bread, Land
 Revolts started and by Oct 1917 the Bolsheviks were more powerful than ever (October
Revolution)
 Chances of success looked good

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