Tsar Nicholas Ii Reign As An Autocrat

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It was Tsar Nicholas II’s extreme inexperience and naivety that led to the downfall of Russia. The Tsars lack of knowledge of serious grievances that were occurring throughout Russia lead to an increased negative outlook on him and his reign as an autocrat. Different aspects of Nicholas’ reign were the reason his rule of Russia was ineffective. Socially he made the lower classes grow discontent with their living situations by incorrectly using his power and authority. The feudal system was unsuccessful due to the corruption that continued to occur. The Church was used as a propaganda tool to help the Tsar in his reign and emphasise totalitarianism throughout the Russian population. The Tsars conservative views and beliefs towards autocracy were the factors that contributed to the ineffectiveness of his reign. Nicholas II provided no support for the Russian society at all during his reign; he showed no compassion towards the peasants or the lower class causing discontent to grow immensely. The horrific working and living conditions for people in lower classes were caused by Nicholas’ poor judgement and lack of knowledge of current issues facing the Russian population. As seen in Source 1 it is evident that Nicholas 11 was not fit to rule Russia, “Nicky’s unfitness was by no means his fault… he was wholly ignorant about government matters”. Tsar’s sister, the Grand Duchess Olga continues to state that Nicholas was unaware of certain situations occurring in Russia therefore he should not be liable for the downfall of the Russian government. As a result of Tsars ineffective rule of Russia the idea of a revolution became increasingly attractive. Revolutionaries channelled peasant’s dissatisfaction into political activity in attempt to overthrow the Tsar. Bloody Sunday was one of the first attempts from the lower classes to gain basic living and working rights.
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