In the battle of Tannenburg the loss was very drastic; 30000 men wounded or killed, 95000 captured and 500 guns. This portrays the heavy defeat that Russia and this dropped moral in the army and at home in Russia. This shows the losing of the battle created a growth in opposition against the Tsar due to the public of Russia blaming the Tsar as he commanded the troops to go to war. Peasants felt annoyed and angry and Nicholas. This strengthened the opposition against the Tsar.
Russia’s poor performance in WW1 played a very significant role in bringing down the Tsar too. Much of the army was made up of conscripts from the countryside. After a while of
The long-term policies of Russification imposed by the Tsar in the 1880s, caused a lot of political unrest within Russia and these contributed to the 1905 revolution. Russia was the only country within Europe with no elected national parliament. The only form of elected representation (what the Tsar referred to as ‘senseless dreams’) was the “Zemstva”. The Union of Liberation demanded in December 1904, that a parliament should be set up because they felt the Russian population needed an outlet to express their views. At the time, the formation of political parties was illegal but despite this, they still existed.
To regain the support from people, he needed to carry out the reforms in the October Manifesto. His improvements included different aspects, such as political, social and economic approaches. However these were expedients rather than real reforms. 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 1905 Revolution.
Looking at repression, the problems they dealt with and how they solved them: the terrorist attacks and harsh punishments, reform groups and the black hundreds and finally the revolutionary ideas and closing of newspapers and trade unions. Then I will consider the reforms: poor, unhappy peasants and the abolishment of redemption payments and freeing of communes, underproductive agriculture and ‘The Peasant Land Bank’ and lastly the effect of the Duma. Overall I think that both the repressions and reforms had equal impact in stabilising Russia, but are also dependant on each other. Firstly, Repression, Russia had a terrorist problem during and following the 1905 revolution. In 1907, 1,200 government officials were murdered in political terrorist attacks by revolutionaries.
Divisions of opposing groups of the Tsar were important to the survival of Tsarist rule in 1881-1905 as the political opponents of the Tsar were clearly divided in their aims and methods. However, other factors such as the church and the power the Tsar held over it; the conservative culture of the Russian people; lack of education especially amongst the peasants and workers; the retributions from opposing the Tsar and the Okhrana were also effective in keeping the Tsar in a state of power. The different political parties all had a similar aim for change and most of wanted to remove the Tsar from power. However they all had different approaches and different plans on how to run the Russia after the Tsars removal. Firstly, the opposition groups of the Tsar were known as the Populists, the Liberals and the Marxists.
Hence, though peasant life was at its best in its history, all these reforms did for the majority was ignite the hope that more liberating reforms were to come. Unfortunately the untimely assassination of Tsar Liberator by the extremist group, ‘The Peoples Will’ led to the rise in power of Alexander 3rd, who’s views towards the ruling of Russia differed greatly from his fathers. Many of the liberties granted through the reforms were stripped by Alexander 3rd’s own reforms. Peasants control over courts was restricted as courts for government opponents became government controlled. Many government opponents would have been protesting about how unfair the Russian system was towards peasants and hence through trial by jury, they would have been sympathised with.
The demoralisation of the proud Russian peoples created dissent, and discredited the Tsar. In August 1915, the Tsar left Petrograd to command the Russian army. In August 1915, the Tsar left Petrograd to command the Russian army. He therefore received the blame personally for all their defeats and lost control of his troops as he left Rasputin and the Tsarina to rule Russia. His army also consisted of millions of poor, starving peasants with bad equipment, poor supplies of rifles and ammunition.
People who expressed negative thoughts about Peter's decisions were often executed before they had a chance to gain followers and rebel against the Tsar. The Streltsy, bushy musketeers and pike men, Russia's first professional soldiers, were often found at the receiving end of harsh sentences[6]. Peter the Great was bad in that he was very cruel to the people of Russia. He heavily taxed everyone, so the serfs had to pay taxes for themselves and their owners. In
At Tannenburg in August 1914 the Germans inflicted a heavy defeat on the Russians which resulted in masses of prisoners, stores, and guns taken off the Russians. The Tsar’s poor leadership skills throughout WW1led to increased prices, protests, food and fuel shortages, and outbreaks of disease. Also, as the peasants were rising up and seizing the land, many soldiers (who were mostly peasants) deserted the army. A revolution on land was occurring. This is said to be the Russians “voting with their feet”.