Lesson plan
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Nicholas II
Nicholas &
Alexandra
Life
of the peasants
Life
of the workers
Outbreak
of revolution
1905
revolution
Week 5
Web Wiz
Nicholas II (1894 - 1917)
Nicholas II was Russia's last Tsar. His reign was marked by a series of disasters, none of which he dealt with effectively, and ended with revolutions which resulted in his death and that of his family. In 1894 he married German Princess Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was a strong-willed, deeply religious woman who became a strong influence over her husband. The marriage was a very happy one and they had four daughters and one son. Nicholas was a devoted family man.
Nicholas did not resemble his father physically. He was small, diffident, charming and rather shy by nature and preferred the comfort of family life to the anxiety of government. When his father died suddenly he admitted that he did not want to be Tsar and that he was not prepared for the task. Despite this, he shared his father's views on autocracy and said that he was determined to uphold the system. He believed that this was his God given duty. Reluctantly, he allowed Sergei Witte to continue to expand Russia's industry in the 1890s, but seemed unaware of the social and economic distress in the countryside and the new cities. He rejected the moderate requests of the members of the zemstva to express their views on his government.
However, the stability of his father's reign did not continue during the reign of Nicholas II. The zemstva began to demand more say in government, students protested against government control of education and industrial strikes increased in the overcrowded cities. Famines ravaged the countryside in the 1890s and early 20th century and many peasants faced starvation. Revolutionary groups emerged once more to try to take advantage of the growing unrest. In a desperate attempt to demonstrate Russia's military strength, and therefore the strength of his regime, Nicholas declared war on Japan over control of parts of Korea. This led to a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Japanese in 1906 and further damaged his standing as a successful autocratic ruler.
In 1905 a protest by workers in St Petersburg turned into a bloody massacre. As a result, a spontaneous wave of revolution swept across Russia and for a time it looked as though Nicholas would be toppled. However, through the loyalty of the army and promises of political reform in the October Manifesto, order was eventually restored. The leaders of the revolution were either killed or exiled and the moderate revolutionaries were elected to the new Russian Parliament, the Duma. This weakened the revolutionary groups who had to operate outside of Russia until 1917.
Like all of the Tsars before him, Nicholas was reluctant to share power with his people. In 1906 when the first Duma, elected on a fairly wide franchise, began to demand immediate reforms to autocracy, Nicholas, now firmly back in power, dissolved the parliament and demanded new elections. The franchise for each of the next three elections became narrower and soon only the wealthy and educated had the right to vote in elections. This gave Nicholas, by 1907, a Duma which would mostly do what he wanted it to do.
Despite the reforms introduced by Prime Minister Peter Stolypin between 1906 and 1911, and huge industrial growth, Russia was still plagued by high levels of debt. Russia was still a largely agricultural nation and agriculture was still using primitive methods of production. Many Russians were illiterate and industrial unrest continued in the industrial towns and cities of the empire. Russia's participation in World War I placed so much strain on the economic, social and military structures of the country that they broke down. The Army was without ammunition and food, the cities were starving and the food produced in the countryside rotted in depots because of poor road and railways systems. By February 1917, the Tsar was unable to hold back the tide of revolution any longer.
Assessment
Nicholas II was determined to rule as an autocrat in the manner of his father, Alexander III and his great grandfather Nicholas I. He believed that Russia needed strong, autocratic rule to hold the empire together. However, he lacked the strength of character and decisive nature of the true autocrat. The details of government bored him and he preferred to leave these to his advisers. He disliked unpleasant facts about the state of his country and his people so he chose to listen only to those advisers who would cover up the true state of affairs. Nicholas buried himself in the life of his family and neglected affairs of state.
When the disastrous war with Japan (1904 - 1906) ended in defeat and widespread revolution in 1905 almost cost him his throne, Nicholas was forced to introduce reforms. He promised Russia a Duma, an elected parliament. Although he remained firmly in charge, he promised to allow the parliament some say in the government of the country. This was enough to placate the liberals and some of the moderate revolutionaries. But this was a chance lost. Nicholas had no intentions of sharing power with his people and made this plain in 1906 when he introduced the "Fundamental Laws" giving him complete power over the Duma.
While his government was in the hands of the strong, conservative Prime Minister, Peter Stolypin, things seemed to be going well for the regime. However, after the death of Stolypin, Nicholas became more reliant on the advice of his loving, but not wise, wife and her adviser Rasputin.
World War I briefly united the country behind the Tsar, but the war placed intolerable strain on the economy, transport and communications which left the cities starving and the army poorly supplied. A revolution fuelled by hunger and despair broke out in St Petersburg in March 1917. This time the army did not support the Tsar. Nicholas was forced to leave the throne and a Provisional Government was set up to rule Russia until democratic elections could be held. Nicholas and his family were killed by the Bolsheviks during the civil war in 1918.
 |
Exercise 4.1: Timeline
Match the events to the dates in this interactive exercise. |