1. 1905 – 1914: The Troubled Years

2. The Duma
Tsar Nicholas II needed to reform Russia to prevent another revolution
1906: First Duma meeting held hope
Duma had no power to override Tsar veto
1907: Tsar changed voting rules to remove opponents (only aristocrats and wealthy citizens could vote)
‘Loyal’ Duma held which gave no representation to population
By 1912 even ‘Loyal’ Duma critical
Had no power to change Tsar’s policies
Criticism alone was no threat to Tsar

3. Stolypin
In 1906 Tsar N2 fired Witte as Prime Minister and promoted Peter Stolypin
Witte had set in motion industrialisation but was very unpopular.
Stolypin used ‘stick & carrot’ approach to the problems of Russia
Stick:
Oppressed strikers, protestors, revolutionaries
20,000+ exiled, 1,000+ hanged (‘Stolypin’s necktie’)
Successfully reduced opposition through 1914

4. Stolypin The carrot: Assassinated by revolutionary in 1911
Increased production in factories and on farms.
Planned to offer basic education for peasants & workers
Planned to create work-safety codes for factory workers
Assassinated by revolutionary in 1911
Tsar, influenced by landlords and his court, planned on firing him anyway, because he was changing Russia too much for the Tsar’s tastes
Tsar ordered investigation into Stolypin’s assassination halted … hmm

5. Agricultural & Industrial Production: 1890-1913
Million tons
These figures were compiled by the Tsar’s Ministry of Trade and Industry

6. 1,337,458
3,534
1914
887,096
2,404
1913
725,491
2,032
1912
105,110
466
1911
46,623
222
1910
64,166
340
1909
176,101
892
1908
740,074
3,573
1907
1,108,406
6,114
1906
2,863,173
13,995
1905
Year
Strikes
Strikers
What does the above table suggest about working peoples’ attitudes to the Tsar’s regime?

7. After Stolypin 1912: Economy turned down
Unemployment & hunger
Gov’t tried to measures to quell unrest
Practiced discrimination against Jews, Muslims, other minorities (popular move)
1913: Brief pause in unrest due to tri- centennial celebrations
Afterward, unrest increased, especially among workers
Lena gold field strikes saw troops shooting workers
Let those in power make no mistake about the mood of the people .. Never were the Russian people … so profoundly revolutionized by the actions of the government, for day to day, faith in the government is steadily waning …”
Guchkov, conservative Duma member, 1913

8. Rasputin
Worst evidence of Tsar’s incompetence was promotion of dangerous figure to power
Gregory Yefimovich, aka Rasputin
Gained influence by stopping Tsar’s son’s hemophilia through hypnosis
Freely gave advise on running Russia
Drunkard & womanizer
Rasputin means ‘disreputable’
Tsar’s opponents seized on Rasputin as example of Tsar’s unfitness to rule
Tsar’s ignoring of the growing calls for Rasputin’s removal demonstrates how Tsar either didn’t know or didn’t care about people’s concerns

9. Russian cartoon showing how Rasputin influenced the Tsar’s court.
A Russian cartoon. The caption reads: ‘The Russian Tsars at home.’

10. Focus Task: How well was Russia governed in 1914?
Here are five characteristics you might expect of a good government:
Trying to improve the lives of its people
Building up its agriculture and industry
Listening to and responding to its population
Running the country efficiently
Defending the country from enemies
On a scale from 1 to 5, say how well you think the Tsarist government did on each one up to Explain your reason for that score.
Now make a list of the successes and failures of the Tsarist government up to 1914.
Which of the following assessments do you most agree with? By 1913 the government was:
In crisis
Strong but with some serious weaknesses
Secure with only minor weaknesses
A Cossack soldier