TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > History > Tzar Nicholas II (1894-1917)
- Easily influenced by those around him
- Convinced of the suitability of autocracy in Russia (therefore inflexible on political change)
- Accepted danger fatalistically (didn’t step to change things)
- Had little experience of gov.
- His wife had immense influence upon him (ie: w/ Rasputin)
- Not as firm as Alexander III his father à increased opposition
- This led to the rise of several political movements
- The Liberal Movement : a middle class party
- The Social Revolutionary Party: (from Land and Liberty Party) prepared to use violence but rather utopian
- The Social Democratic Party: Mensheviks (believed in a mass movement of workers gradually progressing towards a socialist state) and Bolsheviks (believed in revolution by a party of elite leading the workers)
- The Revolution of 1905 (result of defeat against the Japanese in 1904-05 and Bloody Sunday)
- General strike called
- Czar’s uncle assassinated by Social Rev.
- Mutinies in the armed forces
- Setting up of a workers council (Soviet)
- Peasants seized the land of the nobles
- The effects:
- The October Manifesto which granted: Freedom of Speech / a Duma (parliament)
- The Czar made no move towards political change
- The army remained loyal / this was not to be in 1917
- The Duma only had limited power (couldn’t initiate constitutional change / could be suspended by the Czar)
- The Duma was not fully democratic
- The creation of the Duma split the opposition: Constitutional Democrats (wanted full constitutional gov.) vs. Octobrists (satisfied w/ the October Manifesto)
Perter Stolypin (1906-11) (Prime Minister)
- Abolished payments by peasants for their gain in land from the nobles
- Introduced low interest loans for peasants (so they could buy land)
- Tried to establish a middle class of peasants loyal to the Czar
- Firm against non-parliamentary opposition
- Assassinated in Sept. 1911
