Revision:End of the Tsars according to Orland Figes

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1913

The Romanov dynasty celebrated 300 years of ruling over Russia

Nicholas II had become obsessed with a vision of himself as a Muscovite Tsar and in many ways he ran his court as such:

• “The Romanov dynasty presented to the world a brilliant image of monarchical power and opulence during its tercentenary.” - Figes description of the celebrations.
• Many of Nicholas II’s methods were outdated and much of the pomp and ceremony was misplaced - attempted to reinvent the past - to create the ‘popular Tsar’ - response to challenge of democracy - obsessed with cult of Muscovy! Nicholas rejected the Petrine model of leadership (delegating responsibility) resorting instead to personal rule
• Central theme of jubilee = communion between Tsar and people - attempt to quell growing discontent with Nicholas and the Tsarist system as a whole.

Nicholas major problems

Instead of moving with the increasing pressure for democracy and modernising the Tsarist system, he resorted instead to the methods of previous Tsar

• Nicholas’ own propaganda deluded him, he began to believe that his methods were working and that his people loved him and he was in communion with them
• Reality - jubilee took place in midst of profound social and political crisis - even a revolutionary one?!? *Increasing repression had set people against Tsarist regime - wounds of 1905 not yet healed
• Peasant problem unresolved - no land reform

Industrial strikes over poor conditions

• Growing support for revolutionary parties
• Outside deluded Muscovite court, growing sense of imminent crisis and catastrophe.
• Regime fell under weight of own contradictions - lacked the will for real reforms (Nicholas II and Alex III “instead of embracing reform, they adhered rigidly to their own archaic vision of autocracy

Society

• Society becoming rapidly more educated, urban and complex - fossilized autocracy refused to concede to its political demands.
• Nicholas II - always a disappointment to his father Alex III - never the strong man his father was, Alex new Nicholas would make a poor Tsar, indeed he never wanted to become one - neither had father’s strength of character or intelligence - became meddling autocrat, disrupting work of govt. - obsessed himself with the minutia, the trivial matters. He was conscientious and diligent, but instead of delegating, attempted to do everything himself! Mistrusted able ministers - Witte and Stolypin not given sufficient influence to save regime - preferred mediocrity - not threat. Saw ministers one-top-one - led to more confusion but kept Tsar in control. After Stolypin’s downfall in 1911 - regime “drifted dangerously as one sycophantic mediocrity after another was appointed Prime Minister by the Tsar.”

Rasputin

Acquired his influence over the Tsarina and he and she became the real ruler of Russia during the final catastrophic years of the Romanov dynasty. Introduced to the Tsar and Tsarina in November 1905 as ‘a healer’, he seemed to be able to check the bleeding of Alexis, the Tsar’s haemophiliac son, through some mystical power. In October 1912, the Tsarevich suffered a particularly bad bout of bleeding and doctors were unable to do anything to prevent a large and painful tumour from forming on his groin. They told the imperial family to prepare for his immanent death. In desperation, Alexandra, the Tsarina, sent a message to Rasputin who replied by wiring the Empress a message saying: “God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The little one will not die.” Within hours, the Tsarevich was on the mend. The so-called ‘Spala miracle’ established Rasputin in an unassailable position at the court of Alexandra. He became powerful and prestigious, he accepted bribes, gifts and sexual favours in exchange for using his influence over the Tsarina. Whilst his power was at its zenith during the First World War, he established a series of lucrative placements in government, the Civil service and the Church all of which were under his control. Rasputin had a tremendous lust for power and it was this that motivated his actions, he was a supreme egoist and boasted endlessly of his power and influence. ‘I can do anything’ was a favoured saying. He took pride in his many and varied sexual exploits. His actions and demeanour were unbecoming of a ‘holy man’, and he was even imprisoned after a night of drunken brawling, however, orders quickly came from the Tsar for his release. His influence was assured at court because the empress believed that only he could save her dying son. Even the Tsar believed that God had sent a man ‘from the people’ to save the Romanov dynasty. His power rested on the Tsarina’s belief in his ‘healing powers’ and Alexander’s belief in the Byzantine trinity ‘God, Tsar, People’ - part of the Tsar’s attempt to recast the regime along the lines of seventeenth century Muscovy. Rasputin, whatever else may be said about him, was a shrewd operator, he played on the Tsar’s belief by referring to him in folksy terms: ‘batiuska Tsar’ -‘Father Tsar’. Rumours about him were dismissed as those of jealous criticism from those envious of his position! The Rasputin affair was significant in the downfall of the regime: “More and more it poisoned the monarchy’s relations with society and its traditional pillars of support in the court, the bureaucracy, the Church and the army...By the time of Rasputin’s eventual murder, the regime was on the point of collapse”

The Tsarist system

Nicholas II: “I conceive Russia as a landed estate, of which the proprietor is the Tsar, the administrator is the nobility and the workers are the peasants” He could not have chosen a more archaic metaphor for the turn of the century. The Tsarist system was inefficient and bureaucratic; the ruling elite came from the rich landowning classes. There was much red tape and formality of procedure that led to inefficiency. They were also too committed to the old Tsarist order to embrace reforms and the onset of the industrial age. The agencies of government were not properly systemised nor was their work coordinated as it was in the Tsar’s interest to keep them weak and dependent on him. The Tsarist system had resisted reform for the best part of the nineteenth century, despite several opportunities to change, the result was that at the dawn of the twentieth century, bureaucratic inefficiency still existed in Russia. Even the so-called ‘Great Reforms’ of the 1860’s introduced by Alexander II had had only a superficial effect. Also the liberalising effect of these reforms had resulted in the death of the Tsar, his two predecessors were to use this as a reason for repression and stagnation.

The geographical extent of Russia

The bureaucrats in St. Petersburg were trying to rule an empire that was geographically vast. The Tsarist Empire encompassed many nationalities and cultural groups. This diversity made provincial government essential, the governors had power to resist reform initiated from St. Petersburg, and this was a problem encountered by Stolypin with his local government reforms. Reformers quickly realised that reforming Russia was difficult, as the conservative governors would resist the reforms as every step. Furthermore, enforcing law and order was difficult as the number of police constables per head of population was roughly 1:50000 and therefore, even if something became law, it was often not enforced on a local level. Furthermore, poor communications, and general backwardness further enhanced the problems. The landowners who had traditionally helped to implement government decrees had largely fallen into debt after the emancipation of the serfs. Many had sold off their land, mortgaged it, or rented it to the peasants. They were no longer a reliable force for law enforcement.

Solution to these problems: the Zemstvos

Many people such as Prince Lvov who would later become the First Prime Minister of democratic Russia in 1917, people who were not revolutionaries but simply liberal monarchists recognised the problems that the autocracy were facing and began a peaceful campaign for reforms. His ideas were based on the ‘Great Reforms’ of the 1860’s.

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